Before we get all bubbly about the vaulted #15 ranking, some things to consider,
BYU and many others only sit high in the polls because several P5 conferences and not started football yet. When the Big 10 and the Pac 12 start playing, we will see a glut of new teams getting ranked. a while lot of eye rolling and wink-wink going on out there right now
The American conference had 3 teams ranked last week #11 UCF, #14 Cinn and #25 Memphis, 2 fell out and a new one, Tulsa jumped up to #18.
These rankings mean nothing until we get out there another 2-3 games and the P5s settle in.
Clemson, Bama and maybe Georgia look right to me but everyone else is pure guesswork.
The Big 12 is the big loser this week with Ok and Texas both losing, disaster! It opens the door for the P12 to get a final 4 bid but the door is only a crack right now. BYU is the national darling right now and will continue to be a hot topic until we play BSU (if BSU is ranked and undefeated)
I personally think BYU is #15 worthy, don’t see any weaknesses there.
As you say, lets see how BYU does against Houston and BSU. At least that before I get all atwitter at the ranking. Should BYU falter, you can bet your bippy that the Cougs will drop way out of the rankings.
The bottom line, it does not matter what the polls say… Because it is all “perception” of the voters.
BYU will not get the recognition that they are good because the teams we play are not that good (in the eyes of the pollsters). Once the P5’s start playing, BYU will be ignored or worse laugh out because of the weak schedule. The good news is that we have games with Boise State and SDSU (Maybe even Army) that are good G5 teams and should help the SOS.
How can a team like Ohio State be ranked in the top 5, when they have not played a down this year?
Just proves my point.
I will say in the past, I worried about these “Gotcha” games, because some times BYU would come out flat for them… NOT this year, so far!
Yes and no, BYU dropped from week 1, win at Navy, and week 2, win over Troy. Then a huge jump this week with the LT drubbing. If BYU were to lose, Yes, we would see a exodus like UCF. But, will BYU lose anytime soon? If Wilson were to get injured, that is about it and I fully expect BSU to be ranked by the time we play them, They are loaded although you worry about a starting week hiccup to USU, who could give them challenges.
BYU has too much on the line to come in flat against UTSA. The spread is 34 for the game. I would say that our D will try to hold them to 0 points. Wilson and co. will try to get to 35 by half.
Sorry for not posting recently, but I’m still paying attention…I’ll add a few of my thoughts:
We were definitely better prepared than Navy, but that wipeout loses some luster because Navy just looks like a really bad team so far.
Troy game means nothing to me. Fun to watch but Troy also looked terrible.
LaTech game DID impress me–very athletic team, well coached, and would contend for its own conference championship–and we just slaughtered them.
Both Milne and Romney have literally run away from D1 safeties–athleticism on the edge has been lacking at times for BYU but these two kids are both great athletes.
Since the first time I saw Allgeier play live in Provo (I think it was vs Cincy his freshman year) I said he could be the best athlete on the entire team, and have been frustrated with our coaches the last couple years that he was marginalized in the offense. He is now showing his great speed, power, and agility.
I’m glad that we are running the fly sweep only a couple times a game instead of what seemed like every other play the last two years (exaggeration but still…).
TV announcers are raving about our pass rush and sacks only bringing 3, but it’s been against extremely bad pass blocking, so maybe we slow the roll there…Hawaii threw for a million yards against the same defense–why? Because they blocked 3 guys.
That said, our LB look fast and agile in coverage, and the freshman corner (Harper) looks like he could be a real stud very soon.
I miss you guys and hope to be able to post more often!
AS FUN AS IT IS TO WATCH US SLAUGHTER INFERIOR TEAMS (AND YES BABY IT’S FUN–IT’S LIKE THE OLD DAYS IN THE WAC/MWC, AND WE ALL LOVED THOSE DAYS), YOU KNOW WE ARE REEEEAAALLLYY JUST WANTING TO FINISH THE FAKE FOOTBALL SEASON AND SEE MARK POPE CONTINUE TO GROW THE BYU BASKETBALL DYNASTY THAT HE HAS BREWING!!!
#10: I hope Pope can bring the program up to a national powerhouse. However, if he goes overboard with the social justice (remember, I said IF he goes OVERBOARD) then I am done with BB.
I don’t really see it as a fake season. It’s great to see BYU get some warmup games that since independence we haven’t been able to do. Go Basketball!
