# 8 - Best Case Scenario?

Coming into this weekend, BYU was ranked # 11 in the Coaches Poll. With having a bye week in front of them, most people expected the Cougars to drop a spot or two in the polls. A few small "miracles" had to happen but BYU has now moved into the top 10. They are ranked # 8 in the coaches Poll and # 7 in the USA Today Poll. Wow! Certainly unexpected. Let's take a look at what happened this weekend to allow BYU to jump 3 spots in the polls:

• #1 USC: On Thursday night USC was upset by Oregon State. Oregon State is an unranked team who simply outplayed the Trojan's. That loss took USC to #9 in the polls. (Utah plays Oregon State next week. It would be great for both BYU and the conference if Utah can beat these guys.)
  
• #3 Georgia: Georgia was upset by # 8 Alabama. The game wasn't even close which knocked them down to #11.
• #4 Florida: In the 4th quarter Florida was trailing Mississippi by one touchdown. Their offense made on final push at the end of the quarter and scored a touchdown to send it to overtime, assuming they made the extra point. They assumed to much. Mississippi pushed through the line and blocked the extra point to win the game 31-30. That loss dropped Florida to #12.
• #9 Wisconsin: Wisconsin went into the Big House (Michigan) favored to win for the first time ever! Well, Michigan proved that winning in the Big House is not an easy task for even a #9 ranked team. Michigan beat the Wisconsin Badgers dropping them to #18 in the polls. (This makes Utah's win in the Big House look even more impressive.)

Because of these upsets, BYU was launched in the #8 spot. Penn State who was ranked #12 has been playing great football. They beat up on #22 Illinois and leaped us to get into the #6 spot. So what does all of this mean? It means that on a bye week BYU basically had the best case scenario happen. It is rare that a team moves up in the polls on a bye week.

BYU has only been ranked higher than #8 in 1984, 1990, and 1996. And only two of those teams were ranked this high this early in the season (1984 and 1990). Any BYU fan will quickly recognize 1984 as the one and only year BYU has been crowned National Champions after coming from behind to beat Michigan 24-17. So, could this be the year for another shot at a National Championship? Who knows! The only thing we can be sure of at this point is that this was a best case scenario for week 5 of college football.

Formula for National Attention

BYU is now getting a lot of national attention. People are talking about them being the BCS buster. Others are talking about quarterback Max Hall winning the Heisman Trophy award. Some people are even talking about giving BYU a shot at contending for the national title. Coach Bronco Mendenhall has said that he is having to control the media time that each player has because it is so overwhelming. The national attention is foreigh to most Non-BCS teams. So, it makes me think. What does it take for a Non-BCS team to get national attention?

To answer this question, I will look at BYU and what they ahve done to lead them to National acknowledgment.

BYU's Recent Success:

• Two consecutive Mountain West Titles
• 16-0 against Moutnain West teams
• Back-to-back 11 win seasons
• Produce incredible offensive stats
• Start the year out by beating two Pac-10 teams
• Produce back-to-back shut out's (UCLA, Wyoming)

BYU's Historical Success:

• Heisman Trophy Winner (Ty Detmer)
• NFL player factory (especially quarterbacks)
• History of Winning (Thanks to Lavell Edwards)
• National Title (1984)

So, what does it take to get some national recognition? Just a few things have to fall into place (sense my sarcasm). The acknowledgment that BYU is getting is great, however, it's not just from what they have done recently. From what I can see, it takes a combination of recent and historical success to produce national attention.

Recent Success + Historical Success = NATIONAL ATTENTION

Bronco Mendenhall on Jim Rome Show

Because of BYU's recent success, they have been receiving a lot of national attention. Most of the attention was brought on by BYU's smashing of UCLA last Saturday. I thought I'd post a link to the recording of Bronco Mendenhall (BYU's Head Coach) here for anyone to listen to.

If you don't know who Jim Rome is, you probably aren't too big into sports because he known world wide. He has his own sports radio show along with his own television show on ESPN. He's big in the world of sports. People either love him or hate him. Anyway, I was very impressed with his interview with Bronco Mendenhall.

