Deseret News | BYU ranked No. 16 in AP preseason poll

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BYU ranked No. 16 in AP preseason poll

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I am a BYU grad | 6:11 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

and was a huge fan in the Lavelle Edwards days but I have to admit that I am fairly indifferent now. I think it is hilarious that such importance is placed on these polls and all this trash talking from BYU fans over them (see the first several comments). With that said, I think that BYU will lose to Washington, UCLA, and Utah. I just don't think BYU can play with the these teams on a regular basis and they are going to run out of miracles against Utah. It will be refreshing to hear all the trash come to an end.

Fully Invested | 9:45 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

To "Re: Anonymous 10:30 PM-too funny", how big of you to rip on the MWC and the schedule that BYU has. I would agree that the MWC is no PAC 10, or any other BS conference for that matter, but we are the best of the rest.(not saying much, I know) But you have to realize as fans we have to be excited about something, even if it is merely a bone thrown to us by the BCS. While you sit and critisize us, all you do is take on this arrogant, I am better than you persana. Obviously, there are a few things you don't understand.

1.We would gladly accept an invite into a BCS conference, but it seems all the BCS conferences and their fans want to do is bag on the have nots and keep them in their place. Why don't you back up your arrogance and either invite us in or institute a true playoff. By not doing that, all you are proving is that you are nothing but a bunch of meely-mouthed hypocrites. Back it up!!!! Are you affraid!!!!

2.The gap is narrowing. Utah and BSU beat BCS teams on your so called weak schedules.

CougarFan | 10:33 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Enough about the BCS talk. thats a joke, lets just take it one game at a time. I like there chances though this year. Utah is going to get murdered in S.L. BYU by 28. Speaking of Utah who do you play that is ranked this year. Oh Shoot Son.

Comments continue below

Re: Patata Brava | 11:21 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

My examples (and logic) were spot on. Here are some more ï¿½spot onï¿½ examples from just this season alone:

Wisconsin at Fresno St.
Washington St. at Hawaiï¿½i
Cincinnati at Hawaiï¿½i
Texas Tech at Nevada
Stanford at TCU
Texas A&M at New Mexico
Virginia Tech at East Carolina
West Virginia at East Carolina
Rutgers at Navy
Pittsburgh at Navy

It doesnï¿½t appear you have to have a BCS fan base at these mid-majors to get a home game from BCS teams. Fresno St. scheduled a last minute fill in game to travel all the way to Piscataway for their matchup against Rutgers ON THE SAME DAY THE COUGARS WERE LOOKING FOR A HOME GAME. I doubt the naysayers would have said BYU was scheduling down by exchanging Nevada for the Bulldogs. Even though they are not a BCS team, they are a well respected mid-majorï¿½and a 1-A team.

BCS teams WILL travel to BYU, just as willingly as they will for other top mid-major programs, if and when BYU decides they're finally up for the challenge.

Re: CougarFan | 11:28 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Michigan is ranked #24 in the Coaches Poll.

Anonymous | 11:48 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

"To Bleed Blue | 6:14 p.m. | 11:11 p.m. Aug. 16, 2008
Applause! I hope many of your fellow Cougar fans are listening. You're a voice of reason in a heads-in-the-cloud world, man. You win games ON THE FIELD. Not by talking smack on inane comment boards."

Are you Ute fans listening.

re: RE:Anonymous 10:30 PM | 11:55 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Best smack of the day.

An English teacher proof reading a post.

I say, we all get out our red pens and get after it.

It's no longer about footbal, clowning, smack talking. All posts will be ranked on spelling, grammer, and penmanship.

Serious, I think ther is an English board somewhere where your skills might be better put to use...

Serious, read the posts and I'm sure you'll find something fun in every single one.

Time to lose the trolls? | 11:58 a.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Anyone else getting tire of all the trolls on the boards?

Time for some new rules?

No trolling. Posts intended solely to annoy and/or offend other posters by going against the clear nature of a board or topic are not allowed. This includes, but is not limited to: Provoking other users to respond with flames, Provoking fans of a particular team or group, Making misleading topic titles and asking obviously useless questions.

