Friday, December 18, 2009

MWC Bowl Predictions


"Surely, the NCAA and Division I-A football can join the other 23 intercollegiate sports and devise a system that determines a true champion, preserves the integrity of the game and levels the playing field.”— Retired Brigham Young football coach LaVell Edwards, to the Senate Judiciary Committee October 2003

“To be frank with you, I don’t know what the reasons are not to have a playoff, You can talk about missing class and all that kind of stuff, [yet] you see basketball go on forever. You have a lot of bogus excuses, but obviously the majority of people who have the say don’t want it.” Penn State Head Coach Joe Paterno

I'll just let those quotes be my BCS "rant" for the day, so here are my predictions:

NEW MEXICO BOWL SATURDAY DEC 19, 2:30 pm MT
Fresno St. vs Wyoming: Fresno St. is another one of those Jekyll and Hide teams. They got cut up by Nevada like boarding house pie, but they also beat a descent Illinois team on the road their last time out. This is a tough draw for Wyoming and one of a few tough match ups for the MWC. Congrats to UW on their first bowl game in a while but I don't think they'll be able to pull off the upset. I've got Fresno St. 28 Wyoming 21

MAACO BOWL LAS VEGAS (aka Las Vegas Bowl or the Cougar Bowl, not to be confused with Cougar Town) TUESDAY DEC 22, 6:00 pm MT
18 Oregon St. vs 14 BYU
This is by far one of the best bowl games of the season, it pits two ranked teams from two very good conferences. Both teams have very good offenses. Myth: Both teams have a suspect defense. Fact: BYU's defense has performed extremely well all year with one glaring exception, FSU. BYU has done well this year against pocket passers in run-heavy offenses. OSU's QB is an exceptional pocket passer and he will get his points against this BYU defense. OSU's RB (Jaques Rodgers, yeah the guy who tore up USC a couple years ago) is great NFL bound running back. If BYU can slow him down and force a few third and longs then they will be alright. I expect this game to be a shootout with both offenses putting on a show. Whichever defense can make the big plays will come out on top. Max Hall has a big monkey off his back now that he has beaten Utah 2 out of 3 times. He also owns the BYU record for most wins in a career and he will be relaxed and looking to go out with a bang. He will lead BYU to a game winning TD drive in the 4th Quarter. BYU 42 OSU 35

SAN DIEGO COUNTY CREDIT UNION POINSETTIA BOWL Wednesday Dec 23, 6:00 pm MT
23 Utah vs California
I don't like Utah, in fact I hate them (not really). If Utah wins this match up then the MWC will finish with 3 ranked teams for the second consecutive year. So I will be cheering for Utah this time, but I will probably feel the need to shower soon after the game is over. I'm going to predict a very nice game for the Freshman QB for Utah. Utah 38 Cal 21

BELL HELICOPTER ARMED FORCES BOWL Thursday DEC 31, 10:00 AM MT
Air Force vs Houston
This is another very good but very tough match up for both teams. Air Force's defense is one of the best in the nation but will be looking to recover a bit from the shalacking that BYU handed them their last time out. Houston has a very good offense and one of the best passers in the Nation in Case Keenum. I'm not sure what two expect but something has got to give so lets just hope that Air Force's defense learned something from Max Hall. Air Force 28 Houston 42

TOSTITOS FIESTA BOWL Monday JAN 4, 6:00 pm MT
6 BSU vs 4 TCU
I can't wait for this game. TCU has got something to prove and so does BSU. When I first caught wind of this match up I was a bit disappointed but after thinking about it, this should be a very good game. TCU is one of the best teams in the country largely because of it's defense. BSU is one of the best because of it's offense. TCU's defense is better than BSU offense though. BSU is a similar team to BYU. BYU could have very likely gone undefeated with BSU's schedule. As much as a hate to say it TCU's beating of BYU was not a fluke. Their defense will do the same thing to BSU. However, BSU has a lot to play for and they won't take it lying down. They will probably do about what they did last year against TCU in the Poinsettia Bowl.
TCU 28 BSU 21

Basically I'm expecting the Big 3 to win their games and the other two bowl teams to come up a bit short. 3-2 with this years match ups will be very big for the MWC. Any upset that Wyoming or Air Force can pull off will be icing on the cake. Get your chips and salsa and grab a Dr. Pepper folks (caffeine free of course) cause "it's the most wonderful time of the year"!

Monday, November 30, 2009

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Predicting the Holy War


Trying to guess the winner of the Holy War is like picking the winning horse in the Kentucky derby. Some horses might have a better chance but when the race is actually run, anyone has a chance. I'm just glad there is not family pool like there is with the NCAA tournament because I'm sure my sister or my aunt would win because they just used their birthday to pick the score. Before I get to that I feel obligated to predict the rest of the MWC scores.

Wyoming at CSU: The Cowboys are fighting for a bowl birth and CSU is fighting for pride. It's another rivalry games so it's another tough one to pick. I'm going with the hot hand in this one. I think Wyoming's offense will do just enough to keep them within striking range all game long. ACS will come alive in the 4th quarter for a touchdown drive, the win, and a bowl game. Wyoming 21 CSU 17

New Mexico at TCU: New Mexico has progressively gotten better as the year has gone on. This one will get ugly though because there is a lot on the line for TCU. I don't think there will be any letdowns at this point. TCU 55 New Mexico 7

SDSU at UNLV: I don't think this game means much to either team except ending the season with a win. Neither team is going bowling. For SDSU they are on the up and up and talent wise they should win this game. UNLV may have something to play for if they want to send Sanford out on a win. I think i will be a nail bighter with SDSU winning a close one. SDSU 49 UNLV 42

Utah at BYU: BYU will be favored by a few points when the game starts at 3 on Saturday but that really doesn't mean much. The Y has traditionally been very good in this rivalry game when a Senior QB is at the helm. Actually since 2001 BYU is 2-0 when playing with a Senior QB and Utah is also 2-0 when playing with a Senior QB. I think that will be the difference as the Utes will be starting Fr. Jordan Wynn. I look for Hall to have a monster game because I think the Utes will stack the box and force Hall to win the game instead of Unga. BYU 31 Utah 17




Thursday, November 19, 2009

Don't look now but my record is better than Max Hall's

Max Hall is a measly 29-7 in his BYU career and he only went 1-0 last week. I on the other hand am 32-6 and I went 4-0 last week. Can I get a scholarship for that? And this week I say:

TCU at Wyoming: The good news for Wyoming is that...er OK I don't think there is any good news this week for the Cowboys. I don't see TCU letting down at all and right now they are arguably the best team in the country. They are focused and Wyoming is too young and they don't quite have enough talent to compete this week. I won't be as bad as the meltdown against BYU though. TCU 56 Wyoming 7

Air Force at BYU: Air Force is coming off a convincing win against UNLV but who hasn't. The Cougars on the other hand struggled on the road against New Mexico. BYU's offense will be very crisp this week and Air Force will not be able to contain Harvey Unga or Dennis Pitta. The field will be hard from the cold so they won't have the issues that they have had in past weeks with not getting proper footing on offense. BYU also has traditionally handled Air Force's option attack very well. BYU 35 Air Force 19

San Diego St. at Utah: For those of you that are waiting for Utah's annual meltdown game you might want to tune in to this one. SDSU is dangerous on offense and Utah is coming off a bad loss to TCU. Utah will have enough guns on defense and SDSU's defense is bad enough that Utah will squeak one out. SDSU 21 Utah 24

CSU at New Mexico: Hmmm what to say what to say... Ugh. CSU 21 New Mexico 18

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Jimmer drops 25, Cougars roll.