Click HERE to listen to the recoding.
The link is from 1280 the Zone radio station in Utah.

Next up...BYU vs. Wyoming

Next up? Wyoming. BYU looks to continue their perfect season with Wyoming coming into town. Wyoming has started this year off with a couple of wins and one loss. My guess is Wyoming's 3-1 record would make people believe they are better than they really are. Their two wins this season have been over soft teams (Ohio and North Dakota State). Both wins were close wins. Their loss came from Air Force who beat them easily 23-3.

So what can we expect from Saturday's match up? Yet, another blow out. I don't see the Cowboys being able to stop BYU's high powered offense. Wyoming's' only hope is to slow the game down as much as possible to keep the score as low as possible. So, you can expect Wyoming to run the ball frequently trying to eat up as much time as possilbe. They do have a couple of hard hitting running backs. Wynel Seldon and Devin Moore are two senior running backs with some experience under their belts. They could be great running backs if they had an offensive line that could block well enough. Wyomings' offensive line struggles which will give BYU's defense a chance to get to the quarterback.

I highly expect BYU to keep doing what they do. This isn't going to be a close game. I don't expect it to be the thrashing that BYU laid on UCLA last week but they should win easily. Let's just say that I hope the back up's are ready to play again because they should see at least a quarter's worth of play. My prediction?
BYU: 52
Wyoming: 13

Dominance

So what do I think about BYU's win over UCLA? Simply dominating.

From start to finish BYU played a dominating football game that proved their ability to compete with the best. From the opening kickoff, it was evident that BYU had their minds set on playing their best football. BYU scored a shocking 35 points in the second quarter alone taking them into half time with a 42 to 0 lead. BYU was so dominating that they started taking their starters out of the game after just two and a half quarters of play.

So what made them so dominant? I saw two things that proved BYU was the better team:

Quarterback play was the first reason BYU dominated. BYU's Max Hall looked as good as any other quarterback in the nation and flat out embarrassed UCLA's quarterback Kevin Craft. Let's take a look at each quarterback's statistics:

BYU's Max Hall: (In two and a half quarters of play)
27/35 (77.1%)
271 yards
7 touchdowns
1 interception

UCLA's Kevin Craft: (In four quarters of play)
23/39 (58.9%)
230yards
0 touchdowns
1 interception

Max Hall played so well that not only did he receive the Walter Camp Foundation player of the week and the Mountain West Conference Player of the week award but he is now being mentioned in Heisman trophy talk.

BYU's Defense was the second thing that made BYU so dominant. Going into this game, most people (including myself) were questioning BYU's defense. They were matched up against a more physical and experienced offense. It was clear that BYU took those question marks to heart and worked hard to prove themselves. They certainly proved themselves by shutting out UCLA. It was especially fun to watch them block a field goal that would have given UCLA some points.

Again, there are probably a lot of different ways or words to describe BYU's performance this week but I'll stick to...DOMINANCE.

Statement Made!

For those who were doubting BYU before today, I'd say you can consider today a statement game. BYU took on UCLA and embarrassed them. BYU wins 59 to 0!! Are you kidding me? That score looks like a joke! It's defenitly not a joke. BYU went into this game to make a statement and show the country that they are one of the elite teams in the county. As I sat in the stands with my dad and two brothers, we almost couldn't believe what we were seeing. I think we all had an idea of how good BYU could play but I don't think we would have ever imagined such dominance. I mean, BYU had the football game won early in the second quarter.

The football game ended nearly 5 hours ago and the publicity that BYU is getting on ESPN and other sports networks is crazy. Last week they were getting a lot of publicity becuase everyone was doubting them and the "judgment" call that was made. It's great to see BYU come out with such determination and physicallity. UCLA has an athletic team but BYU was better prepared mentally for this game. It was clear from the first series where BYU forced UCLA to go three and out and then drove the length of the field for their first touchdown.

