BYU's BCS Hopes

This weekend, my worst fear may have been realized when the new AP and Coaches polls were released. That is BYU most likely has no chance of going to a BCS bowl this year, even if they win the rest of their games.

This weekend, after what I felt was a solid win against a Colorado State football team that had been receiving votes in the polls, BYU football fell one spot in both the Coaches and the AP polls to 21 and 20 respectively. I was, quite honestly, surprised. I felt that the win showed that BYU was back on the right track and is still a powerful football team. In addition, four top twenty-five teams that were ranked ahead of BYU lost. However, of those teams only one of them fell below BYU in one poll (Mississippi). All of their losses were blowouts and the teams looked much worse than BYU did against FSU.

Here's the punchline. Big name programs hold on to their rankings better than BYU and voters won't put BYU back in a position that would allow them to play in a BCS game. Even if Boise State and Houston lose games and BYU beats TCU, the odds are that BYU won't ascend into the top 12 and therefore will not be allowed to play in a BCS bowl this year. Las Vegas Bowl, here we come ... for the fifth year in a row.

BYU Football - Colorado St - Final BYU 42 CSU 23

It was a great game today for the BYU football team.  In a game that many believed would be close, BYU jumped out to a quick 21-0 in the first quarter.  Although Colorado St managed to put 23 points on the board, the game wasn't ever really close.

I was happy to see BYU football playing like traditional BYU football.  Last week's loss to Florida St got me a little bit scared.  (In addition, don't get me started on how mad I am that Florida St fell apart today against USF.)  It looks like the team is back to what we saw against Oklahoma and Tulane. 

BYU Football - Colorado St - Pre-game

This week BYU football takes on the Colorado State Rams in Provo.  Colorado State is currently 3-0.  This week they look to open conference play with a statement game against19th ranked BYU Cougars.  This is the best start the Rams have had in 15 years and you can bet they will be excited to play against the team that has dominated the MWC for the past three years.  They won't go down without a fight.

At the beginning of the season, I thought of this game as sort of a gimme game for BYU football.  CSU is usually a mid MWC team, that hasn't given BYU much trouble.  Although, they had an impressive growing season last year, I didn't think they would present a large challenge for BYU.

However, after last week's humiliating loss to FSU, BYU showed they were vulnerable.  The defense that had been unbreakable the first two weeks in the season, broke.  They broke badly.  The good news for BYU is that CSU's quarterback, Grant Stucker isn't as mobile as Christian Ponder.  I don't think BYU will have trouble putting a fair amount of pressure on him.

In CSU's first three games, they have shown they can play with quality opponents and, in fact, beat them.  Look for it to be a good game this weekend, but not as close as some may think.  BYU's running game is better this year than it was last year.  CSU has shown they are suceptible to the run allowing 169 rushing yards in their game against Nevada.  Unga and Kariya will both have career days and the Cougars will win by three touchdowns.

Prediction

BYU 45 CSU 21

BYU Football - Florida St - Final

As hard as it is for me to say, BYU got it handed to them on their home field today by Florida State.  The defense that had been touted across the country as one that was unbreakable, broke.  After only allowing 16 points their first two games of the season, the BYU defense allowed 54 points today. 

The offense seems pretty reasonable.  Max Hall's stats looked about average, but his average this year has be below what I would expect for a Sr. quarterback at BYU.  In three games he has already thrown for 6 interceptions.  That just won't get it done, when you are playing big name teams.

On a good note, I was happy to see Riley Nelson get a chance to take a few snaps.  He appears to be an already developed quarterback and it will be fun to see him compete for the starting job next season.  It was nice to see Harvey Unga back in the game.  He rushed for 97 yards and appeared healthy on the plays he was in on.

I will say this 54-28 loss appears to completely dash any hopes that BYU had of playing in a BCS bowl.  It may not be impossible, but it certainly looks grim. 

Onward and upward, I guess.  Next week the Cougars face Colorado State, a team that is on the rise.  With today's loss I am concerned about the Rams.  I hope Bronco has something in mind for practice this week that can get his team back on track.

