Rise and shout, BYU is on target for its 3rd MWC title.
Our defense is probably approaching this game with some mixed feelings. On one hand BYU has won nine games this season and extended their home winning streak to 18 games. On the other hand BYU has shown considerable weaknesses in five of those nine wins.
BYU fans are left to question what team will show up in Colorado Springs on Saturday? Will the team that pummeled UCLA and Wyoming show up or will the team from the TCU and Washington -both road games- show up. Each day the season draws closer, I am astounded at what the coaching staff has accomplished with this years team after two dominate Mountain West Conference championships. It isn’t easy to win back-to-back championships. Let alone be in a championship position in the third year with an inexperienced, young defense -that honestly has been over achieving.
Ten and eleven win seasons are hard to come by and this year could be BYU’s third straight! Cougar fans have cause to be thankful. It could be worse, you could live in or cheer for Tennessee, Arizona, and Miami, anywhere in the ACC or Big East or Washington/Washington St. -oh baby that would suck.
I don’t know where this post came from because I want to write about this weeks practice schedule and how it differs from a normal week. Yet, as I think about how the BYU football program has improved, I can only look forward to this years bowl game and what needs to transpire during the summer in order to improve upon the past 3 years of success. TCU and Utah will have hosts of player returning next year and the conference is shaping up to improve upon this years non-conference successes. BYU will have its work cut out for them in order to four-peat and become that BCS buster I think they should be.
Go Cougars.
Couldn’t agree more, Gooch. It’s a good time to be a Cougar fan. Three 10-win seasons in a row is not something I would have anticipated back in 2004 or 2005. This year’s defense has grown but is still young, inexperienced, and injury-plagued. If we can replace the big uglies on the O-line, I’m really excited about what next year can bring.
Rise and shout is right! And life as a BYU fan is looking good – even moreso because I finally found tickets to the BYU-Utah game yesterday…
As I understand it, Utah & TCU actually lose large portions of their teams after this year:
Utah: 6 Sr’s on O, 3 Sr’s on D.
TCU: 4/5 OL, a few receivers & Aaron Brown, return Dalton. Loses 7 on D, including 3/4 DL.
I could be wrong on who their “starters” are, but that’s what I’m showing.
I’m not sure Utah nor TCU will be able to maintain themselves as ranked teams next year, and I’m pretty sure outside of AFA & BYU, the other teams in the conference won’t be rank-worthy. It looks to me like the conference will be down next year compared to this year…
Quinn,
If you’re looking for post ideas I would love something about recruiting and how BYU’s recruiting methods may be different. Are they too different to land big names? Will we continue to rely on walk-ons? Any other thoughts on recruiting would be interesting. Thanks.
Actually, I am pretty sure Utah and TCU lose quite a few players. I know Utah loses a bunch on offense and a few on defense. They do have talent, but will also go through an “experience” learning curve like all teams.
You beat me to it Brandon. I knew they lost quite a few.
Maybe I am wrong, but I see both teams being very strong next year.
But I am sure you are all far better at your research then I am.
But I don’t think the conference will be down. Especially, coming off of a great year like this one. Momentum should push teams into good recruiting years and the MWC should get some good talent during the off-season.
I meant as team Ut and TCU are young, they’ll lose some guys, but they’ll plug others in and the train will keep chugging. Again looking at the big picture helps in making sense of the senseless jibber jabber.
Patterson will be gone, which could effect TCU, but Utah will be good again and they are playing enough young talent to be highly competative next year.
I think this Air Force game could be the most defining moment of the season. If we lose here, then we likely lose a bunch of confidence, momentum, and are relegated to the spoiler role against Utah. Many people will view the season as mediocre or a failure. Lame-O.
So…when we beat the cadets handily, we will gain a ton of confidence. We will have ten wins and only one loss. The season will likely be viewed as successful by most. We will set up a HUGE game against the Utes, where conference championship and potential BCS births are on the line.
The Air Force game is the lynch pin. It is SOOOOO important. I think the most important game of the season (probably because it is the NEXT game).
On a side note, I watched the highlights from the last 3 Air Force v. BYU games. For not throwing much, the cadets sure threw a bunch of passes to our boys in blue. I think #25 even had a couple of picks in the last few years courtesy of the Falcons. Go Cougs!!
While we’re on the topic of looking past AF, Utah, and our bowl game, and looking into next season, let me pose these questions and scenarios:
Has the rumor of us playing Oklahoma in the NFL Cowboys new stadium been killed yet? Or is that still a legitimate possibility? Would Oklahoma risk playing a game against a quality non-BCS team in a neutral site and risk a ‘06 Fiesta Bowl let down? What would we have to risk if we, dare I say it, lose? One loss at the beginning of the season wouldn’t really knock us out of BCS contention. Plus there could be a whole new factor working against us making the BCS next year:
When we beat Utah on the 22nd it should put Boise State in the driver’s seat to make its second BCS bowl. This isn’t the same team that busted in 06. BSU a good team that has waltzed through the biggest patty-cake conference in the country. If they represent the non-BCS teams the way Hawaii did against Georgia last year, pollsters might not be so quick to vote non-BCS teams to the front, regardless of record.
