BYU Football - TCU - Pregame

Everyone in the country will turn their eyes to Provo this weekend, as ESPN's college gameday showcases this weekend's only football game between ranked teams. 

The no 8 TCU Horned Frogs come to visit the no. 16 BYU Cougars.  The BYU football team is hoping to make up for their embarassing loss to TCU a year ago.  In that game, the tables were turned.  BYU was a top ten team believed to be headed for a BCS bowl and TCU spoiled their hopes.  The cougars hope to return the favor this year in Provo.

Earlier this season many believed that the BYU football game against Oklahoma would be the biggest one of the season.  After Oklahoma's turn of bad events that game isn't carrying as much weight any more.  BYU needs this win in order to gain back some of the national recognition that has been lost after the Oklahoma mediocrity and the Florida State loss. 

While many believe that BYU can't get into a BCS bowl game this year, there are people that believe that a dominant win againt TCU and a dominant win againt Utah could do the trick.  It would probably also require a Boise State loss. 

The game this saturday will be an interesting one.  TCU has one of the best defenses in the nation and BYU has one of the best offenses in the country.  Without a question, the game will hinge on BYU's defense.  If they can shut down the TCU offense, BYU can win the game.  If not, BYU can start playing re-run tapes of last year's game. 

Last week against San Diego State, I think BYU saw one of the best offenses in the MWC.  QB Ryan Lindley is an accurate passer and he has receivers that can catch the ball.  TCU doesn't seem to have quite the offensive attack that SDSU had.  They run a lot more than they pass.  And BYU's run defense has been pretty solid this year.  The gaps have been in the pass defense.  Look for TCU to try to take advantage of BYU's small corners. 

In the end, I think BYU has what it takes to win this game.  I believe that if BYU can play solid defense and score early they will win the football game.

Prediction
BYU 34, TCU 28

College Gameday Coming to Provo

ESPN's College GameDay is coming to Provo for the BYU, TCU football game this saturday.  The game is set to kick off at 5:30pm.  However, the college gameday show will begin at noon.  The game will not be televised on ESPN or ABC, but the day's college football action will be brought to you from Provo.

Over the weekend the first BCS standings came out.  BYU fell into place at 16.  TCU is the leader of the conference at number 8.  The no. 8 vs. no. 16 match-up is definitely the reason ESPN is coming to Provo this weekend.

This morning KSL interviewed Bronco Mendenhall and asked him how he felt about ESPN coming to LaVell Edwards Stadium for the game.  He said that he was proud of his team.  He feels they are a good football team and have deserved that kind of recognition.  When asked how he would keep his team focused on the game and not the attention that will be brought to Provo on Saturday, he said that the preparation will be similar to how the team prepared for the Oklahoma game.

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. 

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

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.

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

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.

BYU 2009 Official Schedule

BYU recently announced their complete schedule for the 2009 football season. It includes some exciting match ups including, Oklahoma, Florida St, Utah, and TCU for homecoming. Below is the complete schedule.

Sept 5 - Oklahoma (Dallas, TX)
Sept 12 - Tulane
Sept 19 - Florida State
Sept 26 - Colorado State
Oct 2 - Utah State
Oct 10 - UNLV
Oct 17 - San Diego St.
Oct 24 - TCU (Homecoming)
Nov 7 - Wyoming
Nov 14 - New Mexico
Nov 21 - Air Force
Nov 28 - Utah

Home games listed in bold.

BYU 2009 Schedule

BYU has finalized their non-conference schedule for 2009. There are some revisions to the original opponents, but if you're a BYU fan, you can't complain about who the cougars will play. 2009 already looks to be a good year posting the best home schedule BYU has played in years. Home opponents will include, Florida State, Utah State, Air Force, Colorado State, TCU, and Utah.

In addition to an excellent home schedule, BYU will also face Oklahoma in what proves to be a quality season opening game. The game will be played on September 5, 2009 at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington, Texas. The BYU-Oklahoma match-up will be the first game played in the new stadium which will be the new home of the Cotton Bowl. The Labor Day weekend contest will kick off in primetime and be televised on ABC or ESPN as part of the second annual ESPN Kickoff Week presented by Gillette.

For complete details, click here.

The rest of the non-conference schedule is as follows.

September 5 - Oklahoma - Arlington, TX
September 12 - Tulane - New Orleans, LA
September 19 - Florida State - Provo, UT
October 2 - Utah State - Provo, UT

Upset Weekend Gives BYU Fans a Smile

Even though the cougars were off yesterday, there was plenty of reason for cougar fans to be watching college football this weekend. It all started with USC being upset by Oregon St, but it didn't stop there. Three other top 10 teams fell also. No. 4 Florida lost on a blocked extra point to Mississippi St. No. 9 Wisconsin got beat my Michigan in the big house. Then, in prime time, No 3. Georgia fell badly to a national champion type performance by No. 8 Alabama.

This shake up can only be good for the no. 11 Cougars. I imagine Florida and Georgia will remain in the top 15 in this week's polls. Wisconsin will fall at least 10 spots, but will probably still remain in the top 25. The question then becomes, "Will voters have the guts to put BYU ahead of Florida and Georgia?" I think BYU will actually end up inbetween the two. Georgia will only fall a few spots because there loss was to a very good ranked opponent. BYU will fall behind them. Florida will fall a couple of spots below BYU. Here's how I see it.

1. Oklahoma
2. Alabama
3. Missouri
4. Texas
5. LSU
6. Texas Tech
7. Georgia
8. BYU
9. Penn St.
10. Florida

As an important side note, the upsets also helped Max Hall's hopes for the Heisman. He now sits in the number 3 position behind, Missouri's Chase Daniel, and Oklahoma's Sam Bradford. Click here.

Does USC's loss to the Beavers help BYU?

If you haven't heard yet, you must be brain dead, because it's been all over ESPN all day. Last night, the lowly Beavers of Oregon State took on the mighty Trojans and won. I won't recap the game for you. There are plenty of good reviews out there. Here is one.

So, the question becomes, "What does this mean for other teams around the country? (Especially BYU)" Well, it doesn't mean that we have to be worried about Oregon State jumping into the polls and creating competition for the BCS. They didn't look that good. USC just looked bad, real bad. To say they looked like a top 10 team would be an absolute lie. To say they looked like a top 25 team, would be a stretch. I estimate they will drop at least 9 spots in the polls this week. It should be more, but USC seems to have a pretty reliable following.

What this does for BYU and other BCS hopefuls is give them a little more hope this year. It is now very likely that we will see a national championship with two "one loss" teams. As the top SEC team play each other, they will inevitably knock each other off. So will the Big Ten and Big 12 teams. If BYU can complete the season undefeated, they can pretty much count on a BCS invitation.

Some say there is a chance of BYU playing in the national championship. As much, as I would like that to happen, I don't think it will. We would have to see all of the top 10 teams with two losses and BYU undefeated. BYU can and will go undefeated this year, but we won't see teams like Oklahoma, Missouri, and Florida with more than one loss.

What are your thoughts? How much does Oregon State's win help BYU?