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BYU football: Can team avoid another 1-2 start?

Best of luck on Saturday. Many in Alaska will be cheering loudly for the Cougars especially over an PAC 10 team in Washington. A great start 3 - 0 would make a memorable season with a great finish. Go Cougars.

Your analysis is all wrong, yes it is true that BYU has had a hard time starting out the season, but why? Because BYU cannot beat a quality non conference team, and never has been able to, except on rare occasions. Last year the cougs lost to an extremely overrated UCLA team and some scrubs. The year before that they lost to Arizona which finished like 8th or 9th in the pac-10. Why can�t any BYU fans realize this, it is soooooo obvious. BYU has little to no respectability outside the MWC and mormonland because of this. And every BYU fan always complains about the lack of respect on the National stage. Well, beat someone. I really don�t like Utah but I know they have a better reputation national because of their record against BSC teams. Face it BYU you cannot beat a quality non conference team and until then noone outside the MWC takes you seriously.

Here is the thing - the Husky fans are really, really hungry for a win. They are desperate. There could be 65,000 in attendance on Saturday. The Husky players also know that their coach's job is on the line. Next week the Huskies play Oklahoma, so if they don't win on Saturday, they will probably go 0-3 to start the season and then he will probably get fired. People are already talking about it.

SO - the key to this game is for BYU to get a very, very fast start. I think that if they could build an early lead and make it look like the Huskies won't come back, by the second half I am confident that the local crowd will turn on Willingham. It could get really ugly.

Good luck Cougars! Take care of business up north!!

I think this will be a hard game. Washington started out pretty good against Oregon in the first quarter but the Ducks poured it on for the remainder. Look for Andrew George to have a big day and our receivers like Collie and Reed. Don't be surprised if Chambers gets some touches on offense too. Of course we'll need Harvey and Fui to play consistently good and they will or at least Unga will. Fui could be the surprise back in this game though. This is a good test but I expect BYU to walk out win a W. BYU 31 Washington 23

reality, you make some good points but all interest is lost in your bigotry and generalizations. try rethinking your analysis.

The real question is whether the utes defense get up the courage to tackle the UNLV running back? Have they gotten over their fear from a year ago?

Washington is going to take a beating of a lifetime Saturday. BYU 42-0. Nuff said.

Reality sounds like a Utah or Utah State fan trying to disguise himself. He must be pretty bored to read a Cougar article just to try and insult them. Here's some reality: get a job.
This could be a breakthrough game for us and hopefully should give us some good confidence going on the road. The Huskies will be motivated. We're going to need to bring it.
Go Cougars!

RE: Shut out

Utah fan? BYU has never come close to beating the Huskies at Huskie Stadium. Washinton's young team will play better in their own stadium. I look for a close game and don't expect a Cougar blowout at all. The key for the Cougars could be whether or not they can establish the run.

after watchin the replay of the byu game last week, im not really sure byu is as good as they think. the lb's were slow to react and the db's looked terrible. niu was horrible, yet they were in it till the latter parts of the 3rd quarter. dont overlook uw cougs or your bcs dreams will be shot. as for utah, continue to play defense with the same tenacity as last week, and you will return the favor to unlv.

There is no denying that Utah has had very good success in some out of conference games as well as bowl games. Congrats to them for that. But to say BYU's out of conference struggles means they have no national respect is to deny what is in black and white. BYU ended the last two seasons in the top 15 and sit at number 15 today. Yes, to get to that next level we need to win these games - most have been very close and it is time to pile up some wins. But the respect is there - for both programs as Utah sits in the top 25 as well. BYU wins 45-27 and Utah wins 38-17 Saturday.

The real reality? BYU has more wins over big names teams in the last 40 years than the best 3 teams in the MWC combined!

Thank goodness for NIU, Utah State and Weber State!

I am true blue. BYU will have their hands full Saturday. If they get ahead early, I hope they remember to not slide after that. And all the BCS talk is not only way early but problematic for the team. We have a good team but they must defeat big name schools to gain respect outside the MWC as Reality correctly put it.

To Reality,

I live in Dallas, which is full of Big 12 fans. BYU has a lot of respect amongst those fans. What is the basis of your statement that "BYU has little or no respectability outside the MWC and mormonland"? What is your evidence?

Patata Brava | 6:48 a.m. Sept. 4, 2008
"There could be 65,000 in attendance on Saturday."

I wouldn't be surprised if 1/5 to 1/4 of the crowd was BYU fans from Washington and Oregon. There are a lot of members of the church up there who are excited to see BYU play. If the game sells out, it won't be Washington fans filling the remaining seats.

geezer | 7:44 a.m. Sept. 4, 2008
"I look for a close game and don't expect a Cougar blowout at all. The key for the Cougars could be whether or not they can establish the run."

I agree with both points. I think the BYU team will be slow to start, but so will the young Washington offense. If Harvey Unga rushes for over 100 yards, I think BYU leaves Seattle with a win. Otherwise it might be close.

I'm not complaining about a lack of respect. 15th in the polls seems pretty respectful to me.

Why does everyone keep talking about the yewts beating such great opponents? Let's look at this closely.

2008...Utah eeks out a victory against a down Michigan team (I'm sure we will find out how down Michigan is as they get exposed in the upcoming weeks).

2007... they beat a sub par Louisville team that finished 6-6 in probably the worst BCS conferences. They beat UCLA in Rice Eccles. BYU also beat UCLA, eventually, on a neutral field.

2006... only non-conference wins came against a non division 1 Northern Arizona team and one of the worst division 1 teams, Utah State.

2005... only so-called quality win came against a mediocre 7-5 Georgia Tech team.

2004... even yewt fans admit they did not play any real tough teams including Pitt (who finished 8-4) in their BCS game.

In fact, going back the last 10 years, the yewts have not beaten any non-conference teams that had a 10 win season!!! They have only beaten 1 non-conference team that had 9 wins.

When trying to make a point about BYU's lack of quality wins, don't make the comparision by using the yewts becasue they really aren't that impressive!

I think that this is the time for BYU to earn their place in the polls. With the next 2 wins over Pac-10 teams, that will be the real indicator that BYU football does belong in the top 15 or even the top 10 this year.

I'm no coaching expert (after all I don't coach little league footbal) but I agree with the above comments that the cougs looked a little slow at times against NI.

It will be tough for them to crank out a win . . .