Provo

After studying his football program during a week off and recognizing that his rival is making aggressive moves in an effort to improve, BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall returned to work Monday and announced some changes of his own.

The Cougars are hereby planning to practice fundamentals and rotate more defensive reserves into the game.

Not quite like benching the starting quarterback or having someone else call the plays, is it?

Remind me; which school around here is coming off a 38-7 defeat?

Mendenhall and Utah's Kyle Whittingham have arrived in November of their fifth seasons with the same record (44-15). The latest career checkpoint offers another intriguing comparison, boiled down to this simplified summary: Unsatisfied with barely winning week after week, Whittingham is making changes. Not wanting to respond rashly to a loss to Texas Christian, Mendenhall is doing basically nothing.

And you know what? They're both right. Not overreacting with a month to play in the season is as important for Mendenhall as taking action is for Whittingham.