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A quick reference guide to the '08 football season

A true football fan skips no games because a true football fan knows a game against Weber St. or Northern Iowa is better than any basketball or baseball game.

"Is it just me, or does this sound like the argument for war in Iraq?" - Brad Rock

Not exactly because one of the main reasons for the war - weapons of mass destruction - was never found. The big difference will be BYU unleashing its weapons of mass destruction on their opponents. Yewt fan thinks his team will beat BYU at LES North this season? To quote Mr. T, "I pity the fool!"

Games to skip-Rock's reading audience is not true BYU or Utah fans-it is the general readership of the newspaper as a whole.

Thanks Brad - but I must confess to being amused at all the speculation of Bronco being tempted by "high profile" programs to go elsewhere.

Minnesota? Are you serious? Syracuse? Arizona? Come on. BYU has more football tradition than any of those programs. Or let me phrase it differently - in the past 30 years BYU has consistently been more relevant than any of them on the national scene. Other than one brief run by Arizona in the early 90s they've all been pretty poor. To use your own phrasing - BYU owns a higher profile in college football than any of the three, BCS affilitations not withstanding.

As for Iowa or UW - really lateral moves for Bronco.

More importantly you just don't seem to get Bronco - the dude's values and sense of mission about BYU run deep. He's able to apply his life philosophy in running the BYU program in ways that he never could at another program.

Even if REAL profile programs like Penn St or Va Tech were to come knocking Bronco would be unlikely to go. The sense is very strong that he finds the challenge and opportunity of making BYU a Top 10 national power more compelling than anything he could do elsewhere.

So if Bronco leaves BYU it's either going to be (a) to retire (which could happen sooner than we think) or (b) for a true heavyweight like Michigan.

That you even consider the "profiles" of Minnesota and Syracuse tempting is pretty telling.

BYU 21

How come other high profile jobs don't come knocking on Kyle Whittingham's door?

northern iowa state community college 17????? what happened to this superb defense? If they can do that its going to be scary for the "quest" when you play ucla or utah.

Remember....it has and is and always will be about one thing....the ALMIGHTY!$(dollar)$

As much as you think Bronco's sense of "mission" values, tradition etc run deep, I promise you that his sense of duty to provide as much for his family as he can runs infinately deeper. As it should.. Is the saying "Family First" or "Football First"?

Though the aforementioned schools lack tradition they do not lack the money that could lure Bronco away. And who would blame him?

The head coaching position at BYU is NOT (as some believe) a calling. It is a job. And comparitavely speaking a relatively low paying job compared to what he could earn in a BCS conference (see Urban Meyer)

And Yes I am a Utah fan... However I have nothing but respect admiration (and a little envy!) for Bronco as a man, a fellow Mormon, and a leader. He is great. As great as they come. And I hope that someday he serves as Mission President to one of my sons. Good luck cougs but as always...follow the Prophet and GO UTES!!

Never seen Bronco under pressure? You're kidding, right? How about that first season? Or that fact that his team has a habit of dropping two early games?

Whittingham fired if the team is down this year? Good grief, I hope not. They expect to get a better replacement? Kinda doubt it.

To Watching Coaches: While Bronco has done an outstanding job rebuilding a program in shambles, the true test of coaching skill comes from real adversity, not just losing early games. That's bad season preparation I would like to see if he can win 9 games with the number of injuries in skill positions that Utah had last year. I don't mean that as an insult, just one more vote of confidence for Whit and his resilience. I wish the cougs well this season, it will just make our win in Nov. sweeter

East River Cat I find it funny that you think that BYU is more relevant than Minnesota or Iowa. Both are in the Big Ten and would pay much more than the 400K or so that BYU is paying Bronco and Minnesota has a brand new on campus stadium that will be one of the nicest in the country. Iowa has been a good mid level team in the Big Ten for the past 15 - 20 years ending the season in the top ten 4 times. Plus if he could win the Big Ten he would play in a BCS bowl and possible a national championship, not the Las Vegas bowl. Of course he is not a good enough coach to win the Big Ten as long as Jim Tressel is at Ohio State. Bronco isn't even good enough to hold Tressel's clip board.

