Academic

BYU Football

By Gordon Smith, Christine, Hurt, Vic Fleischer, Fred Tung, Lisa Fairfax, David Zaring

I almost feel like I should get a refund on the price of my tickets to today's game between BYU and UCLA. The game was over in the second quarter, and by halftime the score was 42-0. I am not sure if I have ever seen a game end 59-0 and thought, "it wasn't that close."

The Mountain West Conference played three other games against the Pac 10 today:

TCU 31 - Stanford 14
New Mexico 36 - Arizona 28
UNLV 23 - Arizona State 20

The Pac 10 probably has the best team in college football this year (USC), but the second best team in the conference was supposed to be Arizona State (see above) and the next best team (Oregon) barely squeaked out a win against lowly Purdue, while the other ranked team (Cal) lost to Maryland. UCLA was ranked for one week after beating Tennessee, but I suspect they won't be getting votes next week.

It's way too early to be talking about BCS bowls -- and I hate that corrupt system anyway -- but I just think it's amazing how little some of these schools can do with the money and recruiting advantages that come with membership in a BCS conference.

The two best teams I have seen this year: USC and Oklahoma.

The ugliest football played this year: Michigan.

The worst thing about college football: home conference officials. Brett Bielema didn't want WAC officials for the Fresno State game, and an outrageous replay decision almost cost Wisconsin the game. Road games are hard enough without having to battle the officials, and the NCAA should step in and fix this problem.

Finally, I am not making any predictions about BYU this year. They have a great offensive line and terrific skill players, but their defense has been inconsistent. Given the overall quality of the MWC and especially with TCU and Utah on the road, BYU would be very lucky to go undefeated.

Full post as published by Conglomerate on September 14, 2008 (boomark / email).