Why a bowl game is good for a program?
Photo by Jason Olson/Deseret News
I was blessed -or cursed- to be apart of two different Coaching regimes. One that went to consecutive bowl games and one that went home for consecutive bowl season. While seeing your family for an extra week during Christmas break is nice, the bowl games are more beneficial to individual players and teams.
When a team reaches the all important sixth win it sets its self up for an additional couple weeks of football practices that losing programs don’t get to participate in. I was never the kind of player that loved practice, but I appreciated the extra time on the field while other teams were at home sucking down egg nogg.
Those couple of weeks help build and establish a program for the next year. Coaches are able to evaluate young talent in short scrimmages and contact drills. Starter are able to rebuild the strength lost during the long season, which can catapult players towards spring and summer conditioning. Those practices also give player additional time on the field with Coaches to learn technique, schemes and position mastery.
The learning aspect of bowl preparation is what contributed the most to my individual growth as a player. Being able to assess my performances on film and then have the opportunity to get out on the field, enabled me to fix bad habits and restore proper technique before the introduction of a new season.
When I think of the springs after bowl games I can defiantly say I came into the next season more prepared and ready to contribute after participating in a bowl game. Missing out on the bowl games early in my career slowed my progress and made the beginning of the winter semester the absolute worst -conditioning, lifting and position drills.
P.S- I also need to mention the fact that consistent attendance in bowl games in crucial to recruiting. 18 year old kids love to hear about bowl game experiences and the cool gift and such. Also the national exposure helps bring BYU’s accomplishment to a wider audience. Gotta love the MWC’s television contract, but I would like to thank the Mtn. for updating the HD cameras. I’m glad Cougar nation didn’t experience The Gooch in HD, that would of been U-G-L-Y and I would of never lived it down.
I know some people are disappointed that we aren’t going to the BCS this year and are bummed that we’re going to the Vegas Bowl or less. Not me. After watching us against the best teams on our schedule this year, I don’t think we’d be able to hang with the top tier of college football this year. I love the Cougars as much as any fan, but if we got matched up with Florida or Texas, I don’t think it would be pretty. Next year, if the O-line comes together and the defense gets more consistent, we’ll be ready to mix it up with the best in the country. I’m optimistic that next year is going to be a really big year for BYU football. But we don’t want to be the next Hawaii. As unfair a matchup as last years Sugar Bowl was, Hawaii set non-BCS teams back a few steps by playing in a BCS game when they weren’t ready.
As for this years bowl game, if we’re selected to go to the Vegas Bowl again we’ll be matched up with the 5th place Pac 10 team, and since we’re the 3rd place MWC team, that isn’t too bad of a matchup. We’ll smoke whoever ends up there, and it will be another chance for us to dominate the Pac 10 and show that top to bottom we have a better conference this year.
Chris,
The goal of a non-BCS team should just be to GET to the BCS. What happens afterward is gravy. Although Hawaii flopped, that showing did not prevent a non-BCS school from making it this year (although it may have if there weren’t undefeated non-BCS teams). So, I disagree that “Hawaii set us back a few steps.” We are already a few steps back. I think this year, a one-loss TCU, Utah or BYU would have still made the BCS.
BCS or non-BCS, some teams just have a bad bowl game. The goal is just to get there and get a piece of the BCS pie.
I actually WOULD WANT to be the next Hawaii, because that means we went undefeated and made it to the BCS. I’d rather get trounced in the BCS bowl (and I think that we would likely BEAT the ACC or Big East champ, hang with Ohio St, but lose to the Big 12/SEC at large) than win year after year in a non BCS bowl, just for the payout, experience and national exposure alone.
Now, Hawaii lost June Jones, Utah lost Urban and so if it means us losing Bronco then I’ll just take Las Vegas every year.
Of course it is every non-BCS teams goal to reach the BCS. And the rules that are in place ensure that, if there is one good enough, a non-BCS team will get in every year. I’m talking about the respect we get nationally and the national perception of BYU. By going through one of the softest schedules in the country undefeated and then getting hammered by Georgia, that not only made Hawaii look bad, but looked bad for all non-BCS teams. It gave critics a chance to say “See, these teams from soft conferences don’t belong playing with the big boys.” . My point is, I would much rather go to the BCS when we could be competitive. And next year I think we will.
Also, I’ll be hoping the Utes represent well and don’t get blown out in their game. The MWC has come a long way this year in terms of national perception and if our champion gets annihilated that won’t be good for anyone in our conference.