I would be more excited about this game but some freshman kid stole my beanie right out from underneath me when I wasn't looking. So here are some quick hits and thoughts from last nights game:
- Jimmer scored 25 points. The best part about that is it LOOKED like he had a mediocre game. He was off most of the night on his shot and the lack of an inside game hurt him I think. When this team struggles during the season Jimmer will take the team on his back and that is very good news.
- Jax and JT both struggled to get into the flow of the game. Between the two of them they shot 6-22 from the field with 7 PF and 5 TO and 2 assists.
- The hero tonight was Mike Lloyd Jr. (Can we call him MLJ?) He came in and shot 4-4 from the field for 10 points. He had 4 rebounds and a steal. Very impressive outing from the RS Sophomore.
- BYU is very deep. Transfer Logan Magnusson only got in for 2 minutes but still managed to pull down a couple of boards and got an assist.
- Davies looked good but was only in the game for 10 minutes and he struggled from the charity stripe going 1-4.
- Haws went 0-2 from the field and 4-6 from the line. Most impressive were his 5 defensive boards and his 2 offensive boards. He led the team in rebounds. Ty struggled just a little bit on defense. He lost his man a couple times and it looked like he was having a hard time helping and recovering. That is something that will get better within a couple games though.
Overall this was a very good opener from the Cougars. There were a couple times when I thought the Braves were going to be in the game all the way. Each time though BYU rallied and closed the door to an upset. That's not easy to do in the first game of the season, just ask the Utes about Idaho.

Friday, November 13, 2009

MWC Predictions


I'm just rolling folks. I went 4-1 last week so my record is up to 28-6. Not bad. Lets see how I do this week.

UNLV at Air Force: I don't really see UNLV staying in this game for very long. It's in Colorado Springs and it's going to be cold. Air Force's defense will be too much for UNLV's offense and well UNLV's defense is almost non existent. Air Force could rack up 300 + yards rushing. That equals a victory for the Falcons. Air Force 35 UNLV 14

Utah at TCU: Utah is going into DFW this weekend with a Freshman QB. That spells trouble for the Utes who otherwise match up very well with TCU. Utah usually does well against TCU because there defense is good enough to keep them in the contest and give their offense a chance to mustar a few points. TCU's defense will eat Freshman Wynn alive and get 2 pick and at least one fumble from the kid. TCU 28 Utah 14



Wyoming at SDSU: A bowl game is on the line for both of these 1st year head coaches. The winner gets in inside track at a bowl game and the loser has to knock off a top team in order to become bowl eligable. It's safe to say that the loser will not be practicing in December. Wyoming's defense will have to be better than they were last week in order to stop SDSU's offense. In Laramie I would take the Cowboys in this one but in sunny San Diego it's a different story. This is another bad match up for the Cowboys. Christiansen is a good coach though and I think he's got something up his sleeve so I'm still going to take the Cowboys in a close one. Wyoming 24 SDSU 21

BYU at New Mexico: This game will just be the second bye in three weeks for the Cougars. New Mexico is terrible and could likely go winless this year. BYU 49 New Mexico 3

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Introducing the Score Predictor


Alright folks, last week I did well with my predictions going 4-0 so that brings my overall record up to 24-5. Here are this weeks predictions:

Army at Air Force: I'm going to pick Air Force on this one. I'll be honest, I haven't seen Army play at all but they are just 3-5 on the year. Air Force is coming off a convincing win against CSU and I think they will roll. Air Force 24 Navy 10

TCU at SDSU: This should be a pretty good game. By that I mean the weather should be good. As far as the score goes, this one will get ugly, fast. TCU has no problem running up the score to get style points in their bid for the BCS. SDSU will be just the next in line to be victimized. SDSU's best weapon (that one wide receiver that owned BYU) will be neutralized by TCU's awesome secondary.
TCU 49 SDSU 7

New Mexico at Utah: Not sure what Whittingham is trying to do by not announcing his starting QB for the week. He said he wants to make it hard for NM to get ready for the game... Now I could be wrong but I would guess Utah could start their water boy and still win this game very easily. New Mexico's defense should give Utah's terrible offense a little confidence going into next weeks showdown against TCU. Don't be surprised if Utah has a total letdown here though. No doubt they are looking ahead to the TCU game next week. Kwhittingham's teams have a tendency to lose games the have no business losing. They'll pull this one out in the end though. Utah 27 New Mexico 17

CSU at UNLV: A few weeks ago I said the winner of the SDSU vs CSU game would end up placing 5th in the conference and the loser would end up at 7th. Well I still think that will hold true and so that's why I think CSU will squeak by UNLV on the road. CSU 45 UNLV 42

BYU vs Wyoming: On paper this one doesn't look like it will be too close of a game. But as the saying goes, that's why they play the game. The Cougars are coming off a demoralizing loss to TCU and Wyoming is coming off a tough loss to Utah. I think the Cougars will steam roll the Cowboys and here's why:
1. Wyoming will have no answer for Unga. This will open up the play action and passing game and Max Hall is going to have a hay day.
2. Wyoming does not have the offense that it takes to beat BYU. Their receivers aren't very good and they have an average Freshman QB with a lot of potential, but it is still just that: potential. ACS ranks 8th among the 9 QB's in the Mountain West in passing efficiency. BYU will be able to shut him down on 3rd down runs when he is dangerous.
BYU 41 Wyoming 10
Ok check out the following video to find out the real reason BYU will beat Wyoming on Saturday.
Also vote in the poll to tell me what you think the score will be.








Friday, October 30, 2009

Some previews and predictions from the MWC

Well my beloved Cougs are off for the week but I'll give y'all a rundown from the rest of the conference.

UNLV at TCU: Don't even know why I'm predicting this one. I think UNLV will be in this game for about a quarter before it's out of reach. TCU is just too good and UNLV is just too bad. An upset could save Sanfords job but don't count on it. TCU 41 UNLV 14





Air Force at CSU: This game is going to be a nail biter, but CSU is struggling to much to overcome Air Force's stellar defence. CSU's offense is better than Wyoming's and on par with Utah's but their Defense is no where near Utah's or Wyoming's. Because this is an instate rivalry it will be closer than it should be. I'm going with Air Force 21 CSU 17





New Mexico at SDSU: A few weeks ago I would have called this a pick em between two of the bottom dwellers in the MWC. SDSU has shown however that it is clearly the better team than New Mexico this year. In California this game won't even be close. SDSU 42 New Mexico 10





Wyoming at Utah: Up until a couple weeks ago when Wyoming got shut out by Air Force, I wanted to pick an upset for the Cowboys in this game. Now I'm not so sure the Poke's off the fire power to keep up with the Utes in SLC. Wyoming's D should keep them in the game as Utah's offense is nothing to write home about, but Utah's D will likely hold the Cowboy's offense to a touchdown or less. I've got a lot of faith in Wyoming though so I'm going to give them a few more points. Utah 21 Wyoming 14





Last Week: 2-2


Overall Record: 20-5

Monday, October 26, 2009

Why did Saturday hurt so bad?

At 9pm on Saturday I started feeling a little nauseous but it wasn't just because my beloved Cougars lost. It was because they lost and they looked terrible doing it. You see I understand that you will lose a couple games every year because it is extremely hard to go undefeated. But you don't have to lose them like that. Watching the offense try and move the ball on Saturday made me want to take out my Music 201 text book and start writing a thesis paper on Famous Composers from the 15th Century. Yes it was that bad. The only position group that looked worse than the offense were the Officials. No really they were awful. Take away some crucial bad calls by the officials and BYU only loses 14-7 or 17-7 at worst. I can't really blame the loss on the 7 blind mice but I can blame them for robbing me of the chance to see a close game. Who knows, maybe Max could've put together a last minute drive to tie the game? It wouldn't be the first time for Hall, who has lead his team for come from behind wins 7 times in his career. It wouldn't even have been the first time against a top 10 team. It seams that the MWC was intent on assuring a TCU win and a MWC BCS bid from the get go. So let me tell which calls were missed and why they cost us big time.

