If BYU or Utah were to go undefeated, which is the most likely bowl they would be invited to - Fiesta?

BYU needs to worry about getting through this week. Out side of the game against UCLA BYU has not looked all that good. The offense seems to be struggling to move the ball and frankly I am not impressed.

I hope the cougars can come alive and start to play solid aggressive football but they have not really shown me anything that suggests this will be the case. So cougars, stop reading yuour press clippings and start focusing on playing good football.

The Las Vegas Bowl!!!!!

Ball State will likely get a lot of talk, seeing how their hardest two games come at the end of the season.

Tulsa will have some challenges at Houston and at Arkansas.

Boise still has a tough schedule, with 4 road games left and 5 of the last 7 are against the top teams in the WAC. They'll likely fall.

BYU has the hardest schedule, in the toughest of the leagues. They have two road games vs. ranked teams.

I still say all the B$ talk is too hasty. Let's wait until mid-November to write these articles.

I agree with DH & RR except on the Boise will likely fall. I just don't see a serious enough flaw in Boise for them to be losing to the junk remaining in the WAC. I do think that Ball State will eventually falter.

Now for the important stuff. The Utes offense continues to be inefficient under Ludwig and as long as that is the case it is hard for me to believe they can get to the BYU game without a loss despite King Louis and our wonderful D. I haven't seen much of BYU but they seem offensively in better shape than Utah and they also have a strong defense (excluding the UW game). As everyone has said BYU really has a tough game thursday and the fans and players need to keep their eye on that game first. I hope that these two two teams can improve on offense (especially Utah) and meet with 11-0 vs. 11-0. Seriously could we as fans of this rivalry ask for anything better than finishing off either the Utes of Cougars BCS hopes while finalizing our own. Get that game off from the Mountain and on nation TV!

GO UTES!!!

will probably have to play UCLA or Washington in the Las Vegas bowl again. As long as they keep winning, the pollsters will continue to force them to tread water, allowing "good" teams to leapfrog over them unless they lose which will drop them out of the rankings.

Hey, wouldn't it be great if both BYU and Utah went undefeated this year?

GO BOISE BRONCOS!!!

I've got my tickets to the Las Vegas Bowl to watch the BYU - UCLA rematch; again!

If BYU and Utah remain undefeated until they play each other in November, the winner will be in a BCS bowl. It is pretty much impossible now for that not to happen, if both play each other undefeated.

This is because of several rules. First, the highest ranked non-BCS champion in the top 12 of the final BCS poll will go and if BYU and Utah remain undefeated until they play each other, both will likely be in the top 12 and the winner certainly will be. While it is possible that another non-BCS champion could be higher (Boise State, Tulsa, or Ball State), none have much of a chance of surpassing an undefeated Mountain West winner.

Even if the winner of BYU and Utah is not in the top 12, if it is in the top 16, it is still likely the ACC or Big East champion would be below them. Finally, if the winner is in the top 16, given that the BCS conferences are only allowed two, it would take four such conferences with two teams to prevent the winner from getting an invite.

Only a loss can stop Utah and BYU right now.

I agree the Utes offensive struggles scare the stuffing out of me! I am pulling so hard for both of these teams to meet undefeated 11/22. That would be too much fun, and I hope it comes down to last second again this year on top of that! But, both teams are worrying me the way they are playing now. Get the game off the mountain and onto CBS!!! (not CBSC even) big time it and get it on CBS! Maybe Crag Bolerjack can pull some strings, and call the game.
What a great year to be a sports fan in Utah!
Go UTES!!! (ok, if I have to say it....and byu too).

Any argument that BYU is looking less than perfect right now would have to go double for TCU. They looked bad against Colo St, their pass D is porous and their offense is just bad. Cougs will get 'em. I'm also cheering for an undefeated match-up on Nov. 22. It's a fun year.

Hey "Maybe", have you ever seen a MWC schedule, ever heard of Overtime? Here is the sad fact, BYU's Defense is awesome! Austin Collie has his head on April's NFL draft, just look at his drops and you can see his head is in the clouds not on the field, or with the team! I for one am getting very nervous about BYU, for the past two games they have not looked that sharp. The coaches have warned them and have tried to keep them on target, but it is not working in all areas! The Defense is looking sharp, Offensive line is good, Unga is doing his thing, as is Max Hall, but continuity on Offense is missing! If they don't put it back together like they did against UCLA for every remaining game we will lose to TCU potentially, and Utah will knock us off! We will go to the Vegas Bowl while Utah goes to a BCS game, or worse we will go to San Francisco or Fort Worth! BYU is on the verge of being eliminated from the BCS busters and I am the biggest BYU nut in the country, just look at my Car/driveway/Office/Home!