I like much of your analysis. But #2 not so much. What we showed is how good we can be.
I don’t have an issue with Pope wanting his players to have a “safe” place to voice their concerns and maybe enlighten others as to how they feel about the issue of “Inequality” for minorities.
I would think providing a safe environment for people to express and learn about each other way of thinking could actually have a very positive affect on the team and make them even closer, which means they play better as a team.
I don’t think they should be putting things on the floor for BLM or wear some type of symbol on their jersey. But I can see this as a way to bring the group closer together.
Tom,
Good lists of items… #11 I am really excited to see just how well BYU will play against Boise State and SDSU. That will help gauge this team as to how good they really are.
Still wish they would have tried to get Alabama on the schedule.
Interesting take on the La Tech game. I had watched the previous game they played against the HB team and I thought that H Baptist was built with athletes you might see at Snow college or lesser. La Tech looked to be one dimensional with a senior QB but not much more. I was not surprised. Well coached as you say. Holtz is a knockoff for the ol block and why he isn’t at a P5, I’ll never know.
As for BYU, help me out with a question…I don’t see any glaring weaknesses. Am I missing something?
Floyd:
I guess this belongs on the BB board, but I 1000% agree with you on what Pope is doing. Pope is the ultimate players’ coach–I think he is an absolute genius at creating an atmosphere where every guy on the team feels as close or closer to his teammates than he does to anyone else in the world. And having these tough but VERY open conversations with his players are his way of exploring and possibly opening every wound, but then healing them up better and stronger than ever before. I was in the offices last week and didn’t think to ask about the uniforms, court, etc. I wouldn’t be shocked to see something on the uniforms, but I seriously doubt they paint the court or wear anything that looks like a fundraising ad.
Chris:
I always ask myself this: do we have at least one NFL player (even a practice squad guy) at each position group.
OL-check (a bunch of them)
WR-maybe, but I definitely see Romney and then in a few years Epps getting long looks at least for a practice squad
RB-Allgeier (too soon to tell on Miles Davis, but he could be something very special–multiple time junior olympian in the sprints, great attitude, great teammate, decent size for a true freshman, and has looked just fantastic in his first few chances, even in garbage time behind the OL2 when everyone knew we were just running out clock). I think Allgeier will at least get a long look in training camp. He has NFL size and NFL speed.
QB: check
DL: check
LB: not likely, but maybe-Kaufusi will get the friends and family treatment by scouts; Wilger looks great but I don’t see him being better than a lot of other BYU LB who didn’t sniff the NFL
DB: maybe–Anderson, Ah You, Warner could all get a tryout
K: our punter and kicker both look excellent so far.
So no, I don’t see any glaring weaknesses. I don’t see a single position group where we don’t have a lot of talent.
BYU, historically, has always won big when they had a veteran QB. We have even been able to win championships with glaring deficiency on D etc… BYU, this year, looks like a SEC type team
I hope BYU wins out and gets a NY’s chance for this single reason…BSU has won several of them and shown us that a mid major can play a soft schedule, then beat a OK or even a Bama one time. BYU is hardly a mid major but we are fooling ourselves to think we can play P5 schedules without P5 reserves…just too many dog on injuries. But I think BYU can play anyone for one game and beat them.
The NBA’s viewership is in the tank because of this. There is nothing wrong with discussing internal challenges that come up. But, if there are no problems then leave this stuff to political classes and discussions. And don’t throw this in our faces. I remember being at the 1979 Cougar Classic game vs La Salle when the awards after the triple overtime win by BYU saw Michael Brooks (scored 51 points) left off the all tournament team. The La Salle team was mostly Black athletes. They began to laugh at all us white people. But then the announcer announced the MVP as Michael Brooks and the entire crowd cheered and pointed at him “you.” Brooks came up to the microphone and with tears thanked the crowd. That was back in 1979.
Floyd, I AGREE with what you wrote. But there is a difference between making sure that teammates, of all races and ethnicities, air things out when needed or start wearing complaints on their sleeves (so to speak) or vamping for organizations like BLM, Antifa or the like. I am 100% for justice regardless of race, creed, color, ethnicity or whatever. However, I, as an individual person, will not support, in any manner, that which smacks of going against the Constitution of the USA or heading us toward socialism.
