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BYU football: Mendenhall more interested in strategy than outcome of Utah-TCU game
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However, as hard as it may be for Cougar fans (and Ute fans if the roles were reversed), if a conference championship is really the #1 goal coming into a season, the logical thing would be to want Utah to beat TCU. If that happens, all BYU has to do to get a share of the championship is to win out.
Have you WATCHED TCU already destroy BYU on the road? utah is ZERO match for TCU. This year belongs to TCU. No doubt about it. We all need to just accept this.
Go TCU beat Utah!!
Having TCU in a bowl game would be sweet for the MWC , extra money,and terrific publicity. The best part though is not having YBU go and embare ass us . We need more credibility and the Blew Bloods just doesn't execute well in the big time lime lights, also their coach calls them uneducated in football. The MWC DOESN'T NEED THAT TYPE OF PUBLICITY.
We are only in the 4th year (I think) of the TV contract between the MWC and the mtn. I would think all college football fans in the state would know that no games played on an MWC school's home field is televised on ESPN.
Not necessarily.
If Utah wins, Utah can break into top-10.
And who knows...Utah may become the first non-BCS conf team to go to a BCS with 1 loss.
Also you don't understand the MWC's bowl contracts. If TCU beats Utah, but Utah beats BYU, then Utah will be going to the Vegas Bowl -- where they will not be playing Boise State, but the Pac-10 No. 5. (Granted, the Vegas Bowl can pick who it wants and BYU obviously carries more cachet -- but Vegas would pretty much be forced to take Utah if the Utes finished No. 2 just to avoid the appearance of favortism.)
The only logical scenario for Utah to play Boise State is to lose to TCU and BYU -- which, I agree, is also the likeliest scenario. Except, why would an undefeated Boise want to drop down to play a thrice-beaten Utah team that it stomped in Rice-Eccles just a few years ago?
Utah wins, great win for the Utes putting together a team mid-season, making chances and beating one of the best teams in the nation. It hurts the conference because the BcS will keep a more deserving Utah out so they can keep as much money in house as they can.
TCU wins, glad that someone else is able to bring positive national recognition and millions of dollars to the MWC instead of the embarrassment TDS brings only beating teams they should. If the championship is gone Utah and TDS will be playing for bragging rights and Whit will have his team ready instead of executing the "bend don’t break" plan as best they can...
And zoobs, if you really think you have a chance in he!! of beating the Utes if the upset TCU you really are as uneducated as Bronco says you are!!!! You think FSU and TCU brought pain, last years 48-24 will seem like a gift from you know who.
So ya, win-win for the Utes, lose-lose for the ZOOBS!
Other good reasons to want TCU to win
1. I want other teams to beat Utah.
2. I want other teams to rough up Utah before BYU plays them.
3. It improves BYU's strength of schedule when teams win that they have played.
4. TCU is a solid program, and I wish them the best regardless who they play (other than BYU).
Reason #1 why I don't want TCU to win:
Has anyone suggested that success might allow TCU to bolt for the Big 12? The old SWC rivalries, TCU's good record against the B-12 since then. As much as I love having TCU in the MWC, I've got to admit that it makes a lot of sense.
1) Utah will have the same team after the TCU game as they did before (barring injuries). If BYU doesn't have a chance against Utah now, what happens Saturday will not change that. Also, if BYU is the vastly supperior team, then Utah will be in over their head whether they beat TCU or not.
2) Comparing how 2 teams performed against a common opponent is a poor method of comparing them.
For Example: Utah was losing to Wyoming going into the fourth quarter at home 9-10. BYU on the other hand was beating Wyoming 45-0 at Wyoming going into the 4th quarter. Using the comparison theory, Utah shouldn't even suit up against the Cougars.
Clearly that is not the case. BYU and Utah both have very good teams and nothing can be decided unto the two teams hit the field in 2 1/2 weeks.
Go Cougars. BYU 31 Utah 27
After all, Bronco gots blown out by TCU the last 2 times he played them.
And, 48-24...
Obviously, Bronco knows nothing about TCU or Utah...
Therefore, the best win is for TCU to win. And, as long as they lay waste to Wyo and NM, as they should, they can likely count on a #4 ranking going into the BCS Bowl assignments.
If Cincinnati wins out, they will probably leapfrog TCU. But I think the one-loss Bama or FL drops below TCU, just because of timing of the loss. The only other possible leapfrog would be 1-loss GA Tech, although they don't play anyone else from here on out. Hey, if there is any possibility for Texas to lose, I will take it. That could vault TCU into the championship game. Nobody wants to watch FL and Bama play two games in a row.
Hugh? Bronco's goal was to make BYU football elite. To do that, he rolled the dice and hit the jackpot with Oklahoma (though that's not looking so good now). His goal was a NC. After a humiliating loss at home, his goal was the BCS. After ANOTHER humiliating loss at home, his goal was the MWC.
Bronco doesn't know what Bronco wants. He just keeps lowering the bar until it meets his program's capabilities.
Why ask Bronco anything about football? Weird..
To: Some Very Stupid Comparisons
Utah shouldn't even suit up against the Cougars. They will have their pants pulled down by TCU on Saturday.
1. One of the BCS conferences offers TCU the opportunity to join their conference. This is a no brainer in that TCU is located in a big market football state and a high populated area in that state.
2. The MWC quickly offers BSU the opportunity to join the MWC.
3. The BCS offers the MWC the opportunity to become a BCS conference and adds an additional BCS bowl game. This is also a no brainer, since the MWC is rated above at least one BCS conference, and maybe two.
This would really take the monkey off of the BCS conferences' backs and would make the BCS look like heros, for awhile at least, until another conference reaches parity with the BCS conferences.
He knows TCU and Utah but with his player talents, he cannot win against TCU adn Utah.
It's simple.
No, no. Much better to have TCU trash an otherwise fairly ranked Utah, go BCS bowling and MAYBE even get a shot at a BCS championship.
In my perfect world, the BYU of OU and WYO vintage then dismantles the U before 65,000 partially rabid fans (including me, thanks daughter!) and gets skipped by Vegas so we can go somewhere and play someone and maybe it will be in San Diego.
Utah regroups, goes to Vegas where they discover it's not so bad beating a #5 Pac 10 team. By then, maybe it would even be Oregon.
Go Cougars!
If it's a wide-open ragged offensive track meet, TCU will dust them off.
Here's my prediction:
TCU 31
Utah 17
Go Frogs, finish up strong and Go Cougs.
Seems to make sense to look at Utah, who has had mores success recently defeating, or even staying remotely close to, TCU.
Maybe Mendenhall is finally figuring out that execution and trying hard and committing only fixable mistakes doesn't make up for a poor gameplan.
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