Dec. 2, 1999

PROVO -- This time, BYU players say they'll be more prepared to play in a bowl game.

And they finally got the good word in the best of places.

The news of their bid to play in the Motor City Bowl came just before the guys began running sprints at the Smith Fieldhouse Wednesday afternoon.

They'd been running Tuesday, too.

And they'll be sprinting Thursday and Friday.

"Last year, in preparing to meet Tulane in the Liberty Bowl, we never did any running like this before we got practicing," senior linebacker Rob Morris said.

"We're working off the Thanksgiving turkey."

The Cougars (8-3) will take their No. 25 ranking to Detroit for a Dec. 27 showdown against the winner of the Mid-American Conference championship game between No. 11 Marshall (11-0) and Western Michigan (7-4).

The Cougars, co-champs of the Mountain West Conference, anticipate their opponent will be the Thundering Herd, a team that could face the Cougars at 12-0.

The Motor City Bowl will be televised live on ESPN at 11:30 a.m.

Ironically, this BYU postseason resembles last year in some ways.

Last December, BYU faced undefeated Tulane, a squad looking at a perfect season. Tulane players and coaches also had chips on their shoulders after being snubbed by the Bowl Championship Series.

And lackluster BYU got hammered in the Liberty Bowl.

Now here comes the deja vu: If Marshall wins Friday, the Mid-American kingpin could pose the latest serious embarrassment to the BCS's plan of presenting a clear national champion in college football.

Knowing the challenge from going through it a year ago, BYU players say they're hungry to get to work.

"We didn't finish the season very well," Morris said. "You always want to go out a winner. You want to have your last game be a win.

"Even when you're a kid playing on the playground, you want to keep playing until you leave a winner and that's what we're looking at."

Morris believes he and his teammates have chips on their own their shoulders.

"A year ago, we didn't represent ourselves very well," he said. "We want to do better. I think we'll do better, because we're a better team," Morris said.

There's another difference, according to receiver Margin Hooks.

"A year ago we had two players (Ronney Jenkins and Heshi Robertson) kicked off the team right before we were going to play in the Liberty Bowl," Hooks said.

That disruption, according to Morris, had an effect on BYU's mindset heading to Memphis.

Pointing to BYU's all-MWC cornerback, Brian Gray, Morris said: "Look at Brian, he's being a leader over there."

Gray had a group of defensive backs and receivers huddled around him following the workout.

"He's glad he's got Heshi going to a bowl with him," Morris said. "It's good to know where we're going, so we can get to work."

The Motor City Bowl is almost four weeks away and Morris believes that will be a big plus in BYU's preparation, especially with running back Luke Staley recuperating from a calf muscle injury.

"He's a tough kid and he'll play," Morris said. "He can use the time, though. We all can.

"I know with my injury (abdominal strain), having extra days made a difference. I felt better every day.

And our offensive line can use the time to heal. So can Kevin Feterik."