According to Mike Johnson in Fallon NV if you play in a better conference then you get a higher ranking. So if that's the case, why are you cougar fans complaining week after week about teams in better conferences being ahead of you in the polls? Can't have it both ways. If you want to be ahead of Tulsa and Boise for that reason, then don't complain about being behind to USC, Oklahoma etc.........

I would complain about USC and other 1 loss teams staying ahead of BYU, but I saw BYU play on Saturday, and quite frankley we look overrated.

Has anyone besides me been impressed with PSU and JoePa? Wow I sure hope BYU doens't get them in a BCS bowl game. Royster and Clark should be on every Heisman list there is. Those 2 are just down right amazing this season. Now back to topic. BYU has not looked that good lately. I still believe they are top ten but barely. Utah is what it is. They don't ever look that impressive but they win some how. BYU has a very tough game this week and I believe Hall will have to put up huge numbers. TCU did a very very good job against Oklahoma's run game and but couldn't stop their passing game. Look for Unga to have a huge receiving game but not a big rushing game. Collie really needs to get his head on straight. Either he is over rated and not as good as everyone thinks or he is only thinking about BCS and the draft cause he is dropping balls left and right. I think he only thinks about BCS cause if you think about hte draft you try to play better and he won't get drafted if he drops 3-4 a game

Yep, Utah and BJ will lead Utah to victory November 22.

How can you argue against Johnson and Utah's offensive output last Saturday?
Utah / Wyoming
1st Downs 11 14
Total Yards 242 252
Passing 119 68
Rushing 123 184
Penalties 3-30 5-28
3rd Down Conversions 4-17 2-13
4th Down Conversions 2-2 0-2
Turnovers 0 5

Wyoming had 3 more first downs, 10 more total yards, Utah was 4-17 on third down conversions (can you say going for it on 4th down twice and FG over making the big plays on 3rd down will work against BYU and TCU?) TO's and poor field position by Wyoming will not decide those games.

Utah will retain their proper place, third in the MWC by the end of the season, worst of the best.

Penn State slaughtered by SEC champ

I'm sure I'm not alone in being upset over the exlusion of Utah State in the national title chase. The Aggies with just one stumble have an opportuity to be #1 by years end, in the bottom 10

IT's USC MAN! USC doesn't line up against COLO ST, or UNLV's of the world. THey played Virgina away and won and then beat Ohio sT. BYU fans have no right to talk. Why don't you guys get it! Why don't you know anyhting outside of UTAH.

It's a good thing the game isn't until Nov. because BJ and the Ute offense isn't too hot right now! Outgained by Wyomming (yards)...are you serious?! And you think you're a contender for a BCS birth. Wyomming scored their first touchdown on a MTN. West team last week, congrats.

Of course we could solve all this with a playoff. Instead of arguing about polls why not let student athletes decide this on the field?

If USC is in the title game again I am going to vomit. Repeatedly.

>Hey, wouldn't it be great if both BYU and Utah went undefeated this year?

Well, unless they somehow play to a tie against each other...

Bring your TCU Sweatshirt.

BYU will be at a BCS game.

Utah will be representing third in the conference... again, at the Poinsetnutcrannewmexico Bowl, beating in a close game, another patsy team to keep their Bowl Streak win record alive (speaking of another "who have you ever played that was tough" question).

Nice stats and numbers but in the words of all cougar fans after the Washington game the only one that matters was 40-7 Utah Wins. Stats don't mean anything in the end it is all about the score board

IT'S USC, You can talk when you find a way to beat Oregon State.

hey buster, the last timeI checked there are three phases to a football game. the Ute defense has been great and the special teams as well. as far as inconsistency in the offense, Utah has scored 27 and TDS 28. who cares where we score as long as we do. Defense wins championships, Sakoda wins games. I'm not real disappointed in a team that scores 37+ points per game regardless of where it comes from. and if you watched the gam saturday, you will have noticed that the Utes put in the second and third string players before Wyo started to move the ball and the only TD allowed was to a receiver out of bounds. it was still 40-7

thats all i have to say.