IMO for BYU and it’s quest to get the program back to where we used to be, national respect is far more valuable then the money the BCS provides. You don’t gain respect by going undefeated through a weak schedule and then getting stomped on a national stage. Plus, BYU is one of the few non-BCS teams that doesn’t need the money.
I’m glad we are getting to go to a bowl game. However I don’t feel the playing the fourth or fifth place team from the Pac 10 doesw anything for us. If we win we should have. If we lose they say see we told you so. We need to play a champion whether it is from The WAC or any other conference. At least we beat or get beat by their best.
Gooch, my wife read what I wrote and she thought I was slamming Max Hall too much and that I forgot to say all the times I have compared him to other QB’s I have played with and against. My point with the John Elway reference is how good Max Hall really is and he just had a bad game. I know how the guy feels right now. He feels horrible. But he’ll bounce back. I also read an article wherein some fans razed, or attacked BYU players after the game. That is a security problem and should never happen. Some fans just get pyscho, but really it speaks volumes about how good the kid is. No fan goes after the average player. A coach use to tell me, first they hate you, then watch you, then respect you. If he can mentally re-focus, which I am confident he can, Hall will become one of the great ones. Anyway, didn’t mean to hammer the guy, quite the opposite. He has greatness written all over him, and not just in college.
I hate to persist on this point, but Hawaii’s loss is really not an embarrassment for me. Hawaii’s loss is history and no one cares about it anymore. It doesn’t affect voters, it doesn’t affect any non-BCS schools this year and the last time anyone mentioned it was at the beginning of this season.
National attention is there for non-BCS teams if they earn it, and Hawaii earned it last year. We have 3 teams from MWC in the top 20, more than the Pac 10 (USC, Oregon St.), Big East (Cincinnati), and ACC (Florida St), despite Hawaii’s loss. And all 3 teams have earned it. Big 10 has 3 as well – Penn St, Ohio St, Michigan St. Rest of the top 20 are SEC and Big12 teams – too many to count this year.
What BCS team is being “ignored” this year because of Hawaii’s so-called debacle? If anything, you could argue Boise. Well, Utah’s schedule was tougher, so I don’t think Boise can blame their ranking on Hawaii’s loss last season.
I know the perception is out there that Hawaii’s loss was some kind of huge setback for non-BCS teams, but I just don’t see it. There’s no objective evidence supporting that. If Utah gets blown out this year, sure, folks will talk, but Utah will still make it to BCS next year if they go undefeated again.
By the same token, if we win our bowl game against a quality opponent, then we will still be ranked in the top 20 next year at the start of the season, even if Utah gets blown out in their bowl game.
Aside from hearing about it after the game and a little at the beginning of this year, Hawaii’s “bad press” doesn’t go much further. No one is saying, “Utah doesn’t deserve to be in NC game – remember Hawaii?” Utah isn’t in the NC game because there are better teams ranked ahead of them.
BTW, I think Utah will do just fine in their game.
A convincing win in the Bowl game will give us the chance to start ranked again next year, that’s a great way to start!!
I have not posted for a week now, I was at the Utah game and I still have not gotten over the loss and the abuse from the Ute fans. I wanted to punch some of them for throwing crap at BYU fans as they were leaving the game. I had never been to RES before, I have only lived here 7 years, but I hate Ute fans now more than ever. Sorry to use the word hate , but it is how I feel after that game.
The team and Max need a bowl game and to get a win. My guess is that Max needs to get back on the field and do himself and the team some good.
Quinn, after the TCU and Utah loss, what will Max learn from this to improve next year? I really thought the Cougs would be THE TEAM this year to bust the BCS. But if we can’t beat TCU or the Utes it’s not worth talking about.
Next question, Is Utah that good, or did we get out coached again? Besides the fact that the Utes got into Max’s head, are they that good? I think not.
Getting back to the topic, I hope the Cougs go to the LV bowl. We just need a win and a win will help put the team back on track and send the Sr’s off with a positive feeling as they deserve it!!!!!!!
I hear talk about next year, when will it be THIS year? I love the Cougs and Coach Mendenhall, I strongley feel this year was the Cougs best chance to make their mark on a BCS bowl.
Happy Thanksgiving to all Cougar Fans!!!!!!!!!
Staff and Gooch,
I loved how John Beck grew up LOVING BYU football, that he understood the tradition, and really desired to be a part of it. I also loved that he would make the neighborhood kids watch the “Great Moments” video before they played football in the neighborhood.