1. The touchdown "catch". Yeah he caught the ball and it was a very good catch at that. It's just that the NCAA has this dang rule that says you have to be in bounds when you catch the ball. A lot of people will say that it was too close to call and that it could have gone either way. Well I was sitting about 15 ft from the play on the front row and that call was obvious. Yes it was close but it was still obvious that he was out of bounds when he caught the ball. Then the players tried to show the officials the proof and they pointed to the turf that was torn up where the receiver tried to drag his foot. The whole divot was out of bounds! Either this game was called before it started or someone forgot to tell the officials that white means out of bounds. Cost: 4 pts. (We'll assume they woud've gotten the field goal) and a lot of momentum. Score TCU 21 BYU 7 Actual: TCU 17 BYU 7

2. The Phantom Roughing the passer. Another 3rd down play that was given a first down and another shot at a touchdown. We ended up holding them to a feild goal so we only lost 3 points and maybe they would've kicked the 40 yarder anyway. TCU 24 BYU 7 Actual: TCU 20 BYU 7

3. The Phantom P.I. on 3rd and long. I've watched this replay talked to several people about the replay and Logan was a good 3 ft away from the receiver on this play. I'm not sure what the ref was watching here. Cost: 7 pts. TCU scored on a long touchdown I think 2 plays later. Score TCU 31 BYU 7 Actual: TCU 20 BYU 7

Honerable Menti0n: Offensive P.I. on Oneil Chambers when he is 15 yards down field from the play. No P.I. late in the game when the linebacker tackles Unga while he's trying to catch the pass from Riley Stephenson. The first Touchdown TCU got was questionable when the guy lost the ball as he was trying to dive to the pilon. Probably would've gotten the TD anyway though.

OK my point with the officiating isn't that they cost BYU the game (Our terrible offensive game play did that for us) but that it felt like they robbed the fans of a chance to see a good game. The defense didn't look as bad as the score showed but a 17-14 TCU win wasn't going to get TCU many votes in the polls either. I really think the MWC had this one in the books before it started. They wanted to make sure the MWC got a bid into the BCS and BYU win likely wasn't going to do that. Just like last year when TCU got the short end of the stick against Utah last year.
So why did Saturday hurt so bad? Well because for the second big home game in a row our troops got blown out of the water and the stands were left half empty midway through the 4th quarter.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

A little bit of this and a little bit of that


I did alright last week going 3-1 but that's not saying much when all you have to do is go with the "big three" and you'll get at least three points as long as none of the big three are playing each other. BYU plays TCU this week so I can't count on my guaranteed 3 points this week and instead I'll have to rely on my knowledge (or lack of) to get me some correct picks.

Air Force at Utah: If this game was in Colorado Springs I would be inclined to pick an upset this week. Utah is finding their stride on offense while their defense continues to keep them in games. Air Force has shown a really good defense this year too though so this could be a very low scoring affair for most of the game with Air Force getting a couple touchdowns early and then Utah getting a few late. Utah 24 Air Force 17

San Diego St. at Colorado St.: I think the winner of this match up will use the momentum and end up as the 5th place team in the MWC and the loser will end up the 7th place team. Both defenses have been pretty porous for the most part this year and so I expect this one to be a shoot-out. BYU made both these offenses look good when they played them, giving both quarterbacks all day to throw. The difference in this game will be A. CSU has the home field advantage and B. CSU should be toughened up and hungry for a win after facing Utah, TCU and BYU in consecutive weeks. CSU 45 SDSU 42

UNLV at New Mexico: This is just a battle to see which log goes down the drain first and which one can hold on till the next flush. Seriously these are two really bad football teams. It will be ugly but UNLV is going to run away with this one. UNLV 42 New Mexico 17

TCU at BYU: This is going to be a dog fight. College Game Day is headed to Provo to air their weekly show and the crowd will be very pumped up in part because of CGD. I think this will be a very clean football game with very few mistakes, maybe a fumble from each side. I think it will probably be a lot like BYU vs TCU from 2007. TCU has only allowed more than 30 points 3 times since joining the MWC and 2 of those are to BYU. I'm going with the home(r) team on this one. BYU 31 TCU 27

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Stong Side Weak Side: TCU

STRONG SIDE

  • Receivers get to wear purple for home games which makes it easier for Dalton to see.

  • Dalton has the same jersey number as Ty Detmer which could confuse BYU's secondary.

  • Defense is so fast that sometimes it seems like there are 12 men on the field.

  • Special Teams can block for a long time with out getting a holding or clipping call.



WEAK SIDE:

  • Receivers have to wear white uniforms on the road making it more difficult for Dalton to see

  • Dalton could have chosen #15 which would have confused the BYU secondary even more

  • Defense only uses 11 players at a time

  • Starting Safety Sir Demarco Bledsoe was never actually knighted and he is not related to Drew Bledsoe

Monday, October 19, 2009

Why BYU will win on Saturday

Last year heading into this game, BYU was undefeated and ranked #7 in the nation. They had beaten a bunch of mediocre teams and their schedule made them look better than they actually were. That all changed when they headed to Fort Worth to take on a ranked TCU team who was 5-1 and was flying just under the radar. This year the table seems to have done an exact 180 degree turn. TCU is undefeated and ranked 7th in the Coaches Poll. They have beaten only 1 team with a winning record (Air Force with wins against: SDSU, New Mexico, Wyoming and Nicholls St.). So far the only thing TCU has proven is that they are better than mediocre. Now TCU heads to Provo to face a ranked BYU team that is 6-1 and flying just under the radar. Last year TCU circled the BYU game on their calender and almost lost to a terrible Colorado St. team the week before because they were prepping for the BYU game. BYU players have been talking about this game since last years beat down and barely escaped San Diego last week with a 38-28 win. The players probably won't admit it but I have to believe that they spent some time on TCU last week. At least I hope they did. BYU's advantage in this game is going to be power. On offense we need to get the ball to our tight ends and then run over their defense with some heavy doses of Harvey Unga. On defense I am very optimistic for a couple of reasons. First off we have done an exceptional job against the run this year (minus Florida St.) and if we can shut that down against TCU then we should be able to pin our ears back and go at the QB on passing downs. Second because TCU hasn't really done all that well on offense, the exception being last weeks game against CSU. The only TCU games that I have watched for an extended period were the SMU and Air Force games and both times I was not impressed by their offense. That having been said, TCU is an excellent football team with speed and discipline on both sides of the football. If BYU is to pull of the upset in Provo they will have to play their best game of the year and the coaches will have to come up with a very good game plan. Score predictions on this game will be later in the week.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Obama is a Heisman Award Finalist, and Ranked 13th in latest BCS polls


White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs released a statement late Sunday Night that President Barack Obama would head to New York next year following the College football season to participate in the Heisman Award Ceremony. Gibbs said that Obama was named a finalist for the Heisman, awarded to the most outstanding College Football player, shortly after he received the Nobel Peace Prize. Gibbs alleged that Obama deserved the award despite not having played college football because "President Obama has strong desires for a college football playoff that would be fair for everyone." When asked about the opposition to the award former President Jimmy Carter stated that "Most to the people who are opposed to Obama receiving the award are opposed because he is a black man." Many Obama supporters were also outraged that President Obama was only ranked 13th in the latest BCS Standings saying that right wing computer polls were showing their white supremest tendencies. Most ESPN pundits agree that Obama's main competition for the Heisman is Tim Tebow, except Lou Holtz who insisted during Saturday's show that "Notre Dame was just as deserving as Tim Tebow."