Iowa has be good for a lot longer than 15 - 20 years. Hayden Fry had them rolloing for a long time. As for Washington being a lateral move, give me a break Seattle VS. Provo Pac 10 VS. MTN West. I am a total homer but come on.

Hey East River Cat, wake up.
If you can win in a REAL CONFERENCE, you go to a REAL BOWL GAME. Every year. You can actually play for the NC in the PAC 10, Big Ten, etc. You cannot do that in the MWC.

But hey, I guess the Vegas bowl tops that.

Typical ewete fan, always making excuses instead of rising above the challenges. Did you not hear that BYU lost Tafuna and Tialiavea due to injuries in fall camp? Both were picked to start the season before they went down? Did you not hear that Vakapuna, BYU's best known running back was injured at the end of '06 and BYU didn't know if he'd be well enough to start again? did you not know that Hall suffered a shoulder separation at least as comparable in severity to the one Johnson suffered?

Did you hear BYU make excuses? NO, in fact, BYU was proud that they had athletes who could step it up and make plays. Did you not hear that BYU also started 4 walk-ons in the secondary and ended up with a top 10 pass defense?!!!

Excuses are for losers. Winners overcome the tribulations and trials and get the job done. Oh, that's right, BYU beat Utah even with comparable injuries and without excuse.

I just hope that Utah has no injuries this season so that when BYU beats them again, there will be NO EXCUSES.

Have you heard the phrase "overly intense?"

Take it down a few notches. Maybe "davidutefan" had reason to be responded to, but at least his post was civil and tried to credit the other team to some degree. I used to think there was some truth to BYU fans claiming Utah fans were first and foremost BYU haters. Throughout the past few years, though, I've learned hate is spewed on both sides in equal amounts.

As far as your comment about plugging in players to replace starters. Maybe you'll change your tune if Max Hall goes down and Austin Collie begins playing the QB position. Yeah, if that happens I'm sure we won't hear any excuses about injuries will we? I guess you left all of your excuses with the Crowton era.

I'm sure you meant "IF" BYU beats them (Utah) again, there will be no excuses.

Buckeye ute follows 2 over-rated teams. The Buckeye bowl record is joke and the 3rd place utes are a legend in their own mind. As a private university, BYU doesn't have to publish Bronco's salary so if you know how much it is, you must be his banker.

Can injuries be used as an excuse? Absolutely not...if the Utes lose, but DEFINITELY if the cougs fall short.

Let's review a little statistical analysis of last season. Both Johnson and Hall suffered Grade 3 shoulder separations, but Johnson played with that separation for NINE games whereas Hall only had to soldier through THREE.

Prior to Hall's injury, he averaged 312.1 passing yds/game, but only 242.3 afterward. That's drop-off of almost 70 yds/game. Hall's post-injury production came against Utah, SDSU, and UCLA.

If we looked at Johnson's 1st 3 games following HIS injury, he averaged 237.7 passing yds/game -- about 4.6 yds/game fewer than Hall -- against Utah St, Louisville, and SDSU.

Interestingly, while SDSU was each team's only common opponent POST-injury, the 2 QB's performances were very similar. Hall passed for 227 yds, while Johnson threw for 220.

Hall won 3 of 3 games following his injury. Johnson won 8 of 9. One can only speculate how Hall would have performed should he have been called to take the field for another SIX!

Injuries were DEFINITELY a factor in the Utes' performance last year. I believe they really brought it together, and demonstrated a lot of resiliency.

Hey Big 10. Lets see Ohio State has played in 5 BCS bowls in 7 years and won three including a national championship. What has BYU done in those seven years? Two wins in the Las Vegas bowl and a loss in the Vegas bowl and a loss in the Liberty bowl. Yeah, BYU has so much more to brag about. Bronco's salary was published in the Des. News when he was hired and Kyle got more at the U.