After being humiliated at home last week by Utah, the BYU football team did enough to beat the UCF Knights in Provo last night by the score of 24-17.

Here are some thoughts on the game:
– Despite some blown coverages and occasionally inept tackling, the BYU defense got the job done again for BYU primarily through ferocious hitting and creating turnovers. In the end “points allowed” is the only stat that really matters for a defense.
– Huge night for BYU special teams. A successful fake punt, a booming punt that resulted in BYU getting the ball back, and a kickoff returned for a TD were all crucial to BYU winning this game.
– The offense remains painfully inept. But there were some signs of life in the running game. (more…)

When I first joined the church, I learned that prayer works. I learned that we could talk to God as one person talks to another and that he can and does communicate with us as well. Almost 2 years later, I went to the MTC and while there, I was taught that good LDS people say thee, thou, thine, and thy in their prayers. (Not in any sort of negative way, merely in that it was innocuously mentioned that I should use thee,thou, thine, and thy in prayer). I personally found that this detracted from my prayers. I spent too much time thinking about what I was saying and whether I was saying the right things. This took away some of my ability to listen to the spirit, and from the ability to feel any sort of closeness to God. It emphasized God’s “Otherness” and made him feel farther away. Also, it emphasized what I was saying, rather than what I was listening for.

Making matters worse, as a new member, if I ignored this prescription, as it wasn’t working for me, it felt more like something was wrong with me, or I felt guilty because I was “breaking rules”. It labeled me “heterodox” to be outside the norm. So I kept at it, even though it made me feel farther from God. Making matters worse, it bothered me enough that I stopped using sentences which required the use of “You” or “Thee” in them, and so for a while, I was limiting my capacity to pray.

Over time, I have both grown more comfortable saying thee, thou, thine, and thy, as well as more comfortable not feeling heterodox if I do not use those words in prayer, as I have come to realize this linguistic effect is meaningless. I find myself saying “We are thankful for”, rather than “we thank thee” or “thank you for” as this is how my mind apparently has resolved the issue.

Which brings me to my point, it is my opinion that using the words thee, thou, thine and thy are merely a cultural affectation, and are spiritually unnecessary. Furthermore, they can cause unnecessary struggles for those who are converts to the church, creating an unnecessary additional barrier to entry into the family of the church, and in communication with God.

I am not asking members to stop saying thee, thou, thine, and thy, as I realize they are “used to it” and so being asked to not say thee, thou, thine and thy would make them feel a lot like I felt, all those years ago, when I was asked to use thee, thou, thine, and thy. That is not what I want at all. I am asking that we leave more room for you and your not being merely some juvenile form of prayer.

That’s my Opinion. Your Mileage may vary.

BYU was completely blown out tonight by Utah by the score of 54-10. After going up 10-7 the Cougars gave up 47 straight points (yes, 47). It’s hard to say what happened but turnover after turnover (seven total, three in the first quarter) might have led to the wheels falling off for BYU. Maybe it was the fact that BYU has no run game. Whatever it was, the wheels did indeed completely come off for BYU in this game.

The Utes were just better than BYU tonight. A lot better. At this point a 7+ wins seems like a solid goal for BYU football this year. Bummer.

I imagine there will be complete hysteria among BYU fans this week. I think I’ll try to avoid the BYU fan message boards for a while…

It was close, but the BYU offense sputtered in the second half and Texas pulled out a 17-16 win over BYU today.

Here are some observations from the game: (more…)

The BYU football era of independence began with an ugly win. But then again, a W is always a lot more pretty than an L in sports. BYU overcame a mistake prone and largely ineffective day on offense and pulled out a 14-13 win over Ole Miss in Oxford MS with a lot of help from the defense.

Fans were no doubt surprised that BYU’s offense had accounted for -7 points heading into the 4th quarter of this game (0 points scored and an interception for a touchdown). QB Jake Heaps was mediocre for most of the day missing several wide open receivers. The BYU offense made enough plays to control the ball for most of the game but not enough plays to actually score until the 4th quarter. On the other hand the BYU defense gave up only 6 points the whole game on two field goals. Then in the 4th quarter with BYU trailing 13-7 outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy sacked the Ole Miss quarterback causing a fumble and then scooped the ball up and scored the touchdown the in the end proved to be the game winner. (more…)