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

MWC Previews and Predictions


Well as promised I went undefeated last week with my picks so that brings my record up to 15-2. In the Utah vs CSU game, I was a Ute touchdown away from predicting the exact final score. The Utah running back got shoestring tackled on about the 10 yard line and what turned out to be the final play before they started kneeling the clock out. I predicted the exact point spread for the TCU vs Air Force game. The final score was 20-17 Horned Frogs, my prediction was 24-21 TCU. In the BYU vs UNLV Game I was only a UNLV field goal from getting the point spread right.
THIS WEEK

Wyoming at Air Force:
After enjoying wins over New Mexico and UNLV, Wyoming heads to Colorado Springs for their first in conference test. Wyoming's D will prove the conquerors in this one. Their offense will struggle against a good Air Force defense. I think this will be a low scoring affair. Wyoming 17 Air Force 14

Colorado St. at TCU:
TCU survived a cold game in Colorado Springs that wasn't as close as the score showed. TCU was mostly in control but they did struggle in the cold weather. They will head back to the warm Texas weather and I expect will lay a beat down on CSU. Well they would if they weren't looking ahead to their Oct. 24th match up against the Cougars. CSU 28 TCU 35

Brigham Young at San Diego St:
BYU's offense has really looked good on artificial turf the last couple of games. They head to San Diego where they will play on real grass again but it will be in a lot better condition than the stuff at LES. The offense will roll mostly but they will be slowed by Rocky Long's D. BYU 42 SDSU 14

Utah at UNLV:
Utah really struggled for most of the game against CSU. This should be cause for concern for Utah fans. The light at the end of the tunnel is how good the offense looked at the end of the game. On the other side, UNLV looks to be digging their own grave lately. They are not a good football team and even the struggling Ute offense won't make them look alive. Utah 35 UNLV 7

Thursday, October 8, 2009

More Previews and Predictions


Ok so last week I kept up my hot streak going 6-1 to bring my record in the last two weeks to 11-2. Not bad, I'll try to go undefeated this week.

BYU at UNLV: The only thing in question about this game is will BYU get 800 Yds of total offense? The Cougars should take care of business early at LES South. BYU 55 UNLV 14

New Mexico at Wyoming: New Mexico is fast becoming the worst team in the MWC. Yes they are even worse than SDSU, which means I think they'll have a tough time of it at Laramie. We could blame it on the cold weather as it will probably snow this weekend in Laramie, or we could blame it on the high altitude too, but we all know that the Lobos will lose because they are terrible. Right now I think the Cowboys and their Freshman QB could go into Albuquerque and come away with a W. I'm taking the Cowboys in this one. Wyoming 28 New Mexico 13

Utah at CSU: The Rams embarrassed the MWC last week by losing to Idaho so I don't really expect much of a fight out of them this week. Add that to the fact that Kyle Whittingham is 4-0 in weeks following a bye and I think Utah will come away with a win even without their star RB. Utah's defense should carry them in this game as their offense struggles to find a groove. Utah 31 CSU 17

TCU at Air Force: Air Force is coming off a tough loss to Navy because of a botched Field Goal in OT. They should be plenty motivated but I don't think it will be enough to take down the Horned Frogs. TCU's defense is just too good. Air Force will hang with TCU but in the end I think they'll drop another close one. TCU 24 Air Force 21

One note, Stay tuned for a basketball preview later this week. I'll be looking at a couple of BYU's Freshman.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

MWC Preview and Predictions

I went 5-1 last week in my predictions so I guess I'm on a roll, lets see if I can keep it going this week.
BYU vs Utah St: Aggie fans are back complaining that BYU football is a drain on the LDS church and a waste of tithing money. I think they are really just complaining that it a drain on their "fandom". Utah St. has only one this "rivalry" once since 1982 so I can understand their frustration. That won't end Friday and the Aggies only hope for happiness is that they wake up Saturday morning to listen to General Conference and President Monson announces the end of BYU athletics.
BYU 42 Utah St. 17

Air Force at Navy: Air Force has had a little trouble with Navy the past few years, but I think this year Air Force has a good advantage. This will be a quick game with both teams trying to control the ball and run the clock out. I'm going to pick Air Force in a close one.
Air Force 21 Navy 17

New Mexico at Texas Tech: New Mexico's season has gotten ugly very fast. The only thing that could turn the Lobo's season around would be a huge upset over Texas Tech. New Mexico is just really really bad though so I don't see that happening.
New Mexico 21 Texas Tech 49

Wyoming at Florida Atl: This was a great job of scheduling by the Wyoming AD. I like this game thrown in between two conference games. This should be a nice win for the Cowboys and a chance to get their new offense in a groove.
Wyoming 35 Florida Atl 13

UNLV at Nevada: With last weeks loss to Wyoming, UNLV replaced Wyoming as one of the worst 3 teams in the conference. I win here would go a long way towards helping them get out of the cellar. UNLV will be up for this game but I think they will lose a heart-breaker to the Wolfpack.
UNLV 34 Nevada 35

New Mexico St. at San Diego St.: This is one game I can't wait to miss. It pitts to terrible teams in a huge stadium and no one will be there to watch. I hope San Diego St. can win this just because it is a WAC opponent.
San Diego 23 New Mexico St. 20

S. Methodist at TCU: I guess this is a rivalry game, sort of. Nothing like the Methodists vs. the Mormons, but they are both Christian schools so that should make it a very fair game right? Well I don't think the Horned Frogs will be very "Christ-like" in this one.
S. Methodist 7 TCU 28

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Predictions

I didn't have much time to post anything this week but here are my predictions:
BYU 45 CSU 17
SDSU 13 Air Force 28
TCU 24 Clemson 21
UNLV 13 Wyoming 14
Louisville 28 Utah 31
New Mexico 21 NM St. 19

Monday, September 21, 2009

Was that just a nightmare?

Really? I'm just waiting for my wife to wake me up from my Saturday afternoon nap and tell me to hurry up or we'll be late for the FSU game. Since I never fell asleep on Saturday then I don't think that will happen so here is my take on Saturday's game.
First, crow does not taste very good at all. It's kind of bitter in fact. That's mostly because of all the BYU haters that love to salt the wound. But it also tastes especially bitter because I predicted not just a BYU win but a blowout. I was obviously way off the mark. In my own defense though, that was not the same team that came to play in weeks one and two. A lot of that is because of how good FSU was. Their speed and execution gave us huge problems and we were never able to stop them.
That having been said, this was not the end of the world. We are 2-1 and guess what? That is exactly the record most thought was our best case scenario heading into conference play. We are still in good position to win the conference and then we'll see what happens from there.
Turnovers were huge, but I don't really care to dissect the whole game because it was a complete disaster. I hope we don't see that kind of game later on in the year.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Key Matchups and Predictions


I couldn't get Keyshawn Johnson to do any "key match ups" for my blog so I'll just have to analyze a couple match ups myself. First off there aren't really any personel match ups that jump out at me, just one or two group or team match ups.

BYU's physicality and discipline vs FSU's speed and inexperience: FSU's biggest advantage is their athleticism and speed. Their biggest problem is that their speed is very inexperienced and undisciplined. Speed does kill, but having speed without discipline is like having a loaded revolver but then pointing it at yourself. It kills, just not who you would like. Anyone who watched the Miami game saw that FSU's secondary really had no idea what was going on. They were fast but they were always in the wrong spot. BYU's offense has a lot better execution than Miami's and this is a big problem for FSU. If the Seminoles secondary is still lost come Saturday, Max Hall and co. will score at will.
BYU's biggest advantage in this match up is their physicality and size, especially at the Tight End position. Dennis Pitta will be to much for the FSU defense to handle.
I think the biggest question coming into Saturday is how will our size on defense match up with their speed on offense? BYU will score points but the defense has not faced receivers this fast. FSU has an experienced O-line and should give Ponder plenty of time to find his receivers. Which brings me to my next key match up.

