For me, If ranked, I would put them at 25 but my belief is that # 30 is where they belong. This not just for yesterday’s game performance - across the board - but that game in light of BYU’s performances in the previous 5 games - just barely getting by.
The goal is to win. Not by how much. Just ask Alabama who lost to a non-ranked team and only fell to #5. I feel that this year will see many ranked teams will several losses. We have BEAT 3 power 5 teams. One ranked. I would put BYU #15.
I don’t know
which was worse losing to Boise State or played poorly to USU last week or losing to UTEP back in 1997? Of course it was UTEP
Ranking at this time of the season makes no sense to me but after the fact playing poorly yesterday we don’t deserve to be rank at all!
To me, it’s all on the coaches lack of preparation for the rain and Boise’s offense.
First off we should be happy they are still ranked, although it might be better for them if they weren’t right now. I think after Saturday they could have used a slap in the face from the pollsters to help with their focus. Rankings don’t mean much until the end of the year anyway.
Secondly if BYU wins out (very doubtful). They could still conceivably end up in a New Years bowl game. Two of the teams they have beaten (ASU & Utah) were very impressive this weekend.
Thirdly one bad game does not break a season. BYU has been in the top ten before with a one loss season (1983 #7 and 1996 #5). I was real annoyed with articles in the D-News about BYU being a possible playoff team. They weren’t winning impressively enough and that kind of talk was way premature as Saturdays events indicated. I never believed they were good enough to be a playoff team but thought they could possibly be a top ten team and they still could be if they win the rest.
Finally midway through the season we have a pretty good idea about the strength of BYU’s opponents, I will rank them 1-12.:
1.Baylor - appears to be very good and underrated and could beat BYU decisively if BYU plays like they did Saturday. They aren’t ranked but maybe they should be. They might be after they play BYU. Grimes is their O-coordinator and he knows BYU’s defense and offense.
2. ASU could be the class of the Pac 12
3. Utah - Finally looking like Utah and has a real shot at the Pac 12 South.
4. Virginia - Running up big numbers on offense. No defense, will be a very tough game for BYU.
5. Boise - About equal to Virginia, could be the best of the Mtn West with the momentum of their upset over BYU.
6. USC - Probably the most talented team left on the schedule. Probably the most talented team BYU will play this year and a game I not at all confident BYU will win even after what Utah did to them. Utah look real dialed in and played Utah football for the first time this year against USC.
7. WSU - Wasn’t looking too good but had a nice win over Oregon St. on Saturday and could beat BYU if they play like they did Saturday and BYU doesn’t play well.
8. Utah St - About equal to Washington St. Should win most of the rest of their games and make a bowl game based on their remaining schedule. They don’t play Nevada, San Diego St, or Fresno St and they have played their toughest opponents.
9. Georgia Southern - Don’t know much about them except they aren’t beating anybody and could give us trouble like USF did, particularly on the road.
10. USF- Not very good.
11. Arizona - Still winless, they have some talent but have a losing culture now that is tough to overcome. They gave an average UCLA team some trouble for about three quarters but too many penalties took them out of the game;
12. Idaho St. - The one game I am 99% sure BYU will win. Nothing is ever a sure thing but this game is about as close as it gets and may be the only game this year that is over by halftime.
BYU is good enough to win the rest of the games if they play games with minimal penalties and very few turnovers and the coaches make good decisions. They aren’t good enough to look past anybody left on the schedule with the exception of Idaho St. My prediction is a record somewhere between 8-5 and 11-2.
Here is how I see the remaining games playing out:;
Baylor - Very likely loss.
Washington St. - Likely win but could be a very difficult game.
Virginia - I think we should be a very slight favorite but the game worries me.
Idaho St. - Blowout win for BYU.
Georgia Southern - Very likely win but could be another USF type game.
USC - Likely a loss, I can’t believe USC won’t get their act together at some point this year and they have top 10 talent.
Nobody left on the schedule is even close to Georgia or Alabama so all games are “winnable” but it isn’t likely all the remaining games will be wins.
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I understand your frustration but BYU did beat two teams that were ranked at the time and Utah looked like a ranked team yesterday. Boise is a good team with a deceptive record. BYU played poorly yesterday and not too great against USF and Arizona, but they have wins over two very good teams and a solid win over USU with a third string QB playing half the game. That said I think 25 is about where I would rank them and personally I wish they were not ranked because I think underrated teams have more motivation.
As a fan I try to look at every game objectively neither getting too giddy about wins or too deflated over losses. At the end of the season we can all step back and objectively look at the big picture. Hopefully we will be happy and if not then there is next year. BYU is a young team and should have a good future if they don’t lose a bunch to transfer or leaving early for the NFL.
The goal is to win and improve every game Scott.
What I have seen so far is the team hangs on to win, but little to no improvement on how the team performs, especially on defense.
Yeah, two of the last 3 games weren’t good. Hanging on to win against Utah and ASU isn’t so bad but sleepwalking against USF and Boise not so good. USU was OK in my book considering all the injuries BYU was playing with. I give them a pass for the Arizona game because it was the season opener and you really don’t know much after the first game.
Ummm…are you suggesting that BYU is the only team in the country that is allowed to improve each game? Boise isn’t allowed to? And, as far as win every game, Alabama lost to a non-ranked team. But, Texas A&M isn’t allowed to improve. They were just lucky. They just caught Alabama in a low and some kind of rain storm.
If Alabama only fell 5 places then BYU should be #15. No?
See if we are better prepared for Baylor.
As far a the defense, the offense gave them the ball on the 20 yardline twice. Not fair to blame the defense for 17 of their points due to turnovers. Boise only scored 3 field goals in the second half. I blame the coaches for poor preparation for rain and bad play calling. 3 passes from the 3 yardline?
