BYU-Washington '96

For tomorrow, I am working on a story looking back at the 1996 BYU-Washington game. I interviewed tight Chad Lewis about that game for that article.
Dick Harmon talked to another former player, running back Mark Atuaia, who played in that game, and two coaches who were at that game and are still on BYU’s staff, Barry Lamb and Lance Reynolds. Here are their memories of that 29-17 loss to the Huskies.

Barry Lamb: “I remember very distinctly as a team being more concerned about what uniforms we were wearing, what socks we were wearing, how the shoes felt on the Astroturf, how many balls I was going to get, how many touches I was going to get and before the game I remember thinking, oh no, oh no. As coaches we preach at every school in the country about the next game and it doesn’t matter who you are playing, doesn’t matter what the record is and nothing else matters, you just have to play your best game. We were just thinking about other things.”

Mark Atuaia: “I remember that they were a good team. I remember it was a damp day.? We got in that morning and it was a great college atmosphere. Isn’t that the day we came out in all-white (uniforms)? That was kind of a distraction. I remember we were arguing about wearing all white. That’s not going to happen to this team.”

Lance Reynolds: “I remember we missed three field goals and we (had a dropped pass) in the end zone. We dropped another one but the missed field goals, whew. All of them would have kept us in the game and we were in the game until the end. We didn’t play like we were capable. After that we settled down and never lost again. But, yeah, it is a sore spot. They are always tough to beat at home, their home record over the years is always good, so we’re looking forward to the challenge. We have a lot more experience on the team in traveling that we’ve had the past few years and I don’t think it will affect us like it did a year ago. Last year we had a lot of guys who’d never traveled before.”