BYU crowd vs FSU O-line: This will be huge. Our home fans will be really loud and will confuse the FSU O-line which will allow our blitz packages to be a lot more effective. It will also give our defensive guys a lot of energy to fly around to the ball and make some huge hits. If the crowd stays in this things and makes it hard for the O-line to hear the blocking assignments then the BYU defense will hold the FSU offense to less than 14 points. Here is my prediction for the game. BYU 38 FSU 13

AROUND THE MWC

Last week I went 7-1 with my picks but I forgot to make a pick for the UNLV vs Oregon St. game. Here are my picks for this week

Utah 31 Oregon 35: This is a revenge game for the Ducks and although I don't think either team is all that great, I'm going to pick Oregon in a close one.

Wyoming 21 Colorado 13: Colorado is terrible this year starting out 0-2. Wyoming gave Texas a scare in the first half but in the end their defense was on the field too long. Their offense is awful and if they can muster a few point I think they will win this match up only because of how good their D is.

Nevada 35 Colorado st 31: I give the advantage to CSU only because they get this game at home. They are improving but they still have a long ways to go. Nevada is not nearly as good I thought they would be after getting throttle by ND. However CSU will falter in the end and Nevada will come away with the victory

San Diego St 35 Idaho 13: I like the Aztec's schedule so far. After whipping up on power house SUU, It's time for Idaho to take its beating too.

Texas St 13 TCU 45: TCU will basically shut down Texas St. but they will give up a few meaningless points with their 3rd stringers in.

Air Force 31 New Mexico 21: At this point an improving Air Force is a better pick than a bottom 10 team in New Mexico.

Hawii 13 UNLV 21: The rebels looked good in playing a close game with the Beavers and I think they will take care of Hawii at home.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Rich Kaipust Responds

I just got an email back from Mr. Kaipust and it was pretty much what I expected. Not much of an explanation and pretty weak ones when he did offer them. Here is what he responded and I'll let you decide.
D.J. -- As with most voters since AP made access to votes public, I get lots of e-mails. I'd like to scribble some replies but am a little short on time this week with having to bang out some work here before we travel to Blacksburg on Friday. One thing for sure is the thought of putting VT high to help Nebraska never crossed my mind until just now. No Big 12 bias either on Oklahoma or Oklahoma State. Just seen enough of them to know how good they are.

Let me tell you this: It's really hard to look at a head-to-head game and say jump somebody ahead of somebody else just because they beat them. If Troy beat Florida last week, do you automatically jump them ahead? There's no magic formula I go by (and I'm sure none of the other 59 do, either). It's just a weird cross of gut and head.

Also, I've done this for several years and there's always a real flux in September. Everything starts to play itself out and you'll notice votes fall more in line with each other over time.

I know that probably doesn't help, but I've got to run.

Rich


My biggest problem in his explanation is probably in his comparison of Troy and Florida to BYU and Oklahoma. Even if they were comparable you wouldn't expect him to put Florida in the top ten after a loss to Troy. I do agree with him when he talks about a flux in September though. Basically I am taking from this that AP voters just kind of put whatever they want for the first few weeks. We'll see if they start to vote a little more rational in the coming weeks.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

AP Poll Bias?

It's a pretty slow morning for football (and at work) so I was just looking around at pollspeak.com (A website that publishes the AP Top 25 ballots for each voter) and a few things stuck out to me. In particular the ballot of Nebraska voter Rich Kaipust. I thought his votes were kind of odd and very biased so I shot him an email to ask him if he could explain his voting. He has not yet responded (I sent the email yesterday)but I will publish his response here as soon as he does. The email was as follows:

Hi, I was just looking at pollspeak.com and I had a few questions that I wanted to throw your way about your AP poll. The first ranking that jumped out to me was how high you had Virginia Tech. This one puzzled me because I couldn't figure out why you put them higher than almost everyone else did. Then I read one of your articles and realized that VT is one of the Huskers future opponents and I couldn't help but wonder if their high ranking was maybe done to help Nebraska's SOS? The other teams that jumped out to me, I could not think of any explanations and so I was hoping I could get some from you.

1. Why did you rank North Carolina so high? Do you really think they deserve to be ranked higher than BYU after having beat The Citadel and Connecticut?

2. Why is Oklahoma St. still ranked so high after losing to Houston who you only have ranked at 21? Big 12 Bias?

3. Please explain why Boise St. deserves to be ranked higher than BYU? Is their home win over Oregon better than the Cougar's virtual road win over Oklahoma?

4.Why do you still think Oklahoma is still better than BYU, and 6th best in the country at 1-1? Maybe another Big 12 Bias?

I know you don't have to answer this but I will give you huge props if you have the guts to back up your opinion.

Thanks for your time


I'd like to look at a few ballots each week and email the voters that have somewhat fishy ballots. I guess we'll find out which ones have the cajones to back up their votes. For those wanting to see for themselves, here is a direct link to his ballot:

http://pollspeak.com/pollstalker/pollstalker.php?s=9&p=18&t1=16&t2=75&v=54&w=3&r=V

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Breaking Down Coach Toledo


After reading coach Toledo's comments on BYU's returned missionaries, a lot of us were a bit confused and most thought it was a little funny. I thought I would come to coach's defense and explain some of his comments.

"They've got guys going on 2-year missions and they come back". Now we have to take it easy on Coach for this one. We all know that 99.9% of our missionaries come back. Coach Toledo was just a little confused because the last time one of his players said he was going on a 2 year "mission" he never came back. Turns out his mission was to the New Orleans prison.

"I would venture to say that I heard that there's like forty-something guys that are married on that football team and I know they have kids too." Most of us thought that when he said "they have kids too" that he was adding that to say they were married, AND they had kids. He was really just finding the common ground between the two teams, his players have kids, and our players do too. The only difference is that his players are unsure of where their kids are or who they are.

"So, they're mature guys who are responsible people too". I think that he is comparing the two teams again. Both teams are mature enough to have offspring, BYU's players are also responsible because they know how many kids they have.

"But they're an experienced football team because of the Mormon Faith they have to do the 2-year mission as I mentioned, they come back." I think he is still a little upset about his player not coming back from his "mission".

"I know one guy went away as a quarterback and when he came back he was a nose tackle." By nose tackle I think he means the ability to sniff out and tackle anyone on the team who has Twinkies.

"They grow and mature." I've got to be honest I'm not really sure where he is going with this one. I was really unaware of the fact that our players grow and mature so I'll have to just wait for Toledo to explain this one himself.

Well that's all guys. Have a great day and GO COUGARS!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Counting down to Saturday:Preveiw



I was just reading the weekly news conference from Tulane Coach Bob Toledo. Here is the opening paragraph on BYU. Thought this was kind of funny.

'They're an older, much more mature football team than anybody in the country. They've got guys going on 2-year missions and they come back. I would venture to say that I heard that there's like forty-something guys that are married on that football team and I know they have kids too. So, they're mature guys who are responsible people too. But they're an experienced football team because of the Mormon Faith they have to do the 2-year mission as I mentioned, they come back...I know one guy went away as a quarterback and when he came back he was a nose tackle. They grow and mature."

Anyone know who the nose tackle turned Quarterback is? Anyway it sounds like he's already making excuses for the beat down Tulane is going to get this weekend. We should be used to this by now, if BYU sucks it's because they are old, white guys, if they are good then of course it's because of how mature and big the Mormon missions make them. Now for the Tulane offensive preview:

Quarterback: Joe Kemp is a young kid who made his first collegiate start last week. He started out really slow and looked nervous. He really started to play well in the 3rd quarter, but because he is young he makes a lot of mistakes. I think we will get a couple picks and a lot of sacks on Saturday. Tulane does pass well enough that if our secondary doesn't come with the same intensity that it did against Oklahoma (or somewhere close to that) then we will get burned a few times.

