Practice report: Unga's status

As usual, Wednesday is the final day the media has access to players and coaches until after Saturday’s game. Coach Bronco Mendenhall said running back Harvey Unga has looked better than last week in practices. “I am not sure there will be any restrictions, whether or not he will be 100 percent, I’m not certain.”

Mendenhall added that Unga’s status “has become not as relevant” due to the play of Bryan Kariya and J.J. DiLuigi.

Unga said he is “praying” to be able to go at 100 percent on Saturday, and get a full workload, adding that it’s up to what the trainers and doctors say.

As he has been saying all week, Mendenhall said safety Scott Johnson, who suffered a concussion last Saturday at Tulane, is “possible” for Saturday.

BYU defensive lineman Brett Denney said he’s looking forward to being back home, where the Cougars haven’t lost a game in three seasons. He’s never experienced a loss at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

The fact that Florida State is coming to Provo is a big deal because it’s becoming more and more difficult to lure prominent schools like FSU here. To get them here, most big schools want a two-for-one deal, where a team comes to Provo once while BYU must travel twice. Mendenhall addressed that earlier this week:

“We’re having a very difficult time or being acknowledged for teams like that to play us home-and-home,” he said. “Most of the time, they want two-for-one. I’m really not willing to go two-for-one any longer. Even if that was the philosophy at one point, I think our program has a different level of credibility that’s been earned. The teams that suggest two-for-one, I take as an insult.”