Just how will BYU fair in the Big 12?

Football
1

No doubt that Basketball is going to suffer unless we get a good big man and another point.

But I was thinking about football and this is my personal observation.
I hear how BYU will suffer and that its going to take years for BYU to be competitive. Having been a fan for about 45 years, I can safely say that BYU has always competed depending on its talent, so I’ll break it down.

QB Slovis, hear he is very comfortable with the receivers and the offense.
#2, Jeff Retziaff, big numbers, big arm. experience.
#3 Cadd Fennegan, 3 years in BYU’s program.
Burton, true fr. good things then you have MVP Sol-Jay Peters. who could take over with option powers
Can we win with Slovis? You judge, I like him.

RB? Looked pretty bleak coming out of the bowl game, now ??
Robbins is a 230 lb beast, 1000 yd runner
#2 LJ Martins is the highest rated RB BYU has EVER signed
#3 Ropati, who blew me away when he got the ball, bouncy, bowling ball that NEVER loses yardage.
#4 Miles then Peters
This has to be the most diversified group at BYU EVER!

Wide Receiver?
BYU Football Spring Roster Preview: Wide Receivers (msn.com)
Cody Epps
#2 Keanu Hill
#3 Chase Roberts
These guys are explosive but we need 1 more and BYU is looking in the transfer. But listen who is coming in as true fr… Hagan and MaKenzie are blazers, true track speed. Hagan had 51 HS TDs.

TEs
Issac Rex, as a fr. he was a NFL talent, is this 5th the big year?
Mason Wake and Ethan Erickson,

Oline? This is my big question mark.

Defense, I will cover more later but I hear Jay Hill has them swarming. destructive.

My point in all of this is, BYU has plenty of talent at Key positions to compete and surprise a lot of people. Will BYU compete for the Big 12, NO. But will they be bowling their 1st year in the Big 12?
Absolutely

2

I’m hearing that Rex is 100%. Also, that the OL is better than last year. They will be better for the run game too.

3

I am with Fish on the OL. We have heard for the last 3 years that the OL was going to be fantastic. I haven’t seen it yet. Over hyped each year and actually we’re better pass protectors than run blockers. I will wait and see. Great OL’s make average skill players look good. I have always thought that BYU needed to focus a highly paid OL coach on the LDS pool of recruits. We are as natural a factory for OL type of players as we can be. Almost opposite of the needs that Pope has for a great point guard! Given the LDS talent pool!

4

I agree with most of what is being said here. I don’t believe the football team will suffer for many years in the Big 12 before they “get up to speed” or something. I think the team will be ready to compete at the same level as the rest of the Big 12. Basketball is a different story but I don’t think, because of transfer portal stuff, that BYU will have to build a program in order to compete. I think it will come faster than we might anticipate.

Jay Hill is a seriously good defensive coach and will be a great coordinator. I see the football team being very competitive.

5

Home wins and Road Losses, that is the big question?

BYU announces 2023 football schedule and inaugural Big 12 matchups | byucougars.com

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BYU football: Cougars receivers could be elite, are they Big-12 ready? - Deseret News

was waiting for something like this

7

Been pondering this article from the Athletic the last few days:

Two big 12 writers answer mailbag questions and give their rankings for the football programs for next season. One picks BYU to finish # 14 in the conference - dead last. The other disagrees, picking us to finish 13th

Who can stop an Oklahoma-Texas conference title showdown? Big 12 mailbag, Part 2 - The Athletic.

I honestly think we will surprise these guys. Just looking at history it seems unlikely that BYU will be that bad.

BYU is 22-23 all time against the other 13 teams in this year’s new Big 12. But if you look at only the last 10 years, we are 8-4 with losing records against only Baylor 0-2 and West Virginia 0-1. All time we are the only team in the country with winning records against both Texas 4-1 and Oklahoma 2-0. All time we have losing records against Baylor 1-3, WVU 0-1, Texas Tech 0-1 (this game was in 1940!), OkSt 0-2 (last game in 1976), TCU 6-5 (last game in 2011), Iowa St 0-4 (last game in 1974), and Kansas 0-1 (1992 bowl game), but most of those are irrelevant to current predictions. We are 4-4 against KSt with the last game in 1997. We are 2-0 v Cinn, 3-0 v Houston and 2-1 v UCF, mostly in more relevant years.

If Hill can fix the defense and if the new trading staff can fix the injury bug, at least somewhat, I think we’ve got a good chance of having the best record among the new teams and finishing on the top half of the conference, even with both Tx and Ok on the schedule.

1 Like
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Yes, we would be in one of those spots if Tuiahi would be still coaching at BYU.
But I am still concern about our OC Roderick might still do some stupid play calls. I am hoping QB Slovis will make his own play calls on his own.

9

Trying to react without blue bias, but to think BYU will finish behind Houston, UCF and even Cinncy is pretty ridiculous. We have had close to a Power 5 schedule the last few years and done pretty well. How do they not take that into consideration, especially with those 3 non-Power 5 new teams? It will make a difference.
Big 12 is not SEC or Big12 even with OU and UT. More like on par with PAC 12 with USC and UCLA. And those matchups have gone pretty well for BYU the last couple of years. We could easily finish ahead of Kansas, Iowa State, Texas Tech and West Virginia.
Having said all that, I like that we have been picked last and next to last. Chip on the shoulder can be pretty motivating.

10

Recent polls and opinions, the Cougars are estimated to win 6 games in their inaugural season.

11

I think that would be a successful season for the first year in the Big 12.

I noticed we picked up another running back. He is from Colorado and started part time there. So he has proven he can play on the p5 level. I would like to see BYU move Davis back to receiver if they can’t sign a good grad transfer through the portal. Wide receiver seems to be only skill position that is a little short on depth.

12

We don’t have a losing record against Baylor. We lost to them in 83 by about 4 points in Waco. I was at that game and Steve Young was our QB. We killed them in Provo in 84. They beat is decisively in Waco in 2021
and we edged them in Provo last year.

13

Yep.My bad. Series is 2-2. Thanks, helps make my point that history doesn’t support BYU being 13th or 14th in the Conference. At least, if we can stay relatively healthier with the new training staff and the new defense can be at least average

14

I would agree with a .500 season the first year. It will be a difficult depth problem. BYU won’t be able to stay healthy enough to not dip into their 2nd and 3rd string players and that will be a dent in their win loss record.

15

I believe we are much deeper this coming year in all areas in offense. Not sure about defense.

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BYU adds UConn receiver Keelan Marion | byucougars.com

Slovis has a lot of weapons