Surprise scrimmage

BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall moved up the scrimmage scheduled for Friday to Thursday, noting that Friday’s weather is expected to be worse than it was Thursday.

Cougar quarterbacks Max Hall and Brenden Gaskins played well. Hall was 12 of 13 for 92 yards while Gaskins completed 4 of 7 attempts for 34 yards.

One of the top performances of the day was turned in by freshman Malosi Te’o, who rushed five times for 32 yards.

The best news for BYU was that offensive tackle Nick Alletto suffered only a torn MCL — not a dreaded ACL — in his right knee. Mendenhall said it was the same injury tight end Dennis Pitta suffered against Air Force last season. Pitta came back the next week to play, albeit sparingly, against Utah.

Speaking of offensive linemen, the Cougars were operating with a skeleton crew Thursday. Not only did Alletto miss the scrimmage due to injury, but center R.J. Willing was attending class and guard Jason Speredon was with his wife, who had a baby. Marco Thorson, who backs up Willing, had some errant snaps but overall the O-line looked good.

On Friday, the Cougars will be without another offensive lineman. Guard Terence Brown is getting married.

As for other injuries, X-rays revealed that freshman linebacker Masi Tuitama indeed broke his hand on Tuesday and will be out for 4-6 weeks. Linebacker Jordan Pendleton, who hurt his hand Tuesday, is fine. He participated in Thursday’s scrimmage.