I think it might be nice to have an intelligent conversation some time.

Fully Invested | 12:14 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

To "Re:Patata Brava",I wasn't going to say anything, but you don't know what you are talking about. Fresno St. is only playing 5 home games this year and they didn't want to make BYU one of their 7 road games. They actually felt there was more to gain by playing Rutgers and their chances of winning were better. Their record in Provo is not good. Quit acting like you know everything about scheduling, you don't.

Raggin' on MWC | 1:19 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

As I recall, the MWC had a pretty good bowl run last season, against BCS teams. Granted, not the top 10 BCS teams, but nonetheless, BCS teams.

That says something, doesn't it?

Idaho Cougar Fan | 1:31 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

I'm sick of everybody dissing BYU's schedule. I admit it is not the most pretty thing and I would like to see a USU replaced by another team (Northern Iowa is better than USU). Yes, we base everything on preseason rankings and what happened last year, but nobody knows what is going to happen this year. By the end of the year we might be saying how the schedule was tougher than everyone thought! Like it or not Ute fans, the Y is the team to beat and soft schedule or not, if they win out they are favorites to go to the BCS.

Huh? | 1:54 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Herbstreit said BYU's #16 ranking is a joke on ESPN today, then admitted he votes on the AP Poll. Quit giving us Boises & Hawaiis he said. Seems contradictory to me. How does a non-BCS team land there in the preseason unless a large group of voters think they belong there? Just askin...

Re: Fully Invested | 2:13 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

BYU never offered Fresno St. a home and home. Quit acting like you know what you're talking about.

Re: Time to lose the Trolls | 2:14 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

As long as the DesNews doesn't require logins, there will always be idiots misrepresenting themselves, and hiding behind the cloak of anonymity.

You won't have that problem on the SLTrib boards though.

Anonymous | 2:30 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

"Fresno St...didn't want to make BYU one of their 7 road games."

Not so. BYU never offered a home-and-home series with the Bulldogs.

"They actually felt there was more to gain by playing Rutgers and their chances of winning were better."

Financially, Fresno St. would have made more money playing the cougars than the knights on just the gate receipts alone. Add on the additional costs incurred in traveling all the way to NJ rather than UT and it's plain to see the Bulldogs had more to gain by playing BYU.

The Bulldogs have a better chance pulling off the "W" against Rutgers, but we ARE talking about Fresno St. here. They don't back down from anyone. I don't know of ANY mid-major program who has consistently scheduled as aggressively as Pat Hill's team. This year they'll play Wisconsin. Their odds at defeating the Badgers IN FRESNO are not likely as good as their odds at defeating the cougars IN PROVO. This year, they are talking about earning a BCS bid, and if undefeated at season's end, due to their brutal schedule, they will VERY LIKELY get one. If given a choice, I'm sure they'd rather challenge the cougars.

Re: CougarFan | 10:33 | 2:50 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Sports Illustrated ranked Oregon St. at #20.

This is Troll Heaven | 2:54 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Know why? See "Re: Time to lose the Trolls | 2:14 p.m." above. Sad but true, unfortunately. Anyone can post anything here under any pretense.

No intelligent conversation or rational discourse will last long here. The nature of the forum itself encourages smack talk and put-downs. Until that changes (as it should), and the DesNews requires identity labels to post, we'll have to live with all this "Talk to the Hand" crapola.

I for one am tired of it as well. I hope the DesNews comes to its senses about this soon!

Fully Invested | 3:14 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

To "Re:Fully Invested"; you need to learn how to read. I never said BYU made an offer. The subject was never approached because of the disinterest on the part of Fresno State's part. And, by the way, I am a terrible actor. To be honest with you, I was disappointed in the choice to fill the slot left by Nevada until I read up on UNI. Now I am disappointed for a different reason. They are actually good enough to pull a shocker and yet BYU has nothing to gain from a win.

