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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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