Comments about ‘Dream is so close, yet so far’

It sad that you where dreaming about Fooball.

Nice, nice article! Now, how to get this in front of the whole community to really stoke the conversation about a playoff system? For right now, the MWC just needs to keep winning, especially in the bowl games. Give it a couple of more years and the BCS party is over!

Those are good wins in Fiesta Bowl by Utah and Boise State.
BYU can dream that some day they will make it to a BCS bowl.
...to dream an impossible dream...(is that what they are singing in Provo nowaday?)

I'd have to agree; scholarships and tv contracts are leveling the playing field but lets not get ahead of ourselves. I hope this mwc momentum can make some permanent progress towards becoming a top conference. We've got to remember that this is a down year for the pac 10. If the pac 10 would post it's normal 3-4 ranked teams that would move mid majors from 5 ranked to 2-3. Utah went undefeated and everyone thought they had "arrived" and now they are worse off then they were before so lets not get ahead of ourselves even thought this year has been great for the mwc.

This article is spot on. We mid-majors have got to keep making noise until the BCS contract expires, then we'll see.

That was pretty impressive the way you smacked down the mighty Pitt in 05 with Ron McBride's players. Wait, Pitt stunk that year and your revolving door coach dropped you like a hot potato for a more "Urban" setting immediatly afterwards realizing there was no way you'd be that good the next year. Congrats on an awesome year. What have you done since then???

No let's get ahead of our selves this is called momentum the MWC has it and saying that the PAC 10 is in a down year is bunk and feeds into the lies that ABC and BCS has been feeding the average fan. take the example of Manti Teo a recruit that has listed as potential player for BYU and USC and 3 others. The So called Down year could influence the next 4 years depending on that commitment alone. There is no doubt in my mind that either place he goes he plays and plays well if he goes to BYU they will be better and USC and other BCS teams get worse the aledged gap shrinks and the playing feild levels.

The Utes momentum was short lived because you were used by a coach who saw Utah as low hanging fruit to get what he really wanted a high paying job at a BCS school. That isn't the conferences fault it's a capitolistic coach who didn't care for the the school up north or it's conference in the mountains.

umm, well, lets start with winning all three bowl games after that, and knocking off the cougs with ratliff in 2005. And how do YOU know that they wouldnt have been just as good? If you were coaching at Utah and FLORIDA came calling, I think you would move on too. Just my thoughts though.

Didn't Florida State stink up ESPN Saturday when it was already in the rankings? Now Colorado should be nearing the top 25.

four victories doth fools make of us all, apparently.

get a little perspective.
the season isn't half over.

see if the midgets can crack the top ten.
then do it year after year.

then brag.

Why don't all the Mid-Major schools get together and do their own playoff system to determine a champion. Leave the BCS teams out of it. The playoff system would get more attention and in less than two years everyone would want in. Well to bad, the MWC and WAC would become the SEC and Big Ten overnight. Any thoughts or Comments? None of this will ever happen but it's dreaming right?

I think the key element in the success of the non-BCS schools doing so well in recent years is outstanding coaching. BYU, Utah, Boise State, Tulsa, and a few others now have superb coaching staffs that are doing a consistent, tremendous job of preparing their teams to win, including wins against traditional BCS powerhouse programs. These coaching staffs are equal to or better than, the best coaches anywhere in college football. Sooner or later, the "Big Boys" of the BCS are going to recognize this and try to lure some of these coaches away. Hopefully, that won't happen, as the grass isn't always greener on the other side as the saying goes.

There are 11 conferences in Division I. A 16-team playoff is perfect, with each conference champion and five wild-cards playing for the championship. They play the 3rd and 4th weeks of December with the semifinals on New Years and the championship a week later.

Every team starts the year with a chance. March Madness now has a rival in excitement. The gap between the money-hoarding BCS conferences and the others would be lessened. College football would become fair for all and more exciting for the fans.

Are you joking? The Utah coaching staff IS NOT equal to or better than the best coaches anywhere in college football! A coach who wears his emotions on his sleeve and calls for an onside kick with a 40 point lead doesn't qualify to be among the best coaches anywhere in college football. And that's speaking of the head coach! Now ask anybody how good Andy Ludwig is on a national level. Even true blue...er red...Ute fans call for his head annually. Get a clue!

MWC teams had the good (or bad, depending on your perspective) luck to catch some usually good programs in off years (UCLA, Mich., etc) Good for the won-loss record but not so good for earning respect from skeptics. Now comes the Conference schedule full of light weights most national fans have never heard of. Compared to, say, an SEC team that will schedule a few mid-level softies as a tune up but play a Conference schedule with 5-6 top 25 and 3-4 top 10 teams in it. There is no substitute for playing a consistently tough schedule if one wants to develop a quality program and gather the respect that comes with it. Schedule the toughest non-Conference schedule you can, year after year, play good ball and get the huge chip off your shoulders. BYU and Utah are on the road to respect.
There are no shortcuts, however. and whining annoys the other travelers. so stop.

Thanks for the laugh. That was a good one.

I'd agree we have momentum and good recruits come from that but you need more than one year of momentum. You probably need at least 4 straight years or more of dominating a conference to have the edge in recruiting. I hope as well as you do that this puts mwc over the top. We all now that the east dominates in college football and the west desperately needs a second and third conference to compete with the west. Outside of byu, I think all coaches are going to do what meyer did. You're telling me the head coaches at any mwc school besides byu and air force wouldn't do the exact samething meyer did?

Since 1970, the US has increased in population by 100,000, yet the number of 1-A schools playing major college football has stayed the same. (There are a few additions, such as Boise State and South Florida.) The general population has increased 30 percent. The number of players in the talent pool has also increased, but the number of 1-A schools has not. There are many more players to go around. In the old days, only schools like Michigan, ND, USC, Alabama, Nebraska, etc, got the talented and big players. Now because of the population growth, there are many more top players available. For example, virtually EVERY 1-A team has huge offensive lines, with 300 lb linemen.

I believe population growth is a major factor in the leveling of the college football playing field.

1. Whittingham's onside kick. Poor judgment and Kyle admit's letting his emotions get the best of him. Who hasn't let that happen and regretted it?

2. Utah's 2004 season. Both from a Ute fan's perspective ("we have been to the BCS and BYU hasn't") and from a Y. fans perspective ("Pitt was a bad team, what has Utah done since?").

3. Harline's open in 2006 and 4th and 18 "magic" (Y. fans view) or "blessedness for living right" (U. fans view ridiculing Austin Collie) in 2007

Fact is, this is shaping up to be the greatest football season in state history. Enjoy the ride and live in the moment folks!

The US population increase figure I stated previously should of course have been 100 million not 100 thousand.