Fully Invested | 3:29 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

"Financially, Fresno St. would have made more money playing the cougars than the knights on just the gate receipts alone." That's ludicrous since at the time of scheduling they have no idea of knowing what kind of money will be generated from gate recreipts. You don't schedule cross country without settling on a hard dollar figure. Otherwise it could be a nagative proposition dollarwise.

Fresno St. is aggresive in their scheduling, but don't think for one second that they will also back away from a tough game. Besides why shoul any of this matter anyway when neither you or I or any one on these comments has any idea of the exact details of what goes on when filling the schedules of any school, let alone a school who had a scheduled opponent back out on a contract.

Re: Fully Invested | 4:30 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Fresno practically put out an "all points bulletin" for an opening season opponent during the off-season last spring. That's how I knew about it, and if I knew about, I'm sure BYU's athletic department was aware of it also. Why didn't BYU approach Fresno St. with the same enthusiasm as they did with Northern Iowa?

Probably because they needed to schedule down. BYU is afraid of a little competition, so they scooped up a 1-AA team, touted them as strong, and has seemingly duped their fans into believing this would be a close game.

As was argued earlier, the benefits of playing the cougars vs. the Bulldogs refutes any claims on your part that Fresno was "not interested". It was the other way around.

jgmats | 4:41 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Everyone worries about pre-season ratings. I suppose it is nice to be ranked but it means nothing. Wins are what are important. If you win
ratings take care of themselves. From the first game
BYU needs to take each game one at a time as if it is the only game that is important. As far as ratings go, if BYU doesn't win at Washington and at home against UCLA they won't mean a thing.

Remember.. | 4:42 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Look above...Utah's two toughest opponents are in the ap votes, as well as BYU's. Doesn't look like their schedule is that much tougher. And Utah has Weber State, and BYU has N.I. who is in the top 3 in the fcs and at the end of last year was ranked in the top 65 in the nation.

Fully Invested | 5:08 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

As I said earlier, we are only making assumptions hear, unless you were sitting in the athletic directors office when the phone call was made I doubt that you have a clue as to what went down. I'll admit that all I have is speculation.

As for your comment that BYU is affraid of a little competition, you can't be serious about that comment. BYU has Florida St. on their schedule for the future.(home and home) Not to mention they have played Boston College, Notre Dame, USC,Washington, and Penn St. to name a few. Those programs have a lot more respect in the college football world than Fresno St. And I will give you one benefit of playing Rutgers over playing BYU; if they beat them its a quality win on the road over a BCS school. If they beat BYU its just another win over a non BCS school, and given the cougars record at home the last two years maybe that didn't appeal to them.(just speculating of course)By the way don't you have something better to to than pick apart BYU's schedule, like defending why Utah has Weber St. on their schedule.

Re: Fully Invested | 5:29 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

"That's ludicrous since at the time of scheduling they have no idea of knowing what kind of money will be generated from gate recreipts [sic]."

Rutgers Stadium seats 41,500. LES seats 64,045. Rutgers is a commuter campus, thus rarely selling out their stadium. I can't recall any recent history where BYU's stadium brought fewer than Rutger's seating capacity. Travel costs would be lower to UT than NJ as well. Do the math.

Citing BCS teams on your future schedule made prior to Bronco's "new scheduling model" does not refute the intent to dumb down their schedules. Florida St. and BC were scheduled prior to Bronco taking over the reigns of the program. Northern Iowa and Army were not. Neither was Tulane.

Citing BCS teams already played says nothing of BYU's CURRENT SCHEDULING MODEL, and thus, your points are moot.

I do not defend Weber St. on Utah's schedule (nor San Jose St. for that matter) and have routinely criticized on the comment boards of both the DesNews and the SLTrib, which is one of the many major inherent differences between Ute and cougar fans. Ute's can criticize their own team. Cougar fans can't be that objective.