Running Back: Not sure there is much to go off in this game. Tulane only rushed for 39 yards and they weren't going up against Oklahoma's D-line. I don't think we need to worry about their run game too much.

Receivers: Here is where I think we could get burned for a few quick touchdowns if we're not ready to play out of the gates. Jeremy Williams had 5 catches for 139 yards and was Tulane's leading receiver.

O-line: All the message boards point to the o-line as one of the big weaknesses of the this Tulane team. I expect our defensive front to own their offensive line and to create a lot of problems for their offense. Bronco said in the MWC news conference that Tulane is usually good for a few trick plays a game. I think they will use a lot of trick plays to try and stay in the game. Our guys need to stay home and trust their teammates to make plays.

Special Teams: The biggest weakness of this team was the special teams play. Tulsa returned a punt for a touchdown and had a lot of kickoff return yards. Just poor coverage and poor tackling. Jacobson and Chambers should have big nights.

I'm knocking on wood as I'm typing this, but I think Saturday will be a blow out. No chance that we lose focus and let Tulane stay in this thing. It's only the 2nd game of the year as Bronco said, so it won't be hard to keep the guys focused on The Green Wave. Plus you can add in the fact that our older, more mature and players will be ready to play, because of their 2 year Mormon missions of course.
Here's my score prediction BYU 45 Tulane 13

I'm also going to start predicting the scores for the rest of the MWC. Here they are:
Texas 21 Wyoming 7
TCU 35 Virginia 21
Weber St. 13 CSU 31
Air Force 38 Minnesota 35
Tulsa 34 New Mexico 21
SUU 13 SDSU 28
Utah 31 San Jose St 21

Monday, September 7, 2009

Happy BIRTHDAY RANEE!!



Just want to give a shout out to my amazing sister! She is turning 27 today! Happy B-day sis.

How to spot a bandwagoner.


I'm not sure if bandwagoner is a word or not but I'm going to use it anyway. I was walking around Wal-Mart today and I was surprised at how many people were dawning BYU apparel. It seemed like everybody and there dog was wearing a BYU t-shirt. It's good news that people are excited about BYU football after a huge win, but it got me thinking. How can I spot the bandwagoners. The guys who didn't even know when the season started until they heard that BYU beat Oklahoma then all of the sudden they grew up watching the Cougars. I came up with a list of ways to spot a fair-weather fan.
1. They are wearing a Quest for Perfection T-shirt. Seriously people put those shirts back in your closet. You might have been naive enough to buy one in the first place but a real fan would know to keep that thing in the attic. Shell out the 5 bucks and buy the 25 year anniversary T-shirt.
2. This one will require you to look around at the stadium on game day. The real fans will be wearing Cougar blue. The bandwagoners will be wearing anything else. Like the guy behind you in the pink polo shirt who is flirting with the girl behind him who "got all dolled up for the game" and is wearing more make-up than bozo the clown.
OK so now that I've got that o ut of the way here are my position by positiongrades from the Oklahoma game.

Quarterback: A, Max was awesome on Saturday. Doman said it right when he said that if you're going up against a defense as good as Oklahoma's you're going to throw an interception. The thing that impressed me was how he came back from those. Against Utah and TCU he fell apart after making a couple of mistakes but on Saturday he just buckled down and got better. The final drive to take the lead was possibly one of the gutsiest any quarterback at BYU has led.

Running Back: B+, Kariya get's an A for doing a superb job in filling in for Unga. He ran hard and he was very valuable in the passing game. Tonga get's an A for his lead blocking but a C or D for his actual running. When he had the ball he looked slow and out of shape. That is to be expected after being out for so long but it really doesn't concern me that he didn't run well. His blocking was great.

Offensive Line: B+, For all the injuries that these guy fought through they were spectacular. They held off an amazing OU defensive line for 4 quarters. The reason that I'm not giving them an A is because they had a bit of a lapse in the 3rd quarter where they didn't give Hall very much time at all. Overall this group has a huge upside if they can play like that all year long. One of my favorite plays was when Terrence Brown followed the play to then end and got us an extra 4 yards because of his hustle. For those that don't remember it was when he jumped over his own guy and then hit 3 Oklahoma defenders that were tackling Kariya and knocked the pile ahead 3 or 4 yards. A lot of the credit goes to Mark Weber who has obviously done a great job getting these guys on the same page.

Tight Ends: A+, Mr. 3rd Down and Mr. 3rd down Jr. came through all game long when we needed them. George with a TD and couple huge 3rd down catches, and Pitta with the big 4th down conversion and a few 3rd down conversions for good measure. The OU corners did a great job of shutting down the outside. Thanks to Pitta and George we still had plenty of yards up the middle.

Receivers: C, probably the only dull spot of the night. Jacobson had the huge TD catch but he also had the huge punt return fumble that gave OU their only TD of the game. Chambers also looked good but then he fumbled the ball on the goal line in a big situation. Lots of upside but they need to clean up the mistakes. On the other hand they had a tough night because of how good the OU corners played.

Defensive Line: A+, We manhandled OU's offensive line because our defensive line did a heck of a job at plugging up the middle and stopping the run. Everyone was taking on 2 blockers which opened up a lot of space for out line-backers to blitz and put tons of pressure on their quarterback.

Linebackers: A, after Bauman went down a was a little bit worried, but no one played as hard as Pendleton did to make up for it. His play really was inspiring. He made a lot of huge plays. The other outside linebacker, Clawson was also great. He did what he does best and that is put pressure on the QB. Clawson has great down hill speed and that makes up for his lack of lateral quickness.

Secondary: A+, obviously these guys did a great job. For the first time in a long time when a pass went up I didn't worry. These guys found the ball all night long. They had some great open field tackles and some great pass breakups. I'm really excited for these guys. I think the scheme helped them out a lot too. Because of the pressure we were able to get on the QB they didn't have to stay in coverage as long. Win Win.

Coaches: A+, Wow BYU was really prepared for this game. Play of the game was the double play call on the final drive when we did the draw play on 3rd (I was screaming at the TV on that play btw) and then the quick snap and pass to Pitta on 4th. Great job by the coaches and an excellent move to put Doman on the side line and move Anae to the Box.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Helmet Stickers

First Sticker goes to Jordan Pendleton: The guy was everywhere. He was in on almost every big play.
Next one goes to Andrew Rich and Colby Clawson the two Snow College Transfer. Like Pendleton they were in on every big play. I think I might just go ahead and give the whole defense a sticker. That was the best I've ever seen our defense play.
On offense I'll go ahead and give the stickers to Max Hall, Dennis Pitta and a very inexperienced o-line there held there own against a great defensive front from Oklahoma. Hall gets one because of the grit he showed by coming back and leading the Cougars to a game-winning drive after throwing 2 interceptions. Pitta gets one because he is just awesome. He needs a new nick name. Maybe something like Mr. 3rd Down.
If you'll look at my prediction for the game you will see that I picked the spread for the game. I had BYU 35-34.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Thoughts from last nights game