Reading that made me think of my own childhood, and how I would do much of the same.
As a BYU fan, I really want guys like that playing on the team — someone that takes BYU football seriously and has for his whole life.
I would like to know your thoughts on what you believe to be the percentage of guys on the team that grew up bleeding blue and white and only wanted to play for BYU? And does recruiting a guy like that pay more dividends than a guy that may be more athletic, yet lacks the love and understanding for BYU that the other guy does?
Gunny,
I wish I was out there at RES with you, even with the loss. I’ve only been there twice. Both times the Ute fans were rowdy, but we didn’t get anything thrown on us. I hate the team, the fans as much as the next guy, but I also hope that we treat them better when they come into LES. Tolerate their B… Y… U… SUCKS!!!! in the middle of our cheer, like they always do, but be loud when the Ute offense takes the field and know that sending them back to Salt Lake with a loss hurts more than anything else.
Max as a Senior will be much improved just due to experience alone. As I have watched QBs in the past, it seems that with this experience they are able to recognize defenses and audible to appropriate plays more often. It seems that when BYU QBs audible, they usually change to a running play and I think that could have been done more against Utah.
Jake, I agree with your take that Max doesn’t bleed BYU blue as much as Beck did, but then, again, could anyone? Folks teased Beck when he was in tears after a Utah loss, but to me that showed how deep of a Cougar he was. Beck’s bold prediction, “We’re going to beat that team from up north” was CLASSIC. I’m not sure there are that many of those John Beck BYU fanatics out there who are strong QBs. They go throughout their high school careers thinking, “I’ll go where the best opportunity is”, when we are wanting someone who says, “I’m going to BYU even if I have to whitewash the bleachers and mow the playing field.”
But, I think BYU rewards this type of player, especially in Bronco’s system where walk-ons have earned playing time.
Ki
Well folks, I’ve bought my last ticket to any BYU Utah game at their place.
I believe we ought to organize a boycott. To have the fan experience, sell tickets to watch the game in the Marriott Center.
Fine fans who rush the field several hundred dollars, then make it clear to them that further litigation is possible from our players who were attacked, all on film.
If the U of U can’t put a stop to this crap, then we as BYU fans need to.
Ki,
I totally agree. People can make fun of John Beck all they want for shedding a few tears after the Utah loss, but nobody had any doubt that he wanted that game more than anybody else. I appreciate it when the players were diehard fans first.
Jake,
I am going to say that it is not as many as you would want. I was much like John. Until I was 8 we lived in Provo and my dad was coaching on the BYU baseball team. My brothers and sistes and I would trade off on who got to be the bat boy/girl each game. I remember walking to both the baseball and football stadiums all throughout the year. I used to pretend to be Eric Drage in the backyard and at school. I was #10 in high school as a LB because of Brad Martin (#10 at BYU). When I was 15 we moved into a new house and my mom said I could pick the carpet for my room. I said I wanted Cougar Blue. She thought that would hurt the re-sale value and instead let me paint my room Cougar Blue…the list goes on and one…
I don’t know how many guys come to BYU with that same passion, but most of them leave with a pretty similar passion. I think while you are there playing the tradition and dreams play a part in what/how you experience things there, but once you are there with those guys and invest so much time and energy with them I think the drive to be successful comes more from wanting to lay it all out there for the guy next to you.
I love to look back and say that I was a part of the great BYU tradition. It’s crazy how fast it all went by. But I have to be honest, I was not trying to win games just for traditions sake, nor was I trying to win games for the fans. On the field I was trying to win them for guys like John, Quinn, Jan, Bryan, Kelly, Cameron, etc. It was about our brotherhood for me.
The father of a former defensive player expressed this opinion, and I hope that Quinn or Staff will comment on it:
Anal retentiveness
——————————————————————————–
In another thread the question was raised about BYU’s talent VS their execution.
Bronco has seemed to intimate that his coaching focuses on execution over talent and that is what leads us to success.
My questions are these:
1. When we always seem to have far more penalties in games than our opponents, how is that considered better execution?
2. Why do we get the best “rated” recruiting classes in the MWC and yet are considered less talented and more dependent on execution than our opponents.
3. Why is it that a team with so many “mature” returned missionaries and married men with children have worse discipline than our “immature” opponents?
