CougarCorner

SpiffCoug wrote:I don't think 10 wins is the minimum number acceptable. I think eight is. The ONLY games that would be acceptable losing are the four tough road games. BYU should win the other eight. The toughest games in those eight are all at home (Wash St, Ore St, Utah St).

Losing any or all of the four tough road games would be disappointing, but we're potentially playing some VERY good teams on the road. When looking at each of those games individually, you can see BYU losing each of them without even really having to think too hard about how difficult going to Utah, Boise St, Notre Dame and Georgia Tech will/could be.

But winning just eight games would be a barely passing grade - like a D grade. It would be a highly disappointing season.

I expect us to win eight games.

I agree about 8 being the acceptable threshold. I mean for it to be consider a "good" season, we have to win at least 10, including the bowl game.

I also disagree about playing good teams this year. Utah is probably the best team that we will face this year. It is a close tie between them and Boise St. Notre DAme and Gtech will be bad. In fact, Utah St might be more of a challenge than Gtech.

Don't underestimate Gtech, they are never "bad." You better strap on your chin strap when you play Gtech, and stopping their option is a tall order.

Every season has its surprises. Last year, we expected Heaps to hit his receivers, he couldn't, he was awful. We should have clobbered Ole mIss and beat Texas--but we had no offense. I think this year will be different. The offense may not be spectacular, but they will move the chains, and they will score points. Talent oozes from this offense, and Nelson will "will" a couple of victories from sure defeat.

It looks like a couple of changes are in store for the Offense, 1) the tight ends will now be fulltime tight ends, and 2) BYU will be running the ball more. This should translate into more first downs, better passing percentages, and more points on the board.

If the offense delivers as described in the previous paragraph, it means the defense will be on the field less, which means they will have more success, more energy, less fatigue, more domination.

golong wrote:Don't underestimate Gtech, they are never "bad." You better strap on your chin strap when you play Gtech, and stopping their option is a tall order.

Every season has its surprises. Last year, we expected Heaps to hit his receivers, he couldn't, he was awful. We should have clobbered Ole mIss and beat Texas--but we had no offense. I think this year will be different. The offense may not be spectacular, but they will move the chains, and they will score points. Talent oozes from this offense, and Nelson will "will" a couple of victories from sure defeat.

It looks like a couple of changes are in store for the Offense, 1) the tight ends will now be fulltime tight ends, and 2) BYU will be running the ball more. This should translate into more first downs, better passing percentages, and more points on the board.

If the offense delivers as described in the previous paragraph, it means the defense will be on the field less, which means they will have more success, more energy, less fatigue, more domination.

I would love to see BYU finally have an Oline that can run on legit D1 teams like Notre Dame and BSU. Naturally, if we can run we'll win, but that's asking a lot of a perennial underachieving position group at BYU.

Cougarbib2 wrote:

I was right with you 8-9 is realistic with an equal chance of better or worse.

Then you confused your self by calling 10 regular seasons both realistic and optimistic. Make up your mind. For me 10 is optimistic. 7 is a bit pessimistic. 11 is very optimistic. 6 is very pessimistic. They are all possible. Even 12-0 could happen - 2% chance.

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I don't think "realistic" and "optimistic" are mutually exclusive. There's being realistically optimistic. And then there's being unrealistically optimistic.

BlueIsBetter wrote: Notre DAme and Gtech will be bad.

Notre Dame brings back the Manti Teo defense, which may be better than ours, which may be our best in a decade. They also have an offense loaded with 4-star players, and they get to play at home.

And I'm not going to call you ignorant, but Notre Dame beat #15 Michigan State 31-13 last year. They won on the road at Pitt. Killed Purdue 38-10. Destroyed Air Force 59-33 (and the Falcons beat us last time we played them). Notre Dame obliterated Navy 56-14. Beat Wake Forest on the road. Beat down Maryland 45-21. Beat Boston College. And played some Top 10 teams very close. In short, they were better than us.

Mars wrote:

BlueIsBetter wrote: Notre DAme and Gtech will be bad.

Notre Dame brings back the Manti Teo defense, which may be better than ours, which may be our best in a decade. They also have an offense loaded with 4-star players, and they get to play at home.

And I'm not going to call you ignorant, but Notre Dame beat #15 Michigan State 31-13 last year. They won on the road at Pitt. Killed Purdue 38-10. Destroyed Air Force 59-33 (and the Falcons beat us last time we played them). Notre Dame obliterated Navy 56-14. Beat Wake Forest on the road. Beat down Maryland 45-21. Beat Boston College. And played some Top 10 teams very close. In short, they were better than us.

THIS.

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Mars wrote:

BlueIsBetter wrote: Notre DAme and Gtech will be bad.

Notre Dame brings back the Manti Teo defense, which may be better than ours, which may be our best in a decade. They also have an offense loaded with 4-star players, and they get to play at home.

And I'm not going to call you ignorant, but Notre Dame beat #15 Michigan State 31-13 last year. They won on the road at Pitt. Killed Purdue 38-10. Destroyed Air Force 59-33 (and the Falcons beat us last time we played them). Notre Dame obliterated Navy 56-14. Beat Wake Forest on the road. Beat down Maryland 45-21. Beat Boston College. And played some Top 10 teams very close. In short, they were better than us.

Notre Dame's defense won't be anywhere near as good as our defense is.

The only thing that hangs in the balance is can our weak-ish offense score on their pretty good defense, more than their okay offense can score on our top 10 in the nation defense?


Our Oline sucks on ice against anyone above a .500 average, our starting rb was non-existant in almost every key game, our wr's couldn't get separation against top 50 D1 talent, and on and on. If those things carry over to next season, you are right, that game shouldn't even be close with ND killing the visiting Cougs. But if those things carry over to this season, some assistant coaches and s and c coaches should be seriously worried about their jobs.

So, yes ND should be "good." I understated them as "bad" just because I am tired of them limping into each offseason with a near .500 record and getting rated top 15 in almost every single preseason every year. I'm wrong in using "bad", but they won't be as good as most media pundits say that they are. They will be the 3rd best team that we play this year, tied with Utah State and Gtech. Literally, Utah State might play us better than ND and Gtech. And being the third hardest team on our schedule isn't saying much this year. San Diego St or Air Force could vie for that title in their recent good years.

And I'm not worried about Gtech, not in the slightest. The option isn't that hard to defend. Especially not with most of the starting defense returning this year.

Notre Dame will be a solid team, but not world-beaters. Boise St. has SO many question marks, they could be anywhere on the spectrum from great to mediocre. Utah brings a good defense, but the offense will suffer under their first-year coordinator. That's the exciting thing about this season, we very well could be the best team, and magic could happen.

I think people are not giving the Irish their due this year. For the first time in a long while, I think that they are a legit top-25 team. They were very close to BCS last year. Just blew games against Michigan and 1 other late, or they were in. Plus, they return their QB, who like RN, is not flashy, but effective. ANd their coach is very good.

That game will be our toughest for sure.