BYU Plays Good Tackle Football

I haven't blogged about BYU Football this season, so after waiting to make sure it would be safe to talk trash, I now feel ready to do so.  After treating Wyoming the way everyone should treat a team from the ugliest state--in fact, the ugliest geographic area in the world--the Cougs racked up their second straight shutout.  Coincidentally, the last time they recorded back-to-back shutouts--1985--Wyoming was included, and the scores were 59-0 & 44-0, just like this year.  The next victim will be Utah State--I'm not sure if they field a team of girls or not--and thye are another potential shutout.  That will put the Cougs at 5-0 and probably somewhere in the top 8 in the polls, setting up potential BCS qualifying games with TCU & Utah, the only two teams left on the schedule that have any chance of beating BYU.  

I am aware of the fact that BYU plays a weak schedule overall, and that they wouldn't have a prayer of going undefeated in the SEC, but the other BCS conferences aren't as deep this year as they usually are, and I think minus the PAC-10--because of USC--BYU could win any non-SEC conference this year.  It's disappointing that the best Cougar team in a long, long time won't have the chance to really prove themselves.  Even if they make a BCS game, they'll probably get the Big East or ACC Champion, neither of whom will be all that great.  The NCAA really needs to do at least an 8 team playoff, so teams like BYU have a chance to prove on the field whether or not they can be the National Champion.  The way this year stacks up, they very well could go undefeated and still not even have a chance to play USC or the SEC champion, leaving their opportunity in the hands of computers and uniformed, biased sports writers.  I'm not stupid, I know that teams like Florida or USC would probably destroy BYU, but it would be nice to have the chance to pull off an upset.  That is what makes March Madness so cool, because it gives anyone the chance to overcome bias and scheduling and prove how good they really are.  Leaving championships up to reporters and computers is unfortunate, and that type of system should stick with gymnastics and diving, not football.  

In spite of BYU's general lack of national respect, Max Hall is being mentioned in the top 5 or 6 as a Heisman Trophy contender.  If BYU goes undefeated, and Hall keeps playing the way he has so far, his stats will probably be much better than Marc Sanchez, but because Sanchez plays for USC, he will place higher, if not win the Heisman.  Normally, I would agree that the team should be taken into account, but considering Hall has torched 2 Pac-10 teams, it's fair to say they will have played similar competition.  Either way, if Hall ends up being a Heisman finalist, that will be pretty cool.  I feel safe in predicting that BYU will not lose, or even have a close game--except TCU--until the Utah game.  Regardless of how well BYU is playing, Utah always plays them tough and Utah is quite good this year.  I don't think the Cougs will lose, but that game will probably be a barn burner like most BYU-Satan...I mean Utah games are.  In spite of my reservation, I'll predict that BYU goes undefeated and that they win their BCS game too.  I'm not going to say that I have a sports almanac from the future...but I'm not going to deny it either.