Fully Invested | 6:15 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

You were the one who brought up gate sales, not me. I'll admit, I have no idea why UNI was scheduled and not Fresno St. I'm only speculating. Just as you don't know. If Bronco is dumbing down the schedule, then I agree with you. As a fan I am giving him the benefit of the doubt because I don't know how hard they tried to fill the schedule last minute. The reason I don't criticize is because I have a lot of faith in Bronco. But , by the same token , I don't criticize Whit for who he schedules. It's obvious that both schools see the folly in scheduling only top 25 programs for all of their oc games. When you're not in a BCS conference and you want to get to a BCS bowl you schedule appropriately; after all you don't have BCS talent so why try topretend that you do. I'm not a BYU fan because I think they are a BCS caliber team. There are two levels in D-1 football, which is why we need a playoff. But in the mean time I will happily root for my Cougers to beat whoever they play.

Re: Fully Invested | 6:35 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

"When you're not in a BCS conference and you want to get to a BCS bowl you schedule appropriately; after all you don't have BCS talent so why try topretend [sic] that you do."

The notion we "don't have BCS talent" is the VERY logic that has been keeping us out of receiving an automatic BCS game for our league champions. BCS bowl games are for STRONG teams, not for charity "best of the rest" teams. If the goal is to play in a BCS bowl game, one must schedule to PROVE one belongs.

Current BCS teams must beat between 70-100% of conference opponents (i.e. at the very LEAST 5 BCS opponents if you're playing in the Big [L]East) to be eligible to be a conference champion. Why should MWC/WAC team be able to get away with scheduling only 1 or 2 BCS teams? We need to EARN it. We need to PROVE the MWC/WAC is as good as the next (or at least the worst) BCS conference, and that can only be done by beating teams other than Nevada, Army, Tulane, San Jose St, Weber St, or Northern Iowa. We need to play OOC BCS conference teams.

Re: Fully Invested | 6:40 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

"I'll admit, I have no idea why UNI was scheduled and not Fresno St. I'm only speculating. Just as you don't know."

Well you SHOULD know. Just as I know. Your coach ALREADY told us, and it's been reported in the press.

"The model has been set." --Bronco Mendenhall

Anonymous | 7:06 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

"...I will give you one benefit of playing Rutgers over playing BYU; if they beat them its [sic] a quality win on the road over a BCS school. If they beat BYU its just another win over a non BCS school..."

Since early last spring, before Fresno inked a deal with Rutgers, and before BYU locked onto UNI, ESPN prognosticators [as well as rabid cougar fans on these threads] have been predicting BYU to grab a mid-teen PRESEASON ranking [which they did]. Nobody predicted Rutgers would even garner "others receiving votes".

Therefore...

...A win over Rutgers wouldn't turn many heads in week one, while a loss would register as an upset..."proving" Fresno doesn't belong among the BCS Bowl worthy programs.

...A win over a ranked [#16] cougar team, in week one, would vault them into the role of "favored BCS buster" for the 2008 season. An undefeated season thereafter would sew up the BCS bowl invite. A loss would leave them behind BYU as the favored BCS buster. Since only one non-BCS team can earn the bowl bid, what difference would it make in selecting their eventual post-season bowl game?

Fully Invested | 7:09 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

When Bronco said that I believe he was referring to Hawaii's schedule in frustration. (maybe I'm wrong)

Do you really believe that BSU had more talent than Oklahoma? I think not. The point is that the stronger point isn't to prove to have equal talent, but that any team can beat another team on any given day. We will never have BCS talent unless we are in a BCS conference or a playoff is instituted.

I don't like playing D-2 schools any more than you do, but if you can schedule them and still get to a BCS game, then what's to stop teams from doing it.

Are you saying that the MWC/WAC have the same caliber of talent as BCS schools? Because if you are, then you would be insinuating that the same caliber of football is being played in the MWC/WAC as in BCS conferences. If that's the case, then who cares if you schedule a D-2 school every now and then as BCS conference schools do.

The system is flawed and the BCS needs to be done away with. Maybe we can at least agree on that.

Re: Fully Invested | 7:31 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Yes. I am saying that there are teams in the MWC and the WAC that have the same caliber of players as teams in the BCS. Especially in the 1st and 2nd string. It's depth that we don't have much of.