The Mountain West is Gaining Recognition

I found an article today on ESPN that ranks the FBS conferences based on what has transpired thus far in the season.  Currently the Mountain West is sitting at the number four spot.  The biggest boost they got was when the BYU football team beat Oklahoma 14-13 the first week of the season.  The current conferences above the Mountain West are the SEC, the Big 12, and the PAC-10.  The current rankings are:





1.   SEC
2.   Big 12
3.   PAC-10
4.   Mountain West
5.   ACC
6.   Big 10
7.   Big East
8.   Conference USA
9.   MAC
10. WAC
11. MAC

Complete Rankings

Max Hall Davey O'Brien Award Finalist

The BYU football program has a long standing tradition of excellent quarterbacks.  This year is no different.  Max Hall has already proved that he belongs on the list of names that are known as great BYU quarterbacks.

Max Hall is currently in 3rd place on the Davey O'Brien finalist list.  Fans are allowed to vote in the semifinalist rounds.  Their votes account for 5% of the total vote.  5% is much higher than I expected for a fan vote.  Rarely do fans ever get more than 1%.  This is our chance to help BYU football return to its national recognition in the area of quarterbacks.  Go vote today.

Davey O'Brien Voting Website

BYU Football - Florida St - Pre-Game

This Saturday BYU will defend it's 18 game winning streak at Lavell Edwards Stadium.  The BYU football team has not lost a game at home in three seasons.  The journey to make it a fourth season will begin this Saturday at 5pm MT.

This weekend's match-up was one that I became very excited about before the season began.  However, I have since lost some of the enthusiasiam due to the recent performance of Florida State.  Against Miami, they played an okay game.  I told myself that it was just a rivalry game and they are probably better than they looked.  Then last week against Jacksonville State, I realized they may not be as good as originally thought.  Their passing game seems solid, but that is about the only thing they have.  Their run defense on the year has been loose and their pass defense has been worse.

The BYU football team has made leaps and bounds since last year.  One area that didn't a lot of help, but has improved, is the pass game.  Max Hall is more poised and has the potential to tear apart the Florida State defense.  The variety of receivers that Hall can throw to this year has increased due to the loss of Austin Collie.  This year 12 players have already caught at least one pass.

What has impressed me more than anything this year has been BYU's defense.  I have enjoyed watching the defense mix things up.  I was happy to see them confuse the Oklahoma offense.  The BYU front defensive line many times didn't set up until seconds before the ball was snapped.  It was an interesting tactic that wouldn't allow the Oklahoma offense to not get a read on the defense or who was blitzing.

One final note about the overal attitude of the BYU football team this year.  The last few years, it has almost seemed that the attitude of BYU football is that it is wrong to get too excited.  This year has been different.  I have seen the players get excited about playing football and get excited about their wins.  Way to go, Bronco!

Prediction
After two road games, BYU will be excited to finally play at home.  The passing game will immediately be effective against the mediocre Florida State defense.  When they try to adjust, BYU will open up the run game and the dominance will be shown.  The saturday BYU football will win this one fairly easily by 24 points.

BYU 41, Florida State 17

BYU Football - Tulane - Post Game

Max Hall is certainly making a name for himself after a second week passer rating of 170.49 in the BYU football team 54-3 victory over Tulane. With the exception of one interception, Max played the game just about as well as he could have. He completed passes to the open players. He made the right decisions on the key downs.

BYU soundly beat up on the Tulane this weekend, claiming a 2-0 starting record. I knew that Tulane was no Oklahoma, but I grossly over-estimated their abilities. I sincerely thought they would score at least two touchdowns in today's game. I guess if that says anything, it certainly says that BYU has a strong defense.

I would have to say that I feel Max Hall was the player of the game. Although he wasn't in pressure situations during this week, like he felt last week, he still held himself as the captain of the BYU football team. My hat off to him. He is showing himself as the leader that was lacking last season. This season he appears much more mature and more of a person that stays composed in pressure situations.

Bryan Kariya has stepped up in the stead of Harvey Unga. Unga didn't play in the game opener against Oklahoma, and he left early in today's game. However, without Unga no gap was felt in the back field. Kariya has showed he can run, he can catch, and he can block.

Up next - Florida State...in Provo.

BYU Football - Tulane

I am not sure what to think about this weekend’s BYU football game against Tulane. I heard an interview with Tulane’s head coach yesterday. He spoke about the youth and inexperience of their program. He said that he hoped his team would be able to play competitively with BYU. It almost sounded as though he had no faith that his team would be able to even put up a fight against BYU.