Now let’s look at how this year could pan out to help us next year. The best thing that could happen to us without BYU being selected to a BCS game is:
1) Boise State lose to Fresno St.
2) Ball State lose to one of the Primary InterCardinal Direction Michigan teams
3) TCU jumps ahead of both BS schools, and Utah to #12 or better or #16 and better than the ACC champ or Big East champ and gets selected for the BCS
I think TCU would be the best team to be selected our of all the non-BCS (other than our cougars of course) to the BCS because their defense is fast enough to keep up with a lot of those high power offenses.
What do you think?
I was secretly cheering for TCU to beat Utah, because I also think TCU would represent the conference well in a BCS game. Honestly I think BYU, UTAH and TCU are all good football teams that would compete well against the ACC or Big East team they would draw in the BCS game.
Man I hope Fresno can work some magic and I can’t even imagine Ball St. going to a BCS game. It’s hard to argue with scheduling patsies on your schedule just so you can go undefeated.
Am I wrong?
I would rather see 1 and 2 happen and then BYU beats Utah. Then BYU is in the top 16 and gets the autobid to one of the Big Bowls. There still is a possibility, albeit slim, that if we beat Ut and Boise St. gets the autobid, that we still get an at large bid. Yeah it’s wishful thinking but I’m fan, that’s what I do.
As far as losing to Ok at the begining of the year goes… Nowadays it’s much better to lose at the the end of the season then the beginning. Of course for BYU it doesn’t make a huge difference. If we lose one game then we drop off the charts. We’re not USC that can lose to a then 50% team and only move down 5 places. As a fan I would love to see us go up against the Sooners, especially on a neutral field. I like our chances.
Next year will be awesome. I agree with Quinn in that the MWC is gaining momentum and it will not slow down next year. Some of our bottom feeders are going to improve. The mtn. channel is actually playing a significant role in boosting our conference. There is a lot of revenue coming in to each team from it. As much as we all hated the situation two years ago, we have to give credit to Craig Thompson for pulling it off. When I drink blue koolaid, I gulp it down. Next year, BYU goes undefeated and plays in the NC!!
Supposedly Quinn that’s what we did in 1984. I think that if you go undefeated, especially in your own conference, that you merit the right to play in good bowl game. I know that Hawaii getting pummelled by Georgia was ugly, but I still think that they earned it. Yeah Ball St. would be the next whipping boy, but there is something to be said about staying undefeated all year. We only did it once in our school’s history.
Boise St is more likely to lose to Nevada than to Fresno St in my opinion. The Nevada game is on the road while the Fresno St game is at home. Also, Nevada seems to be playing better than Fresno right now.
Ball St still has their best 2 conference opponents to play still so anything is possible there too.
Ball State looked weak last night. They will lose a game before it is all over. BSU? Well, Nevada is the best shot at knocking them out. I just can’t fathom seeing them in the BCS this year. Ball State in the BCS won’t happen, since I’m predicting a loss.
BYU in the BCS? The nice thing about it is that it would give our defense 1 more week to heal up.
I was just looking at the MWC standings and right now we have 4 bowl eligible teams, (BYU, TCU, Air Force, and Utah) all with 8 wins or more. We have two more teams that could get to 6 wins making them bowl eligible (Colorado St. and UNLV). Colorado St. would have to beat New Mexico to become eligible. I feel bad for New Mexico, I think they’re a quality program, and I would love to see them go to a bowl game but they had a tough season this year.
The most bowl eligible teams the MWC has ever sent to a bowl game is 5 (last year when we went 4-1). We have had bowl eligible teams not make a bowl game in the past, but having 6 bowl eligible teams out of 9 teams, with wins over Washington, UCLA, Arizona St., Arizona, Iowa St., Stanford, Kentucky, Oregon St., and Michigan is a great foundation in the argument that our conference isn’t a patty-cake conference anymore. Now if we could only get SDSU to win a few OOC games…
I agree with D-Wall, this AFA game is very important to our season. We win and all is good, we lose and the 22nd just won’t be the same.
Quinn is right, the MWC is looking better all the time. Next year will not be a cake walk. CSU is one team on the rise and the UNLV QB looked good.
Who knows what will happen with SDSU once they get the starters back in the game. I hope Patterson does move on. The TCU game will be here next year and I can hardly wait for that one.
Is that looking ahead for ya?
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