I will be writing more about the cougar win within the next couple of days but for now I think it does it justice to simply say:

STATEMENT MADE!! GO COUGARS!

BYU vs. UCLA (September 13th 1:30pm)

The high drama from the Washington game last week is sure to continue with UCLA rolling into Lavell Edward Stadium on Saturday. This is a game I am really looking forward to. It will be a great test for the Cougars who are still hoping to go undefeated to reach a BCS bowl game. By no means am I professional scout. However, you'll find my "scouting report" on UCLA's offense and defense and how each will effect BYU's performance:

UCLA's OFFENSE:
Last week BYU faced a quarterback (Jake Locker) that is very mobile and can create big plays with his legs. Locker's arm strength and accuracy is his biggest weakness. This week, BYU faces the exact opposite type of quarterback. UCLA quarterback Kevin Croft is a finesse quarterback who will sit in the pocket and throw. Don't expect him to run for yards very often. Crofts' arm strength and accuracy is much better than Washington's Jake Locker. UCLA is coming off of a big win over Tennessee two weeks ago. Croft had an exceptional second half to lead his team to a come-from-behind victory in overtime. However, Croft looked like a different person in the first half. Croft threw 4 interceptions in the first half alone making it difficult for his team to stay even close to Tennessee. Somehow he turned it around in the second half to get the win. It will be interesting to see which quarterback shows up on Saturday, the first-half Croft or the second-half Croft. I think I speak for all BYU football fans when I say that I hope it's the first-half Croft.

UCLA also has very athletic receivers. They are big, strong, and physical. This is where BYU is going to struggle. BYU has a weak secondary to defend these receivers. If second-half Croft shows up, I would expect some long passes and some easy touchdowns. The key for BYU is to put pressure on Croft and hope that you force him to throw the ball when he's not ready. Pressure him to make bad passes and hopefully come up with some interceptions and fumble recoveries.

Note: UCLA's starting running back, Kahlil Bell, is listed as doubtful for the game on Saturday. This was reported today by the Daily News in Los Angeles. This is a big break because not only is Bell a good running back but he's a good blocker. So if he ends up not playing, the Cougars have a chance to put some extra pressure on the quarterback.

UCLA's DEFENSE:
UCLA's has quite the challenge this week. BYU's offense is one of the best in the country. Most people around the country would say it ranks among the top 15 offenses in the country. However, UCLA has a lot of returning starters on defense. They are experienced and ready to prove themselves against a tough offense. Let's not forget that UCLA held BYU to only 17 points in two games last season. They are a good defense.

I still give BYU's offense the advantage over this tough defense. However, it will be interesting to see how they spread their defense. I expect them to come into the game with some disguised blitz packages to put some pressure on BYU quarterback Max Hall. BYU's offensive line will have their hands full trying to manage the blitz.

MY PREDICTION:
Because BYU wants to prove themselves and show the country that they are a top 15 team, I am giving them the edge. In fact, they play much better at home and I would expect their "weak" defense to wake up a little bit and play off of the sold out crowd. Therefore I am saying that BYU wins by 10 points:
BYU: 34
UCLA: 24

BYU vs. Washington (BYU 28, Washington 27)

Wow! All I can say is WHAT A WEEK!! BYU football has given us quite an emotional week. I don't expect the drama to end any time soon with UCLA coming into town. But first, here are my thoughts on the University of Washington game:

BYU vs. Washington (BYU wins 28-27):
What a game! For those of you who missed it, YOU MISSED OUT! It was a close competitive game. All 4 quarters were intense hard fought football. A lot of people expected BYU to roll into Washington and beat them convincingly. Washington is a good home team and they played like it. They played great football. I was very impressed with the quarterback play of Jake Locker. He has a great ability to make plays with his legs.

BYU has a lot to work on! Most of it falls on the defensive side of the ball. Locker is a great running quarterback but we're lucky he doesn't have a great arm because he had receivers open all over the field. He over threw receiver after receiver which kept BYU in the game. BYU's linebackers and Defensive Backs seemed to get lost the second Locker would start scrambling. I certainly hope Bronco fixes the holes in the defense before UCLA comes into town.

