Rocking Royal

BYU women’s basketball 2022-23 season preview with Amber Whiting, Lauren Gustin

BYU women's basketball coach Amber Whiting and power forward and lead returning scorer/rebounder Lauren Gustin -- aka the Walking Double-Double -- met with the media Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022 to look ahead to the 2022-23 season and what's in story in coach Whiting's first season over the program. 
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BYU-Notre Dame: Pick-six king Max Tooley breaks down Cougars’ 4-1 start

BYU linebacker Max Tooley joins Gabe Jeudy-Lally, Sean Walker and the guys at Coug Connect to break down the Cougars' retention of the Wagon Wheel rivalry trophy against Utah State for the foreseeable future, his feelings on scoring a pick six, and what makes BYU in Las Vegas such a perfect match ahead of Saturday's game against Notre Dame at Allegiant Stadium (4:30 p.m. PT, NBC). 
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Postcast: No. 19 BYU 38, Utah State 26

KSL.com's Sean Walker is joined by Jacob Nielson live from the LaVell Edwards Stadium press box after No. 19 BYU's 38-26 win over in-state rival Utah State. 
The thrilling rivalry contest is the last scheduled between the two longtime, bitter foes, but also the first career start for Orem High product Cooper Legas — who almost led a comeback effort of his own near his hometown. What went right, what went wrong, and has the trajectory of the two teams changed after the Aggies covered the spread? 
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End of an Era? No. 19 BYU preps for rivalry with Utah State

It's the 91st edition of the BYU and Utah State in-state rivalry game, and another chance to win the Wagon Wheel. But will the Wheel find its final resting place? 
The Cougars and Aggies aren't scheduled to meet again as BYU shifts its sights to the Big 12 Conference beginning in 2023, and Utah State is just 1-3 under second-year head coach Blake Anderson. Can the Aggies pull off an upset in Provo? And what do the BYU players and coaches think about the end of a rivalry era?
BYU reporter Sean Walker and Utah State writer Jacob Nielson from KSL.com come together to break down the biggest storylines, including a battle of quarterbacks that might include three signal callers Thursday night (6 p.m. MDT, ESPN), and the end of the Old Wagon Wheel -- at least for the foreseeable future.  

Ep. 6: BYU honors Black 14 before hosting Wyoming

Before the No. 19-ranked Cougars hosted Wyoming on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2022 (8:15 p.m. MDT, ESPN2), the university honored two members of the 'Black 14' — 14 players from the 1969 University of Wyoming football team who were unceremoniously dismissed after asking for permission to wear black armbands for the then-No. 13 Cowboys' game against the Cougars. 
John Griffin, a standout flanker from that squad, spoke with KSL.com's Sean Walker after the debut of a BYU student-made documentary about the Black 14 and the healing that has occurred between three sides as part of a partnership with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to feed underprivileged areas in America, "Healing Hearts and Feeding Souls," produced by the Daily Universe student news organization.
Griffin spoke about moments of healing over the past 53 years, and coming full circle to the school where the ordeals of the Black 14 began to be honored on a Saturday night in September. 

Hoop Hype: Trevin Knell breaks down BYU basketball’s new uniforms for 2022-23

Crisp. Clean. Fast. 
BYU basketball hopes that describes the team's new offense with 12 new players, including four NCAA transfers, three returned missionary freshmen and a four-star recruit from Kanye West's Donda Academy. 
But before the Cougars open the season with an exhibition game Nov. 2, they had to take care of some business: by refreshing the look. 
Yes, BYU basketball has some new uniforms, and it's out with the "Brigham Young" script and in with a fresh, clean block "BYU" across the chest, as modeled by junior wing Trevin Knell. 
The Woods Cross product joined the Cougar Beat podcast to break down the new uniforms, his new teammates — and spill the beans on the other new uniforms that will be coming to Cougar Nation soon. 
“The team doesn’t know what they look like; the coaches haven’t showed us," Knell said on the podcast sponsored by CougConnect. "But the black ones, we’re told, are the slickest and nicest ones that we’re going to see. So we’re all super pumped about those.” 
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Ep. 5: CougConnect Catch-Up with Kody Epps

When BYU receiver Kody Epps finally caught his first career touchdown pass for BYU, and he was plenty excited. But coming in the second half of a 41-20 loss to then-No. 25 Oregon at venerated Autzen Stadium left plenty to be desired.
 