It's a good thing that posters to this site don't play college football. Their attitudes would fit them to play for Idaho or North Texas or some Division III cellar dweller.

All these opinions must be posted to either relieve nervous tension or boost ego. What a bunch of baloney. No wonder I've started ignoring these comments.

I just had to read them once more hoping for some morsel of reason. Diogenes and his lamp...

Wrong move again.

First downs don't mean that much. Think about it. If it only takes you three plays to score, you will never get a first down. It is called big play offense. Most spread offenses are big play offenses with the exception of maybe the so called "West Coast Offense". I think Utah's offense is more reliant on big plays than BYU's. The game could come down to field position.
Now, as far as BCS title games go, anybody but LSU. They were so undeserving last year. They had 2 losses. It may happen again this year, just not LSU please!

not that it really matters because the truth will be known soon enough, but I found it a little misleading that the graphic associated with this article, at least in the actual newspaper not sure about online, it states that for average computer rankings that utah is at 8, and then in small print says its an average of sagarin and colley's computer rankings...how do we get a true look at the average when only 2 of the 6 rankings used are listed and averaged, infact if you take 5 of the 6 that are currently available utah is ranked 4.67 which in the overall picture moves utah up to 9. If you didn't have the data available at the time of printing that's fine, just don't print it, ti doesn't reflect the true nature of the situation.

Until utah put in the scrubs in the 4th Wyoming had about 130 yards total and 7 first downs, and we completely shut down and ran up the middle that quarter. My big concern going into the game was not if utah could move the ball. They can move the ball they have proven that, problem was moving the ball then turning it over or having long 3rd downs from penalties and putting the D in bad spots. Utes didn't turn the ball over and had limited penalties in a bad weather game and an emotional game which usually brings more penalties. Am I completely satisfied? No, but I would say this, there are three parts to the game and against every team in the mountain west utah is better in at least 2/3 if not all of them. Does that always translate into wins? No but at worst they will have a chance in every game, if not domination. This game against CSU will be a good chance for the offense to shine, they will move the ball but I still look to the turnovers and penalties as the real make or break thing for the offense

I didn't see any of the second stringers in there, i saw first string offence in there the whole game so get off that.

Just an additional note on how incorrect the stats are in that graphic, Sagarin and Colley both have the utes ranked at 4, so how does that give you 8? The only thing I can guess is they used the rating instead of the ELO-CHESS which is the one that the BCS uses not the combination of rating and the PREDICTOR which has utah at 12 but is the wrong number for the graphic used. Or they thought average meant addition not division.

Really is Corbin Louks a starter at QB? How about Eddie Wide at RB? If you can't see that the two most prominent positions on the team were back-ups for all but 3 minutes of the 4 you already lost credibility, so just go away.

to:re: Buster | 12:36 p.m. Oct. 13, 2008
You are so right, a win is a win and I cannot diminish what Utah did to Wyoming.

But understanding the following facts, if Utah plays this type of offense against BYU or TCU, do you forsee Utah winning either game? I'm sure the offensive stats have the Ute coaches especially worried.

Utah / Wyoming
Total Yards 242 252
3rd Down Conversions 4-17 2-13

Fine, I give you first downs, but 10 offesive yards less? 4 for 17 on third down? Against Wyoming?

Come on, that can't happen.

When the BCS poll comes out, the Utes will likely be ranked above the Cougs thanks to the computers.

Yeah if the weather is like that they could beat either team with those numbers, whether or not they do is a different story but BYU didn't do much better against Wyoming, and that game was at home in good weather. As for yards and 3rd down conversions, almost all of Utah's yards came in the first 3 quarters before we put in the scrubs and 124 of Wyoming's 252 came on two drives against the 2nd 3rd team defense, so if we redistribute the yards on average as they had played out in the first three quarters Utah ends up with 322 and Wyoming 170, and 4-17 6-15, look similar don't they? Those are Utah and BYU 3rd down conversion rates against Wyoming, and ours was on the road in bad weather. We punted the ball 9 times against Wyoming BYU punted 7 times. So I fail to see how BYU did so much better than we did against Wyoming, if we should be worried then you should to, my guess is that's is the more likely scenario as both teams are flawed and have shown weaknesses in the last 2 weeks. Luckily are tough games are at home.