Top to bottom, the MWC is equal to, or greater than, the Big [L]East. Furthermore, teams such as Utah, BYU, TCU, New Mexico, Boise St, Fresno St, Hawai'i, So. Mississippi, Houston, and Tulsa even have more depth than other teams currently in the BCS (i.e. Syracuse, Duke, Iowa St, Minnesota, Northwestern, and Vanderbilt) year in and year out.

"When Bronco said that I believe he was referring to Hawaii's schedule in frustration. (maybe I'm wrong)"

I'd say you're wrong, because Bronco executed on his statement by scheduling Northern Iowa, Army, and Tulane.

The system IS flawed.

Fully Invested | 8:21 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Hey all of you better get your facts straight before you go popping off about why BYU didn't schedule Fresno St.. The UNI game was announced on 1/15/08; at the time Fresno St. had Kansas St. on their schedule. In April Kansas St. backed out of the deal. (Fresno St. already had hotel rooms booked)Later in April, Fresno St. managed to schedule with Rutgers. Like I said earlier, for a bunch of people who act like they Know so much, you really don't know much at all.(I love google)

I notice you mention the Big East. Why not mention USC,Texas,LSU,Florida,Ohio ST.,and other teams in the top half of the BCS. And lets just say I buy your arguement about talent. Then, once again why not schedule a D-2 team once in a while like the big boys do.

Referring to an article in 12/07 Hill said "Anybody,anywhere,anytime". However admirable that may be, it could cost him "home game money, a better record,a chance at a WAC title and the BCS portal,like forever". Sounds to me like maybe Bronco and Kyle aren't as dumb as you think they are. Like I said, the goal is to get the BCS game.

Fully Invested | 10:40 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

To follow up, yes Bronco was talking about Hawaii's schedule. I checked since I obviously can't beleive anything you pollyana Ute fans post on here. Also, at the time Nevada backed out, BYU got 5 phone calls from D-2 schools , but Holmoe worked through deputy MWC commissioner Bret Gilliland to help search for a D-1 opponent. The only thing they could have done was switch the game to another date or given up a home game. Neither of whitch was financially feasible. Holmoe also said the scheduling of D-2 opponents were transitional situations that they hope to avoid in the future.

Just for the record 41 of 64 BCS schools scheduled D-2 schools in 2007. In case your wondering how good Northern Iowa is; their final Sagarin ranking was better than 4 MWC teams and 6 WAC teams. Looking at that statistic makes me think Utah would probably be wise not to play them after what happened at UNLV.

Utah fans are busy bagging on BYU for their losses; maybe they need to look at the quality of some of the opponents in their losses. Doesn't look so good.

Pac-10 Voice | 11:06 p.m. Aug. 17, 2008

Hey, let's admit it--the TOP teams in the MWC and WAC can COMPETE with the Pac-10 top to bottom any day. Same for most of the Big Ten/11, though Ohio State and Michigan usually dominate their opponents. (Sorry, Utes--but good luck in The Big House anyway.)

Nothing new, really, but remember: It's the REST of the teams that account for conference weakness. Take Wyoming or UNLV and put them up against Stanford or Washington. Likely 19 times out of 20, it's a Pac-10 win, with half of those games not even close. The Pac-10 and *most* BCS conferences (cough-BigLeast-cough) ARE much stronger top-to-bottom than ANY mid-major.

Had Stanford or Washington been in the MWC last year, BOTH would have finished in the upper half, with an outside shot at actually winning it all. Neither were bad teams--they were just on the wrong side of the scoreboard too many times against quality opponents. Fact of life: *Good* teams often lose to even *better* or *best* teams in BCS conferences.

Exactly why only the idiots among the BYU fans think playing the Huskies in Seattle is a gimme game. Guess what, folks--BYU COULD LOSE THERE. Get real--or get humbled. You choose.

A little vested on vested action | 1:27 a.m. Aug. 18, 2008

I say fully invested and re-fully invested get a room.

RE:Anonymous | 7:06 a.m. Aug. 18, 2008

It's too bad you really can't say what you feel about certain bloggers, isn't that right Anonymous?