"It was lit, but it was weird at the same time," Epps said. "You know when you get a gift at Christmas, and you have to open the rest of the gifts? So you open the gift you want, but you know Grandma is going to give you a pair of socks still? It was that gift I wanted, but I still had to focus on the game.
 
"It was lit, but I also just had to focus."
 
His teammates were plenty excited for him.
 
"I was hyped for him," cornerback Gabe Jeudy-Lally said. "It was long overdue, I believe."
 
On the latest episode of CougConnect Catch-Up on the Cougar Beat podcast, Epps tells Jeudy-Lally about that touchdown, his own performance from the Cougars' first loss of the season, and what he expected from playing at the highly regarded Autzen Stadium.
 
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Ep. 4: David Smoak from Sic Em 365 explains what makes BYU-Baylor series different

Baylor reporter David Smoak from Sic Em 365 joined ESPN 960 in Utah County to discuss the "new rivalry" that may be forming between BYU and Baylor, the two biggest private religious institutions in the new Big 12.
 
The series is in just its fourth game, with Baylor holding a 2-1 lead. But it's already produced a few classics, such as the Bears' four-point win in Provo in 1983 when Steve Young threw for 351 yards and ran for 113 more but couldn't overcome Alfred Anderson's 144 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. That, of course, preceded BYU's 47-13 win in Waco in the historic 1984 season.
 
"There's already a little bit of (history)," Smoak said. "You talk about private schools, Brigham Young with its great history for what they've done under LaVell Edwards and all the great quarterbacks. But it's just two programs in quality places, and it's refreshing.
 
"Sometimes a rivalry can come from playing for 100 years or competing for national titles. That's not the case here, but there is a little bit of history from what happened nearly 40 years ago. And I think, for some reason, it makes sense ... It just seems to fit. Sometimes things happen for a reason, and Brigham Young and Baylor decided to start playing each other — and now they're going to be in the same conference."
 
Smoak also talked about the Baylor run game, which helped the Bears roll by BYU a year ago in Waco, as well as former East High standout Apu Ika, who now dominates the middle of Baylor's defensive line and is a likely NFL draft pick.
 
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Ep. 3: Gabe Jeudy-Lally, Ethan Erickson look back at season-opener at USF, home opener vs.No. 9 Baylor

BYU cornerback Gabe Jeudy-Lally and tight end Ethan Erickson look back on the Cougars' 50-21 win over South Florida to open the 2022 season, and ahead to a Week 2 showdown with No. 9 Baylor at LaVell Edwards Stadium — one of just three top-25 matchups in Week 2 of the college football season.
 
The Vanderbilt transfer can't wait to see what the home crowd brings Saturday, especially with the No. 21 Cougars hosting the Bears in one of just three all-top-25 games in college football nationally. Right now, that's a mystery to him.
 
"I genuinely don't have a single idea," said Jeudy-Lally, who admitted he rarely played in front of a sellout crowd of 40,000 at Vanderbilt's FirstBank Stadium. "We probably had as many fans (at Raymond James Stadium) as I did when I was at Vanderbilt."
 
The guys also broke some news about the Cougars' all-royal blue uniform combination, which includes a unique silver face mask; bond over their loves of dogs; and share Erickson's story involving a snake and his neighbor (that he may or may not have dreamed).
 
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Episode 2: BYU confronts a racist incident on campus; did the Cougars handle it well?

KSL.com's Sean Walker is joined by former BYU linebacker and basketball standout Danny Frazier (1977-79) and BYU rugby rising senior Ronald Weaver III ('23) to discuss the racially charged incident alleged between the BYU women's volleyball team and Duke last Friday night.As two Black athletes and former athletes at BYU — and returned Latter-day Saint missionaries — Danny and Ronald bring a unique perspective to a conversation about racism at BYU, how it continues to fester in today's world, and what can be done to follow President Russell M. Nelson's exhortation to "root out racism." 
 
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