Anyone who really watched the game yesterday realized that there were many, many failures with the coaching, the play calling and the players on both sides of the ball. There is no one individual or part of the team to blame. Some of it APPEARED to be lack of interest for some of the players. The entire team, including the coaching staff stunk up the entire field for the entire game.
If the other team outplays the cougars and wins the game, then good for them and accept the loss.
I would feel beter if the coaches and players forfeited the game and said, “You know, we have better things to do today than play this stinkin game.” That would be more honorable than playing and throwing the game away. The loss does not piss me off. It is the entire team tanking - the manner of the loss that makes me angry. I hope BYU wins out but I am turning my attention to the Razorbacks and some other southern teams that I have some connections with.
Didn’t you already post this? 
I agree the coaching was poor from a preparation standpoint. One quarter of rain and we fell apart. Forgot how to protect the ball properly. Hall didn’t know how to throw a wet football. Both had to be explained by the sideline commentator on how to hold the ball and throw it in the rain. But, if you eliminate that quarter, we outplayed them. Has the drought been that bad they don’t know how to play in the rain?
Then there was what I think actually caused the loss at the end. Had we ran for a touchdown 4 times if necessary at the 3 yard line I think we win.
Since I do not care about any other college team in the country, the answer is “NO”!
I am basing my comments made by Lavell Edwards that every game you should improvement in technique, execution and such things as tackling.
I can handle losses as long as I can see progress of the players.
i don’t see improvements , especially on defense where poor tackling is still happening, and lot of big yardage gains is still happening.
beyond that, I don’t care what other team do.
PI’s and poor tackling is all on the defense.
What kind of comment is this? You should apologize to Floyd for being completely clueless after reading his post. As we were texting yesterday during the game I was impressed with your analysis in general. What happens to you when you start posting here or was it your kid doing the texting during the game vs. BSU?
No way in the world BYU deserves a 15 ranking. They are lucky to be 20 and more realistic is closer to 25. If they play better and improve like Floyd suggested then maybe they get a higher ranking. Yes, every team is “allowed” to improve. I can’t believe I just wrote that but felt it was necessary to help your comprehension. BYU had a great opportunity on national, prime time tv to show the rest of the country that they are for real and they totally flopped. Nothing more to say.
Boise averaged 3.7 yards per run. Tackling is fine. Pass rush is missing. Just ask Kansas City tonight. Same thing. Preparation was missing.
- Preparing for wet footballs in passing and securing the football from fumbles in the rain
- What to do at the 3 yard line. Run the ball 4 times if necessary
Defense was okay. The offense messed this up.
Boy, this BYU loss really got your dander up, for you to write so much…hey, I don’t blame you, have I not been in a snow blizzard out by Venal Utah, I probably would of written a book on how stupid this loss was. Tom Larimer texted me updates as I could not get anything on my phone. On Paper, no way we lose this game with BSU’s poor rushing record and being one dimensional.
This loss not only puts BYU back to reality but helps them focus. We have 3 P 5’s in a row with 2 road games and that spells a loss or two if anyone follows BYU history.
Road game, probably a loss.
The Boise game can be summed up in Bad Coaching calls, turnovers and gutless defensive schemes.
You can learn from coaching mistakes, turnovers can be fixed but a gutless DC will get BYU into trouble and keep BYU from winning winnable games. Someone explain it to me? Please!. I watched with my two own eyes some pretty good DC calling in the Utah game and especially in the ASU game. So why are we still plagued with it when timely blitzing or rush 4 or more will make a QB get rid of the ball before he can settle in and pick us apart? just askin for a friend.
I was real worried about the Boise game because it is the type of game BYU has lost in recent years that they should have won fairly comfortably. Win a few close games over power 5 teams and then lose games to teams they should beat by a few touchdowns, like; Toledo, USF, Northern Illinois, etc. Boise is better than those teams were but BYU is also better than they were when they lost those games so the loss is just as disappointing.
After one or two good wins BYU fans, and the D-News press, needs to stop with the grandiose delusions. BYU has never been good enough to overlook anybody. They aren’t Alabama, Clemson, Ohio St, or Oklahoma. They are good enough at their best to beat any non power 5 team, good enough to beat the mid level P-5 teams about 50% of the time, and occasionally upset a top level P-5 like Miami back in 90. Right now BYU isn’t close to being a top level P-5 program so any discussion about an outside chance at a playoff spot is ridiculous even before the debacle on Saturday. Maybe the invite to the Big 12 will change that over time. I would guess they can get back on a par with Utah but Utah is still what I would call a mid level P-5 simply because they are in weakest P-5 conference right now even though they may be one of the top 2-3 teams in the conference. BYU may be of mid level P-5 caliber this year.
Grasshopper: “Didn’t you already post this? ”
Me: You actually posting this, the second most repeating poster on this forum! You funny 
Another thing that bugs me is that after EVERY game that BYU has lost since Sitake became HC, he says he is respoinsible, that he is the HC and he needs to get the players more prepared and ready to play. How many losses does he get to say that - 100? 200?. He would sound more real if he dropped that comment completely. For Saturday’s loss just say, “We sucked and they didn’t and not much more needs to be said.”
I’m guilty, Looking at BSU this year, they have been dismal at the run game, good QB and one NFL receiver-pretty one dimensional. BYU allowed Backmeier time to do his thing. The coaching was exceptional. I thought BYU would dictate the game and even after 4 turnovers and 7 minutes to play, BYU had time to come back.
I still believe that Hall/Romney with NFL bound Algerier and probably the best 3 wideouts BYU has had in history are a pretty formidable group if our defense can make stops.
Will be a long day in Wacco if BYU coaches don’t get their act together.