14 Comments

1. With LSU and Missouri losing BYU could move up in the polls. Plus Texas Tech lucked out in their win. However it is possible that Florida or could pass the Cougs in the polls as well. The BYU win was solid but won’t be all that impressive to voters I would think.

   Comment by Geoff J — October 11, 2008 @ 8:37 pm

2. I didn’t get to see the game, but the write-up you linked to didn’t make it sound very impressive. If we have a weak schedule and blow people out by 50 points then that’s something, but if we have barely squeak by weak teams, it makes me think we don’t belong in the top ten.

   Comment by Jacob J — October 11, 2008 @ 8:59 pm

3. Barely squeak by? That’s a little harsh. 21-3 seems like a decent win.

   Comment by JKS — October 11, 2008 @ 9:35 pm

4. Well, they were only leading 14-3 going into the forth quarter and then New Mexico had a touchdown called back (on a bad call) which would have taken it to 14-10 with some time on the clock. The momentum shifted and BYU put another one in the end zone. I agree that the final score doesn’t look like a squeaker, but that description didn’t inspire confidence.

   Comment by Jacob J — October 11, 2008 @ 9:54 pm

5. I watched most of the game on TV. I had to leave at the beginning of the 4th quarter so I didn’t see the bad call.
   From my parents’ couch, it seemed like despite the excessive time that NM had the ball in the first half they just couldn’t make a touchdown. Hard to believe they could have hypothetically pulled off two in a row at the end of the game, if they’d had momentum of a real touchdown.
   BYU was playing much better in the second half, or maybe calling better plays.
   It was an exciting game to watch, even with the scarcity of touchdowns.

   Comment by JKS — October 12, 2008 @ 12:51 am

6. I was at the game, and it definetely was not an impressive win. Because NM did such a great job of controlling the clock, BYU’s offense could never find its rhythm. In addition, despite holding NM to 3 points, the defense was really quite mediocre. They didn’t lay a single solid hit on anyone all game, and perhaps most importantly for a BYU home game never really got the crowd into the game (it was eerily quiet there yesterday compared to previous home games).

   BYU better get its act together in the next 4 days before playing on the road at TCU, whose defense is far superior to NM (or anyone else in the conference for that matter), and who is stronger on offense than NM. NM very well may have exposed BYUs weakness yesterday, in that in order to stay in a game with the Cougs, you simply need to control the clock and keep BYU’s offense off the field as much as possible.

   Comment by Christopher — October 12, 2008 @ 9:22 am

7. The BYU crowd just doesn’t know what to do if BYU isn’t scoring every couple of minutes.

   Comment by JKS — October 12, 2008 @ 11:35 am

8. Looks like we are staying put in the polls, which is what I imagined. I don’t expect us to move up more than one or two spots, if any, over the rest of the season until we play Utah, and I honestly think thats ok because there are a lot of teams playing a much tougher schedule than us. Our goal is to just remain undefeated, stay in the top ten, and get our shot at a BCS bowl game.

   Comment by Ben — October 12, 2008 @ 12:05 pm

9. Yup, BYU stayed put in the Coaches and AP polls this week. The Cougs moved from 9th to 8th in the Harris poll and that helps because only the Harris and Coaches polls count in BCS standings.

   This Thursday will be a major hurdle. It will be a Thursday night showcase game on national TV (sort of at least — it is on VS.) against a ranked opponent. A loss all but torpedoes a BCS bowl chance for the Cougs; a win could mean a decent jump in the polls next week. Plus the BCS standings come out next weekend and a win at TCU will make a major difference for BYU on the computer rankings. There is a lot riding on this game. With any luck BYU will rise to the occasion.

   Comment by Geoff J — October 12, 2008 @ 12:54 pm

10. After seeing the final score, I went to check the boxscore expecting to see any number of things:

    1. Penalties
    2. Turnovers
    3. No running game.

    BYU only had 4 penalties, 0 turnovers, and Unga nearly had 100 yards rushing.

    So it appears from the boxscore that New Mexico played keep away, rushing the ball an astounding 50 times while taking away BYU’s big play offense (1 play over 20 yards).

    I’m actually happier to see BYU’s offense struggle more than their defense, which is still this team’s strength (17 pts allowed last four games).

    Comment by Tim J — October 13, 2008 @ 5:54 am

11. Thursday night has not been kind to road teams:

    S. Carolina loses at Vandy
    WV loses at Colorado
    USC loses at Oregon St.
    Clemson loses at Wake Forest

    There is certainly reason to be concerned.

    Comment by Tim J — October 13, 2008 @ 6:08 am

12. It was indeed a very short game Tim. The entire first half took just over an hour. That is a sign of NM running on nearly play and getting enough first downs to gobble up tons of clock while keeping the BYU offense on the sideline.

    Comment by Geoff J — October 13, 2008 @ 8:49 am

13. USA Today did a great write up on BYU and more specifically Mendenhall. The story ran on the front page of the sports section.

    Comment by Tim J — October 14, 2008 @ 9:31 am

14. Ouch, the TCU game first quarter just ended. It hurts.

    Comment by Stephen M (Ethesis) — October 16, 2008 @ 5:50 pm