On to other things.....isn't the utes playing Weber State? Isn't it amazing the d'utes forget that? And don't they play Utah State as well? And let's not forget the feel good game they'll play and lose in Laramie?

A Conversation I heard the other day:
"And did you hear the one about how proud the RM's at Utah are about being ranked 16th by Smut Central(to the uninitiated that's Playboy)But the Cougars aren't ranked? Nope, but who cares to ranked by Smut Central?????"

Further conversations heard:
"Talk is good for the utes and their fans. Where they ended up the past couple of seasons behind BYU? Did you say behind BYU, my brother of another mother? Yes I did. And did you hear about all the smut(lol), I mean smack; ute fans talk about the
Cougars before, during and after their seasons....."

"Let just say from the above chit-chat, that ute fans have no room to put our Cougars down. Until they(the utes)prove otherwise, we the Cougars(!)rule the current world of college football in Utah. Smut Central(Playboy)would even admit that..."

Go Cougars!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Pac-10 small talk | 7:20 a.m. Aug. 18, 2008

Yawn!

Stanford and Washington 2007 would have been mediocre in the MWC also.

Washington might be improved this year. A lot will depend on whether their QB has learned how to throw the ball. He was a great scrambler last season, but his throwing accuracy was horrible.

Anonymous | 9:23 a.m. Aug. 18, 2008

funny thing is sports center thinks byu hasnt earned the right to be in top 25. also said not to even talk about the boise state or utah bcs buster until they actually r unbeaten after 6 to 8 games.. byu is good but dont even talk about perfect season because u have a lot of tough teams to play.....

re: Anonymous | 9:23 a.m | 10:06 a.m. Aug. 18, 2008

"funny thing is sports center thinks byu hasnt earned the right to be in top 25."

They need to get with ESPN.com because ESPN.com has them almost locked to a BCS Bowl, and an outside shot at the BCS title game.

Funny what you hear and rea when you are listening for something else.

another False Start on BYU | 12:37 p.m. Aug. 18, 2008

"They need to get with ESPN.com because ESPN.com has them almost locked to a BCS Bowl..."

I read some articles on ESPN. They seem to think BYU needs about 12 wins to be a lock for a BCS Bowl, but may slide in with 11 if it's one loss is early enough in the season. Right now BYU has zero down, and 12 to go. To have them almost locked, they'll be needing at least 10 wins by mid-November.

ESPN also likes Fresno St. if they go undefeated. The Bulldogs' tough opponents are early in the season. The cougars' are late. Edge-Fresno St.

Rutgers not Big Time | 1:22 p.m. Aug. 18, 2008

An example of just how clueless some fans are is using Rutgers as a "big time" BCS team that isn't afraid to schedule the likes of Fresno State.

ARE YOU KIDDING???

Frenso State is head-and-shoulders above Rutgers as far as national football reputation.

The ONLY reason Rutgers even became relevant in the Big East Conference is because Virgina Tech, Miami and Boston College bolted to the ACC and left a huge void in the Big East Conference.

Rutgers has NEVER won a Big East football championship and has only been to FOUR bowl games, IN HISTORY!!! Three of their four bowl game appearances came AFTER the top 3 teams in the conference left, leaving Rutgers with little competition to pick up a bowl crumb or two.

2007 International Bowl -- Ball State W 52-30
2006 Texas Bowl -- Kansas State W 37-10
2005 Insight Bowl -- Arizona State L 40-45
1978 Garden State Bowl -- Arizona State L 18-34

Rutgers 2006 Top 25 finish (12 AP & Coaches) was the first time Rutgers had finished the season ranked (15 AP, unranked Coaches) since 1961!!!

btw
Utah State finished 1961 ranked 10 AP & Coaches

Pac-10 small talk? | 1:22 p.m. Aug. 18, 2008

Hold the phone, "Small Talk"@7:20. Stanford mediocre in the MWC? You need to go talk to somebody about the pink elephants dancing with the purple alligators on your front lawn.