So last night I arrived at my brothers house at around half time of the Utah-Utah St. game. I have to admit I was pretty excited, not only because it marked the official start to college football this year, but also because I had heard that the MTN was going HD. I was obviously disappointed to find out that they had decided to go with web cams instead. The quality was really awful. You couldn't tell where the Ball as going on passes because the picture was so jumpy. I'm glad our first two games are in HD on ESPN.
On the football sideI wasn't too impressed with Cain's performance either. Maybe he just wasn't as focused because Utah St. really is terrible, but he did not look like he could complete a pass for longer than 15 yds. I looked at the stats and he had a very respectable line going 20-30 with 286 yds 2 TD's and 1 int. but all the throws I saw him complete in the second half were 5-10 yd throws. Anything longer than that he completely missed the target. Asiata on the other hand was a beast, either that or Utah St. is terrible at stopping the run. I think it's both. Anyway with as bad as Utah St. looked, Oregon looked worse against the Boise St. Donkeys. There offense was ugly to say the least. For anyone who missed it, it took them almost 3 quarters to get their first First Down of the game. Is anyone else wondering how in the heck Oregon can start out every year ranked in the top 25 and then subsequently drop off the map and still end up in the top 25 the following year?
Only about a day and a half left until kickoff! GO COUGARS!
Also if you missed it here is the youtube video of the sucker punch from the Oregon Boise St. game.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Preivew: BYU vs Oklahoma

Kickoff is just around the corner so I'm going to get the ball rolling on my blog with my first ever game preview. So here it goes with some key match-ups:
Max Hall's red scooter vs. Sam Bradford's friendship with Colt McCoy:
Earlier there were quite a few Cougar fans that were upset that Max Hall owned a red scooter complaining that it was a "yewt scooter". I personally won't worry about his scooter unless he is giving Dennis Pitta a ride to practice on the back. These are probably the same fans that would criticize Bronco if he were to get a bloody nose and fail to change the color of his blood to blue. Sam Bradford's friendship with Texas QB Colt McCoy, however, is a quite the story. Mostly because I have to wonder just how close they are. I am going to assume that if Bradford had an orange scooter he would've given Colt a ride to the QB camps every day. The only thing I am waiting for on this one is for Bradford to invite McCoy to guest star on his fashion show on HGTV. The advantage in this one goes to Max Hall. You can keep your red scooter.
Dennis Pitta vs. Jermaine Gresham: Well up until a few hours ago this one would have been pretty close until ESPN reported that Gresham was out for the game with a knee injury. Now I can gladly chalk up this one as advantage BYU. That is of course assuming that Gresham has not yet appeared on Bradford's fashion show and will not be dawning any flamboyant or otherwise distracting clothing. (NOTE: Anyone who would like to attack me for not being disappointed at another players injury, save your breath. I know I must be a terrible person but I'll take any break we can get in this one)
BYU O-Line vs. Oklahoma D-line: What we still have an O-line? That's news to me. Lucky for us Oklahoma is suffering from the same problem on their O-line so maybe we can survive a shootout. Edge on this one goes to Oklahoma.
BYU Secondary vs Oklahoma Receivers: I was unaware that our secondary was making the flight to Texas this weekend. I figured we would just place cardboard cutouts of Aaron Fransisco about 10 yards deep then hope Bradford doesn't notice and will only throw to his back up tight end. Advantage Oklahoma.
BYU's Best Chance of Winning: Get the Mets to give Oklahoma pep talk before the game and at half-time causing Oklahoma to blow a huge lead. Other options are to get Hanley Ramirez from the Marlins to convince Sam Brandford that he needs to fake an ACL injury so he can be on Sports Center. If those don't work we can convince Bradford that his best chance at stardom is to lose unexpectedly then give a moving speech about how no one in the country will work harder than he will to win the National Championship.
Ok joking aside I think in order for BYU to have a chance they have to come out hard and fast (that's what... never mind I'll keep this "G" rated). OK so now all joking aside for real. The offense needs to come out with something the Sooners haven't seen. Maybe a 5 receiver set or something. March down the field in a two minute offense and don't give the defense a chance to rest until the game is over. If we can be successful in that for the first couple series then we could be in for a real thriller. If this is the case then I will predict a Cougar upset, if we come out with the same vanilla execution doesn't matter who the opponent is stuff then it will end up a lot like last years TCU game only worse. And the Score will be: BYU 35 Oklahoma 34.

Jermaine Gresham out against BYU

I was just watching Sport Center this morning and they are reporting that Gresham will not play against BYU. You never want anyone to get injured but this is a huge break for BYU. I don't think it will be enough to get us past the Sooners but you never know.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

10 Things you'll see in CougarLand this school year.


10. BYU's Basketball team will Sweep the MWC major awards, Player of the Year (Jimmer Fredette), DPoy(Jackson Emery or Charles Abuo) and Rookie of the Year(Tyler Haws).
9. Tyler Haws will start or at least get 30 minutes a game by the end of the year. I watched this kid work out with the team and his shot is butter. I might get hammered for this but his shot is just as smooth as Lee's was as a senior, and this kid is a freshman. The one thing I can see he'll need to improve is his defense, but what freshman doesn't have to work on that?
8. Max Hall will take a trip to New York in January, but he won't get quite enough votes to come away with a trophy.
7. Dennis Pitta will serious challenge Hall for Offensive POY. He won't get it though because Max will be too good. Plus all of Pitta numbers come from Hall. It will be tough for the voters to choose Dennis over Max and so I think Max gets the hardware but both will be deserving.
6. BYU return the Deseret First Duel Trophy to Provo. The women's sports need to start pulling their weight this year. In last years loss, the large majority of BYU's points came from men's sports. Come on Ladies we you've got it in you this year!
5. The Basketball team will get revenge from last year's loss to ASU. James Hardin is gone and so are his personal referees. The crowd will play a huge factor in this game as they will be very riled up.
4. The football team will get revenge on Utah and TCU. Both games are at home and something the Cougs won't do this year is lose at home.
3. The Football Team will end the year with only one loss. The Cougars will press the Sooners this saturday but will come out with a close loss. They will recover though to win the final 10 games (plus a bowl game) of the season.
2. The Basketball team will win the MWC by at least 2 games. They will lose to UNLV at the invitational and will receive an 8 seed and play Texas A&M in the tournament.
1. The football team will crash the BCS party for the first time and will get a rematch against Oregon in the Rose Bowl.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Can I get a reverse TIVO?

Next Saturday can't get here fast enough. What makes it even more exciting is that my awesome wife is also excited about the beginning of the season. I think it's about time for me to do a complete run down of the conference before my blue goggles become a permanent fixture on my head.

1. Brigham Young Cougars: No I don't have my goggles on yet, I just think and anyone who has watched college football for longer than 5 years knows that BYU is still the best of "the rest". I know the line is shaky at best but I think come conference season the Cougars will be the best prepared team in the conference. They will also become the 6th team in a row to win the conference with an undefeated conference record.

2. Texas Christian University: A Horned Frog? Really, I can't be the only one who thinks that this is by far the most pathetic mascot in the Mountain West. Mascots Aside, TCU has the best chance of ruining BYU's undefeated conference season. Speed kills and they've got a lot of it. The only problem for them this year is that they have to come into LES where the Cougars haven't lost in 3 years. The streak won't end this year either and so that's why I think TCU will go 6-2 in conference to come in second.

3. University of Utah: Last year wasn't a fluke as much as I hate to say it. Yes things went surprisingly well, but good recruiting and good coaching gives you a chance to do that every so often. They lose a lot of starters on offense so I expect them to battle it out with Air Force and at least one other team, along with road losses to BYU and TCU. I'm thinking they'll go 5-3 in conference with a chance to tie TCU at 6-2.

4. University of Wyoming: WHAT? I swear I didn't type that. Unless my bold prediction does happen then I did. Why do I think they will end up this high? New Coach Dave Christensen the former OC from Mizzou is taking over and can only improve on rather despicable offense. Downing the ball 3 times and then punting would be an improvement for this unit. Wyoming actually had one of the best D's in the conference last year and were in a lot of games. The spread offense in Laramie will help the Cowboys to a 4-4 record this year and with any luck they will finally get there revenge on Utah and could end up with a 5-3 record.

