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Are Cougars lucky, good or both?

We escaped some close ones that's for sure. But this year I don't think the games will be close enough for us to have to be lucky. ESPN has us 13th! Everyone has more experience. Our schedule is a little easier this year. We have a practice game against N. Iowa. Everything is aligned for BYU to be the busters of the BCS. I'm trying to be as modest as possible but it's hard to when you know BYU FOOTBALL RULES!

Coach Anae has never fully acknowledged how close he came to losing vs. UCLA last December when he chose to run the ball deep in his territory with less than a minute in the first half, rather than just run out the clock. BYU fumbled and gave up a TD needlessly - while everyone with half a brain watching the game was pleading for BYU to take a knee.

Anae is no offensive genius and although he has some decent players returning, will not capitalize fully on their skill. He's also extremely arrogant as a person. I hope he can learn from his mistakes or that BYU will find someone who can really bring this offense to another level.

That is a dumb question, is byu lucky? OF COURSE THAY ARE LUCKY. But not this year. I think byu will be good. But not good enough to beat the UTES.

I almost wasted my time reading this article but then I looked at the writer and just posted this comment. Harmon, please go away.

The Cougars were no more lucky than Utah was in still being in the game and holding onto a lead. In both cases the underdog team was leading, so to say that BYU subsequently winning was luck is hard to say any more than Utah was therefore lucky to be even in the game at that point. I dont' take anything from Utah's effort, it was valiant, my point is only that maybe the Cougars were "lucky", but by that same definition then, so were the Utes.

I prefer to think that Whittingham is one play away from 0 - 3 against the Bronco.

Good and lucky. But against Utah, mostly lucky.

Neither.
It's righteousness.

Woulda Coulda Shoulda....

Doesn't matter!

don't count Northern Iowa out Anonymous. they are a perennial div1-AA powerhouse and look what Appy State did to Michigan at the big house last year. BYU can not afford to lose this game and still be blessed with a top 10 finish like Michigan had handed to them on a silver platter last year. the Cougs will have to win all their games to maintain respect while Florida will continue to lose two or three games and still be invited to the national championship closed door BCS determination meeting near the end of the season. and NO, the SEC is NOT the best football conference in the nation. they just have more money thanks to the wicked, crooked system they created to tell everyone they are the best via their bought and paid for media outlets, ESPN/ABC and FOX.

byu 0 and 3 to start. no luck in scheduling the first three games.

Danny Ainge, Jim McMahon, Steve Young, Larry Bird, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Joe Montana, John Elway...

We've seen every one of them deliver in the clutch, WINNING games they should have lost.

The true test of a champion is NOT in winning blowout games, it is in delivering in the clutch when ONE play can spell the difference between winning and losing.

The 2-minute drill. Saving par with a 25-foot put. The sprint to the finish. Nailing a pull-up jumper with no time left on the clock.

30-point blowouts are for sissies.

True greatness is defined by snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Great teams and great players find ways of winning games they should have lost.

As Vince Lombardi taught his players, luck doesn't favor the lucky; it favors the prepared team.

You can count on a yewt team to find a way to lose three or four games a year. They always underachieve and they always choke in the closing seconds against BYU. Bronco is so superior to Whittingham as a coach that it isn't fair to compare the two. I shutter to think that the boneheads who run the BYU athletic department almost hired Whittingham. Thank goodness Whittingham listened to that small still voice and went to yewt land.

Good or Lucky? How about a more obvious possiblilty - the utes are just bad.

Utah is a good team - and that's great. BYU has all of the makings of a great team - and that's good, too!

Anyone who TRULY cares about this state, and yes, religion ~ wants them BOTH to do well (at least until the annual rivalry game).

The others ~ who simply spew hate ~ prove that they aren't truly interested in the state OR religion - and that by perpetuating false negatives about either team is simply an act of their own ignorance and unhappiness.

The very best to both teams!

You can call it luck but a team has to be good enough to be in a position for the "luck" to happen.

Of course byU was lucky last year.

UCLA's kicker pooched the kick making for a lower ball flight making it possible to be blocked, the byU player did NOT make a great play. On 99 out of 100 FG attempts, his hand would not have been high enough to block the kick.

Against Utah, byU was lucky that the Ute DB made a mistake in coverage. It wasn't anything Collie did to get open, byU just took advantage of a mistake that most of the time would not have happened.

Bottom line, byU doesn't win either of those games if it isn't for the luck.

It will come around. The Cougs can't get lucky against the Utes forever.

And that bowl game, please. A 25 yard field goal blocked? And you call that skill? If anything it was a UCLA mistake - but more likely just luck.

Joe, you can't be serious. Apparently I don't care about my religion because I don't want BYU to win. Well, it is too bad that my fate in the afterlife is going to be determined by my liking for BYU football.

I don't know why BYU fans just can't get it into their heads that this kind of attitude is why so many people don't like their school.

By the way, Joe, your first two sentences are pretty passive aggressive and your post comes off as very hypocritical and holier-than thou, at least to me.

Of course luck was a part of winning, but a lousy team would not have been able to pull off the wins.