It seems odd to me that a coach would be willing to admit that his team didn’t stand much of a chance against a top 10 team. Even though I agree with him, I wonder how you present that to your team in the locker room before the game. Therefore, I am not buying it.

Everyone around the country thinks that BYU is going to dominate Tulane in tomorrow’s football game. Therefore, why shouldn’t the coach play into their opinions and allow BYU to be lulled into a false sense of security. I think the only person in America that truly believes that Tulane can win this football game is their head coach.

Even if it is a ploy to get the BYU football team to look ahead to Florida State, I don’t think they will buy it. The culture of the BYU football team is different this year than it was last year. BYU is focused. They take time to celebrate their wins, but they continue to focus on the next game ahead while not looking ahead to what could come in the future.

I think this is a fairly easy game for BYU. I wasn’t impressed with Tulane’s game against Tulsa last week. BYU wins the football game soundly by three touchdowns.

Prediction

BYU 38, Tulane 17

Max Hall's Redemption

ESPN Article

I found this article on ESPN today and I think it is worth a read. It talks a little about how Max Hall felt after last season, as the BYU Football team struggled to live up to the expectations that were put on them at the beginning of the 2008 season. It is heartfelt and I think it truly reflects Max's feeling on how BYU football has improved from last season.

ESPN Article

2009 BYU Football Schedule

Date	Time (MT)	TV	Opponent	Location	Outcome	Articles
9/5	5:00PM	ESPN	Oklahoma	Arlington, TX	W, 14-13	1, 2, 3
9/12	1:30PM	ESPN2	Tulane	New Orleans, LA	W, 54-3	1, 2
9/19	5:00PM	Versus	Florida St.	Provo, UT	L, 54-28	1, 2
9/26	4:00PM	MTN	Colorado St.	Provo, UT	W, 42-23	1, 2
10/2	7:00PM	MTN	Utah St.	Provo, UT	W, 35-17	1
10/10	7:00PM	MTN	UNLV	Las Vegas, NV	W, 59-21	1
10/17	3:00PM	MTN	San Diego St.	San Diego, CA	W, 38-28
10/24	5:30PM	Versus	TCU	Provo, UT	L, 38-7	1
11/7	12:00PM	MTN	Wyoming	Laramie, WY
11/14	12:00PM	MTN	New Mexico	Albuquerque, NM
11/21	1:30PM	CBS C	Air Force	Provo, UT
11/28	3:00PM	MTN	Utah	Provo, UT

BYU Oklahoma Game

What a weekend it has been for college football. Okay, not really. Most of it turned out the way the analysts predicted, with the exception of one game - BYU vs. Oklahoma. Nobody expected BYU to play as well as they did against the number 3 team in the country.

Key to the Win
Many people have said it was Max Hall who was instrumental in BYU's upset of Oklahoma. While I feel he was key leader in the game and led a very important scoring drive in the fourth quarter, I feel there was anothe key to BYU's suceess on the football field. The defense was excellent. They held the Sooners to only 265 total yards in the game. If you want to blame that on Bradford's injury, think again. The reigning heisman trophy winner, only threw for 96 yards in the first half, which means he was on track for about 200 or so total yards passing. Wasn't his average last year something like 500 yards per game? The Cougar defense was impecable.

The offensive line deserves credit too. While many say that Oklahoma's struggles began with their "rookie" offensive line, I believe that BYU's "rookie" offensive line did an excellent job of protecting Max Hall. They are "rookie" and did make some mistakes. So I can't call them the key to the win, but I do feel that they did an excellent job and will undoubtably soon be as strong if not stronger than last years line.

One Last Thought
I am happy to have McKay Jacobson back from his mission. Austin Collie will be missed, but Jacobson will fill his shoes well. He was a bit jittery in his first game back and in front of a crowd full of his family and hometown friends. But he will do better and become BYU's leading receiver this season.

Way to go Cougars. You beat the Oklahoma and got your picture plastered all over ESPN's front page.

BYU Oklahoma Results

BYU upsets Oklahoma in incredible fashion, and on national television. With three minutes left in the game Max Hall hit wide open McKay Jacobson in end zone to put BYU on top of Oklahoma, 14-13. In a last effort, OU kicked a 54 yard field goal that was wide left and short. BYU kneeled on it three times and upset the No. 3 ranked Oklahoma Sooners.

More of my thoughts to come later...right now I am celebrating.