5. Air Force Falcons: Calhoun will improve this year but the record won't show it because of a tough conference. The Cowboys will break out and I doubt the Falcons will beat any of the big 3. I'm thinking it's a 4-4 season for the Falcons, losing the tie-breaker to the Cowboys.

6. Colorado St Rams: Their story will be similar to the Falcon's come years end. I think they continue to improve but lose some close games to go 3-5 in conference

7.University of Nevada Las Vegas Rebels: That's a mouth full. I'll just stick to UNLV for now. It's too bad for the Rebels that it's not basketball season yet. Omar Clayton is a great talent but he really doesn't have much around him. UNLV will disappoint with a 2-6 in conference record.

8. New Mexico Lobos: They are only this high because SDSU is still in the conference. With the parting of Rocky Long the Lobos are in trouble. This could be the last year they stay out of the 9 spot. 1-8 For the Lobos.

9. San Diego State University Aztect: SDSU is getting better fast, and it's hard not to when you are recruiting to one of the most beautiful areas in the US. The addition of Rocky Long will definitely help this squad and maybe they'll win a game this year. I hope they go 1-8 but they could go without a win again.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

The Honeymoon is officially over


Sounds like a bad phrase doesn't it? Well only if your wife turns out to be a total bust then it is. Since I'm pretty sure my wife isn't a bust, I'm going to turn my attention to my other spouse...The football team. (Don't be mad honey, I told you I had another fiancee.) The season is must around the corner so it's time to find out who is a bust and who is the real deal. Here are my picks

BUST:
Scott Johnson: Now before I get jumped on, let me explain. I like Johnson, he has a nose for the ball and he seams to make a lot of plays as I have said earlier. He also has a nose for the injury bug though. He's gonna end up spending significant time on the bench trying to heal and when he is in the game he will struggle to find a rhythm.

REAL DEAL:
HARVEY UNGA. He will get more carries than last year and he will be healthier than last year too. I know he pulled a hammy and he got the H1N1 virus but I think overall he will not be as banged up as last year. He's also gonna break the career yardage mark set by Curtis Brown. The biggest reason I am picking him to step it up this year? We have some good change of pace backs. Having some speed will help Unga because it will open up the field and allow him to punish defenders 1 on 1 or even 1 on 2. When you have only 1 or 2 guys tackling Unga, he gets 6 or 7 yards every time. The one downside to Unga's situation this year is the health and inexperience of the O-line. If they can have a halfway decent season, Unga is going to wow a lot of people.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Day 8: Dennis Pitta


Dennis Pitta 6-5 247, Sr.:Pitta is officially on the Biletnikoff watch list for 2009 but you can forget about him winning it. He's good enough but it's just that if anyone from BYU was ever going to win that award, he graduated last year. Besides Pitta has a history of not even making the finals for awards that he should win. Whining aside, I'm going to say that Pitta is the best player on the offensive side of the ball this year. He has better hands than almost any other tight end that I have seen play at BYU. Simply put he makes plays. Last year I watched Pitta eat Washington alive on 3rd down conversions and he was a huge reason that we continued to be near the top of the nation in 3rd down conversion rate. That trend will continue again this year because Pitta is healthy again. Pitta said that during last years Utah and Arizona games that he was playing at about 60 percent. If he is anywhere near 100 percent we will see the Dennis Pitta that made 3rd down conversions almost automatic. If he keeps his knee healthy he will lead the MWC in receiving and will be a finalist for a few awards like the Biletnikoff, but he won't win them. Enjoy this year with Pitta cause Tight Ends like him don't come around every year. Or do they?

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Day 7: Harvey Unga


I learned a few interesting things about blogging yesterday. First I "learned" that more people click on the ads when they happen to be busty blond girls. I also learned that placing words like "bump" in your blog might generate busty blond ads. When more people click on ads I get more money and so using simple logic I decided that placing the word "bump" in my ad indirectly led to (and will now lead to) an increase in revenue. So the success of my blog apparently does not have much to do with my writing skills, which is good news for me. So without further adieu, I present to you,
Harvey Unga, 6-0 239 Jr.: Unga is definitely a fan favorite in Provo so there is not much that I can say that everyone hasn't heard or contemplated a thousand times. I did catch an interesting article on rivals today that puts Unga as part of one of the top trios in the country, #5 in fact. Unga, Hall and Pitta just squeaked onto the list of trios as only 5 were recognized. So Unga is good, we all know that, but why should we expect more from him this year that we got last year? Well for one he is actually rested. Harvey had a lot of BUMPS and bruises last year and that severely hampered his touches. With a more experienced JJ Diluigi and Kariya to help lighten the load a bit, I expect Unga to return to his freshman form garner 1st team all conference honors this year. And lastly for the guy that sat behind me all last year: Unga was not in your mission and you don't know his mom anymore than you know what is going on down on the field.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Day 6: Scott Johnson


Scott Johnson, 5-11, 188, Sr.: Johnson is making the switch from CB to Free safety and is an easy lock to start against Oklahoma barring some sort of injury. Johnson isn't a 5 star athlete but he has a 5 star head on him (no I'm not talking about the actual size of his head though that is 5 star too). If anyone could rival departed free safety Kellen Fowler's academia, Johnson is the one. The good news is that Scott is a big step up in talent from Fowler. Johnson has always had the knock of being the typical slow white guy that you will always find in the BYU secondary, but he is always around the ball and he is not afraid to hit. He has moxy and he will lead the secondary to a solid season and they will be much improved from last year. In fact it would be hard for them not to do so unless I am suddenly recruited to play CB.
Johnson has been injured in 2 of the 3 season's that he has been on the roster. That means there is a high likely hood that he will miss at last some of this season but that doesn't worry me too much because I'm sure Cal Poly Tech has a few free safeties that they can loan us. OK joking aside, I am anxious to see if some of the back ups can perform at the Division 1 level. The guys below Johnson on the depth chart have more talent and athletic ability than he does so as long as they can keep up mentally I think the defense would not suffer from his loss. Now that I have kind of blasted Johnson I'm going to go out and say that he is going to turn some heads this year and if the secondary does have an exceptional year, you can accredit that to Johnson.

Day 5: Robbie Buckner


Well I got the Cougarboard bump last Saturday so I feel the pressure to live up to the standards with today's blog so here goes nothing:
Robbie Buckner, 5-10, 165 Fr: Let me start out by saying that this kid was the Arkansas 3A State Champion in the 400 Meter dash. Anyone who has ever ran a 400 know that this is the toughest race out there. It is an all out sprint, one time around the track. Buckner, who is fresh off a mission from Maputo, Mozambique, is the early leader to take the starting job at the field corner spot. Buckner's spot however, is hotly contested and if he is able to lock it down then it will be because he is a player and not because of a lack of competition at the position. Three J.C. transfers are pushing for the spot which should make Robbie and the transfers into better football players. The good news is that the defensive secondary isn't as thin as it was once thought to be and looks like it could even turn into one of the defenses strengths because of the new found depth. My guess is that Buckner will win the starting job but whoever takes over as the back-up will get plenty of playing time. The pessimistic side of me wants to say that Buckner is going to get injured within a couple of weeks and won't end up contributing significantly for a couple of months. (Quick someone knock on wood) However, I am going to go back to what I said at the beginning: Buckner is a State Champion 400 runner. It takes an incredible kind of athlete to run that race and someone who is able to get into incredible shape too. If reports are true about Buckner's work ethic then we won't need to worry about an injury unless it is one of those freak accidents that seem to plague many returned missionaries. Robbie definitely has the talent to become a 4 year starter and wow cougar fans for a long time. So who do I think will sing Buckner's praise in December? I think it will be Jan Jorgensen as he is accepts the Defensive Player of the year award.

Still to come today: Day 6, Scott Johnson