In case you missed the news last season: THE CARDINAL BEAT USC. No team capable of doing THAT, even in one game, is mediocre in ANY sense of the word. They would have stomped any team in the bottom half of the MWC and given every team in the top half a run for their money. We'll never know if they would have beaten BYU or Utah--and fine, likely not either--but the losses would have been CLOSE.

Sure, Washington's Jake Locker isn't a finished product yet, but he's still dangerous. If anyone at BYU is overlooking him or the Huskies on Sept. 6 IN SEATTLE (where the Cougs haven't had the best of luck over the years, "Small Talk"), you might as well stop the BCS chatter now--'cause it won't happen.

"Small Talk," don't be deluded enough to think that ANY Pac-10 game is a gimme. EVER. And don't be the first to click on firebronco.com if the Cougs lose to BOTH UW and UCLA, either.

MS Cougar Fan | 3:18 p.m. Aug. 18, 2008

"In case you missed the news last season: THE CARDINAL BEAT USC. No team capable of doing THAT, even in one game, is mediocre in ANY sense of the word. They would have stomped any team in the bottom half of the MWC and given every team in the top half a run for their money. We'll never know if they would have beaten BYU or Utah--and fine, likely not either--but the losses would have been CLOSE."

You do know that TCU beat Stanford last year- TCU finished, what, 5th in the MWC. BYU beat TCU (and creamed them statistically). BYU must be amazing by your definition.

Stanford yawn... | 3:31 p.m. Aug. 18, 2008

"Stanford mediocre in the MWC?... THE CARDINAL BEAT USC."

yes, Stanford (4-8, dead last in the PAC 10) beat USC, barely, 24-23, but

THE CARDINAL LOST TO TCU at HOME 36-38

While you're checking out the pink elephants dancing with the purple alligators on your front lawn remember that TCU placed FIFTH in the MWC.

Stanford also LOST to

Washington at home 9-27 (9th in the PAC 10)
@Wash St 17-33 (8th in the PAC 10)
Notre Dame at home 14-21 (one of the worst Notre Dame teams in recent memory)

Hmmm... | 3:36 p.m. Aug. 18, 2008

BYU hasn't been and isn't afraid to schedule big names. Top teams that BYU has played during the regular season that I can remember -- keep in mind that some of these programs were better at the time:

Miami
Florida State
Penn St
Pitt
USC
Notre Dame
Texas
Texas A&M
Boston College

In the future are series with Florida State, Arizona State, and Boise State. I've heard that BYU is trying to work out a future series with Notre Dame, as well as Ohio State.

RE: Ms Cougar Fan, Stanford Yawn | 4:48 p.m. Aug. 18, 2008

Congratulations, you two! You've both discovered the wonderful world of PARITY in college football! BYU last year would have done OK in the Pac-10, sure. "Amazing" would REALLY be stretching it--given the LOSS to/narrow win over UCLA. (I didn't forget either--did you?) But the Utes beat'em 44-6. Make of THAT what you will!

Yes, Stanford lost to TCU at home. Did anyone call TCU losers? They weren't bad--just lost a few games to even better teams. Happens all the time in the Pac-10. So, basically: This middle-of-the-pack MWC team competed on par with the second-to-last place in the Pac-10. So your point would be...?

MY point, as I said before, is still: Any BYU fans who think Pac-10 games--against ANY team!--are gimmes SERIOUSLY need to get their heads examined. Washington and UCLA aren't USC and ASU--but they're no pushovers, either. Take the Huskies and Bruins lightly at your own risk--you'll be the ones crying about it.

But by all means, BYU fans, keep up this inane BCS talk before the first snap of the ball. Those dancing pink elephants haven't run out of gas yet! Let's see if they're still there Sept. 7 or 14!

MS Cougar Fan | 7:53 p.m. Aug. 18, 2008

"given the LOSS to/narrow win over UCLA. (I didn't forget either--did you?) But the Utes beat'em 44-6. Make of THAT what you will!"

BYU had just played UCLA the week before, so UCLA was pretty beaten up already (their own players admitted as much). UCLA got overconfident, and called Utah "BYU-lite" in a pre-game interview. Utah, despite major injuries, used a new offensive scheme that played to their backup players' strengths for that game. These factors led to their undoing that weak. BYU still beat Utah. As you mentioned, BYU also later beat UCLA, all while playing four slow white walkons in the defensive secondary.