So I've been reading alot of comments lately and noticed CougarKeith liked to post regularly. Well, my brother-in-law is a huge BYU fan and is named Keith. So I put 2 and 3 together and came up with 4 (you do the math), anyway, turns out he really is CougarKeith. Small world. CougarKeith, the most awesome BYU fan in the world, I salute you.

P.S. Go Utah! (Except on Nov 22)

I have said over and over again, all year...Utes offense is suspect, Jackson just isn't smart enough to make the quick reads and is throwing behind his recievers.....With Mack and Asiata, the Utes would kill BYU if they had a John Beck for QB! Yewts are about to get trimmed either by NM or TCU...perhaps BOTH!

No need for Bowl Games this season. The winner of the Big XII championship game will be the national champ and will be led by the Heisman winner. Everyone else is playing for second place.

Post all you want . . . the MWC and BCS outcome will be decided on the field, one game at a time no matter what is said in these blogs.

All we can do is cheer on our own team. For me it's go Coug's!

How about if Utah scores 3 non offensive TDs against anyone...I'm smelling victory in every game where that happens. You can't look at a team's components in a vacuum and understand the team.

And by the way (this is not at you, Buster, but at the author of the article)...any talk of BYU or any other Non BCS team in a NC game this year is ridicluous. There's no reason to discuss it right now...or any of the BCS. The season's only half way over.

got stomped (anyone who saw the game knows that OSU DOMINATED that game) by the same Oregon State that lost to Utah the next week.

The same Oregon State team that lost to Stanford (28-36) who was beaten by TCU (14-31).

The Pac 0 is 1-6 vs the MWC this season, so take your weak sauce back to the beach and use it at your next fish fry.

Re: Utes ranked higher than the Cougs:

I wouldn't be so sure about that. If you understand how the computers work, you know that, as long as both BYU and Utah win this week, BYU should move up in the computer rankins since they play a decent TCU team. Utah should go down since they play a poor CSU. If the human polls stay the same, it really is a toss up. With BYU playing New Mexico this last week and Utah playing Wyoming, BYU made up about half the difference between the two in mock BCS Standings.

Utah is a superior team to BYU, so regardless of all this talk now, they still will lose in November and they'll end up in Vegas again in November against an also ran from the Pac 10. Why waste the ink on this article?

WE DID YOU UTAH AND BYU LAST TIME and we're even better now!

Sorry to burst your BCS ranking bubble Utah fans, but you're getting way ahead of yourselves.

The Computer rankings constitute 1/3rd of the BCS rankings.

Six computer ratings are used, with the highest and lowest rating of each team thrown out and the remaining four averaged. The current participating computer rankings are:

Peter Wolfe
Wes Colley
Sagarin
Seattle Times
Richard Billingsley
Kenneth Massey

Only 5 of the 6 computer rankings have been released, "unofficially".

Peter Wolfe's rating, as he says on his website, haven't been published: "The first ratings will be published Sunday, October 19, 2008."

Since one of the ratings is still missing, until October 19th, it's impossible to accurately predict the first BCS rankings.

Utah fans claiming that Utah WILL BE ranked ahead of BYU in the first BCS poll are just as clueless as the other prognosticators.

Even if all of the computer polls were unofficially released, they wouldn't include this week's games, so again, it's simply guesswork until the first OFFICIAL BCS rankings are released on Sunday. October 19th.

To the rest of you posters: Notice how it can be a discussion without name calling and smack?

to :Re: Buster | 3:32 p.m.

As long as you pick up those non-offensive scores. The Wyoming drives were in the bad weather.

Utah needs to use Louks in passing situations, and I am sure that coach Kyle is setting him up to do just that.

If special teams and defensive are making the plays, the offense can't just take the day off. I think that has to do a TON with BYU's problems the past two games.

My dream ending, BYU/Utah, both undefeated, and no time left, BYU up by one, and a Louie Sakoda kick from 45 yards out to win the game.

BYU's Special teams against Utah's special teams for the Scoreboard.

That would answer a ton of questions that have been left unanswered for the past two year.