Sometimes Max Hall throws interceptions and recovers quickly. Other times, interceptions overcome the Brigham Young quarterback, who tossed five against Utah in 2008 and three last Saturday against Florida State.
Colorado State players still see Hall in their nightmares driving for a 45-42 comeback win last season.
“He had a great game against us in the last drive,” said CSU safety Elijah-Blu Smith, who has three interceptions in three games.
The annual rematch and Mountain West Conference opener is Saturday in Provo, Utah.
“Max is a good quarterback, and he’s going to take a chance on some throws because he has great receivers out there,” Smith said.
Hall, a fixture for two years on the Davey O’Brien Award watch list, threw to nine receivers against FSU, 10 the week before at Tulane.
This time, a possible BYU weakness is playing into a CSU strength. The Rams are tied with Air Force atop the MWC in turnover margin at plus-2.33 a game. BYU is next to last at minus-1.33.
“We have been very good at taking the ball away this year,” CSU coach Steve Fairchild said. “There is no question that they are going to have to turn the ball over for us to have a chance to win in Provo.”
A week ago, BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said Hall did an outstanding job in the offseason addressing his turnovers and the result was the Oklahoma upset the opening week.
With a shorter, quicker passing game, in theory, Hall could offset other team’s speed advantage. It worked against the Sooners, not the Seminoles.
“Florida State is what happened,” CSU safeties coach Larry Lewis said of the impression on film.
Mendenhall won’t dwell on BCS bowl opportunities going up in flames.
“To some, one loss is devastating, but that’s not the way we feel here,” he said. National aspirations, he said, “are paved by conference championships.”
Tuesday in his weekly teleconference, Hall said: “The bottom line is we have to forget about it and move on. CSU is a very good team.”
A minute, 44 seconds left on the clock for Hall a year ago against the Rams was plenty of time. With 22 seconds left, Hall found tight end Dennis Pitta in the end zone, spoiling CSU’s upset bid.
“We are going to win a game like this (at some point). I hope it’s Saturday,” Fairchild said.
Natalie Meisler: 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com