What do I make of it? Hmm... a MWC team (Utah) beat the living day lights out of a PAC-10 team (UCLA) with their second string players!

RE: Ms Cougar Fan | 11:01 p.m. Aug. 18, 2008

Yes--good analysis of what happened with Utah/UCLA. That's parity--BYU *lost* to UCLA (you Cougar fans STILL talk like that early-September game never happened!) and was lucky to beat them in LV, Utah beat UCLA, and BYU later beat Utah.

So same thing--under parity, the logic of who wins and loses runs in circles. Congrats to the MWC top-runners, BTW, for hanging tough with the Pac-10 fourth-place team! And thanks for helping me make my point!

So--lemme tell ya once again--anybody who thinks the Utah scenario is USUALLY going to happen with Pac-10 teams will find themselves sadly mistaken.

Let's hear the MWC all-time record against the Pac-10, shall we? 20 wins, 42--that's FORTY-TWO!--losses. That's winning less than a THIRD of the time.

BYU's non-conference record over the past 10 years: 22-23. That's Eastern Washington and Florida State alike.

So--broken-record time, but folks seem to be shutting their ears here--that's why, if you're BYU, you do NOT overlook the Huskies or the Bruins! Wasn't it 12 years ago, BYU went 14-1, with their only loss coming against--guess who--the Huskies in Seattle?

History has a curious way of repeating itself--especially if you underestimate your opponent.

re: another False Start on BYU | 12:01 a.m. Aug. 19, 2008

Well, you did your homework and finally read the ESPN stories, unlike Anonymous | 9:23 a.m saying sportscenter doesn't think BYU deserves any Top 25 action...

Yep, Fresno State too.

One analyst does not Sportscenter make, neither ESPN.com. That's why the high ranking is so important right now. It's like getting a head start. If BYU and Fresno get the same record, only one gets the BCS invite. C'mon, what are the odds of the team with the longest win streak in the nation returning underclassmen QB, WR, RB who ran the MWC table two years in a row, the second year while rebuilding, doing it again?

Personally, I see BYU getting a BCS bid, another MWC getting a bid to the Vegas Bowl after Utah has it's mid-season collapse, and Utah going to the Poinsettia Almond Nut wannabe a real Bowl again, to play some patsy to keep their string of weak bowl wins intact (I am including the Fiesta debacle -- Pitt was the weakest Bowl team playing, BCS/non-BCS in 2004.)

What I like about BYU this year is that they can pull it of, regardless of what Kyle does. BYU just seems to be that good.

re: re: another False Start... | 5:33 a.m. Aug. 19, 2008

"One analyst does not Sportscenter make, neither ESPN.com"

Here's a DIRECT QUOTE from the LA Times from last season:

"Speaking of UCLA vs. Utah the week after BYU-UCLA, Los Angeles Times sports writer Chris Fosters wrote on Wednesday: "This should be BYU lite..."

TDS fans instantly jumped on this quote, but misrepresent the facts by claiming it was stated by "many PLAYERS on the UCLA team." It wasn't. It was PRE-game hype...and by a sporstwriter...who didn't play football for UCLA.

So, which is it? Does one analyst Sportscenter make, or does PRE-game hype hold as much water as a fishing net?

...and don't forget... | 7:03 a.m. Aug. 19, 2008

LA Times Sportswriter, Chris Fosters, actually said that AFTER pointing out the Utes had already lost their starting QB [Johnson] and RB [Asiata].

If TDS fans REALLY believe UCLA players stated BYU was a tougher opponent than Utah, please state your source...and that source cannot be another BYU fan. Just looking at those 3 games played between UCLA and Utah & BYU, I see 44 pts scored on the Bruins by the Utes, and a collective 34 pts scored by the cougars in TWO games. All that versus the Utes holding the Bruins to only 6 pts. The Bruins dropped more points on the cougars in a single quarter.

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