On a positive note, I was again impressed by BYU's offense. We were able to move the ball easily down the field. Max hall had another monster game and Harvey Unga ran the ball like a mad man. I'd give the MVP award to the entire offensive line. Unga had truck sized holes to run through and Hall barely got touched all game. The O-Line played awesome.

The Questionable Call:
Now, I have to comment about the last play of the game. Of course this is what everyone is talking about. I'm not going to spend too much time talking about it because the game is over and the call was made. If you don't know which call I'm talking about, I'm talking about the Excessive Celebration penalty that was given to Locker after he scored a touchdown at the end of the game to pull Washington to within one point. The extra point would have tied things up and sent the game into overtime. So instead of having a routine 20 yard field goal to tie the game up, it turned into a 35 yard field goal. BYU blocked the field goal and won the game.

I don't feel I need to defend the call too much. I personally would have liked to see overtime. The game was a great game and overtime would have made it that much better. However, a win is a win and I'll take it any day of the week. Two things come to mind when people talk about that penalty.

First, penalties are called all game long. Some are justified and some are not. Other penalties that should be called are not. In my opinion you have to win the football game no matter what the officials call or don't call. Washington didn't do what was needed to win the game. Period. You have to be prepared for bad calls. We all complain about bad officiating but sometimes it works for you and other times it works against you. This call did not effect the game any more than any other questionable call made earlier in the game. The only reason it is being talked about so much is that it was very noticeable being at the end of the game.

Second, BYU made the play at the end of the game. They blocked the extra point. Putting the call aside, most kickers should be able to sink a 35 yard field goal from straight on. The fact is, BYU made the big play and blocked it. The same thing could have easily happened on a 20 yard field goal attempt.

Check back here tomorrow for my preview on the UCLA game. It promises to be a great game!

BYU vs. Northern Iowa (BYU 41, Northern Iowa 17)

Okay, so BYU's next game is only another 4 days away. I don't know how many of you actually care about what I think about the games but I thought I'd give a "Weekly Review" of what happened in the previous game and what I expect to happen in the next game.

So...here goes:

LAST WEEK: BYU vs. Norther Iowa (BYU won 41-17)
All I can say is, we've got some work to do! I'm sorry but BYU should have killed these guys. By looking at the score (41-17) it would look as if we did kill them but I would have liked to see them win by at least another two touchdowns.

If you watched the game you'd know that BYU's biggest problem is turning the ball over. BYU had 4 turn overs in the second half alone! One of which was a fumble in the end zone which gave Northern Iowa a quick touchdown.

On a positive note, the Cougars were able to move the ball on offense at will. Max Hall (Quarterback) looked comfortable and confident throwing the ball. In my opinion he is one of the best quarterbacks in the nation when it comes to throwing passes that are less than 15 yards. He seems to over throw when he throws beyond 15 yards.

All in all, this was a wake up call to the Cougars. We should have been better. If we would have played a tougher opponent, we would have struggled. Hopefully this shows the Cougars what they need to work on for next week against Washington.

THIS WEEK: BYU vs. Washington (Saturday, September 6th at 12:00pm)
Washington is a much tougher opponent. I'm really hoping that BYU fixes the problems they had with Northern Iowa. Washington lost its first game against Oregon last week on the road. They are a better home team and should be a pretty good test for the Cougars.

BYU has played the University of Washington 8 times. BYU has only won 2 of the 8 games. Obviously, you can't read too much into the past but hopefully we can win this one. I look forward to watching the game to see how each team reacts.

So, my prediction is that BYU will end up winning the game but it will be close. I think they will win by 10 points or less. I really hope I'm wrong and BYU just wastes them but I don't see that happening yet.

That's it for now but you can check back here after the Washington game for my thoughts on the game.

Feel free to post any comments about either game!