4. Is the answer to all of the above a coaching philosophy that is making some fundamentally incorrect assumptions;i.e. do we overemphasize “discipline and execution” to the point that we are so focused on it that kids are getting so hung up and anal about it that the results are the opposite: Maybe kids should be playing a bit more out of sheer joy, fun and pleasure of playing etc…… Or is this all a big co-incidence?
Staff,
Thanks much for the response! Although I like to hear that the players were big Cougar fans before they ever decided to play for the team, I guess its inevitable that they’ll be huge fans when they leave…and that’s all that matters. Playing and winning for brotherhood is a much better reason than playing for tradition.
Staff,
This is a crazy idea and probably would never ever happen, but I can’t help but think about it. Now that Rocky Long resigned as New Mexico’s Coach, do you think Bronco would try and bring him over as a D-Coordinator? I think that would be freakin’ sweet. But probably never would happen.
Is there still talk of a pairing with Boise St. in the Poinsettia Bowl? That would be a win-win for us. If we beat them, the 3rd-place MWC beat the 1st place (and undefeated WAC). If we lost, whatever–we’re the 3rd place MWC. Neither one hurts the team or the conference’s credibility.
I would love to see Rocky Long as the DC and I also think it’s not such a long shot that coach Hill gets snapped up to be a HC in the off-season. There has been a lot of talk this year about the lack of African American head coaches in div-1 football and I think coach Hill has the credentials to be given a chance somewhere.
Parker,
I don’t know if that would happen. BYU is such a unique place that I don’t know if Rocky would fit into the program or be able to help recruit the BYU type athlete. I know Coach Mendenhall has a lot of respect for him and would probably like to have his input again. Be careful what you wish for though, if Rocky came it may mean going back to the 3-3-5….uh oh!
I agree with the comment about not playing a lesser PAC 10 team. I believe the best thing for the non BCS schools is to go around the BCS. What would be the result if Utah and Boise played for the non BCS championship. The undefeated team could lay claim to a national championship as much as the BCS team. The only problem would be TV viewership.
But you would plant doubts in the minds of all the fans, who would win between the winner of this game and the BCS.
I don’t know about a Non-BCS Championship being another National Champion. You could have the game but I don’t think you could call them Nat Champs. Although I don’t agree with the set up of the bowls and everything, I don’t think there has been a year I have really been able to argue that the Nat’l Champ was the best team in the country.
The problem with the BCS is not who plays for the NC, but rather who is allowed to play in the bowl games.
I agree with that Staff. The national champ is usually the best team in the country but American sports are all about that one big day, or one big series where you get your shot at the big boy and prove that on any given day you can beat him, just ask Eli and his Giants!! So why not let someone else have a shot. I believe an undefeated MWC team has every right to make someone prove to them that they can beat them. If Utah gets a crappy 9-3 opponent in a bowl game and beats them what does that prove? Let them play undefeated Alabama for all the marbles and see what happens.
I think that essentially what we are all coming to is the fact that we need a playoff system! Until there is a system which makes you win until you are beaten, there will always be discussions about shoulda…woulda…coulda. Even with a playoff you may say, if only this happened or that happened…
but at least at the end of the day you could say, yeah but it didn’t and we won.
The playoff is the only real way to settle the questions on the field. But even with the controversy that exists with OU or Texas, Ohio St. or Boise St., things ARE NOT GOING TO CHANGE anytime soon. In other words, we are at least a decade away from a playoff.
Utah will get an excellent chance to show their worth against either Alabama or Florida (loser of SEC championship game), so they will NOT have a “crappy opponent”. I do agree it is unfair they don’t have a shot at the NC game. I think Utah AND Boise St deserve it more than USC, (USC lost to Oregon St., who lost to Utah).
I’ve actually heard talk that USC thinks it will get in to NC game if OU loses to Missouri (which they won’t). Realistically, USC/BSU/Utah don’t have a shot at NC game, because winner of Big 12 will be OU and they will play the winner of Alabama/Florida for the NC game.
Anyway, as I have posted before, we are not going to change the BCS system. Our only hope is to become a BCS conference, which realistically can happen by 2012 if our top 3 dogs keep pounding away at other conferences. That’s why these bowl games are critical for the Mountain West.
If USC wants to play for a Nat’l Championship, they’ll need to prove themselves with a more difficult schedule than a bunch of weak-sauce Pac-10 opponents. If they think a single marquis win over a hobbled Ohio St. is enough to qualify them, maybe they should consider joining the MWC, where they’ll face tougher teams.
Man oh man, it was fun to type that!!
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