gmj81 wrote:

Cougtastic wrote:

but since we had a pair of losses (one being a fluke), we were out of contention.

Just curious which one you consider to be the fluke. I would say the UCLA game. Tulsa plain outcoached us. The Pac-10 refs plained screwed us out of another win over a big-6 conference team.

I would hope that UCLA was the fluke last year as well. Tulsa's offense was ready for the Cougars, and the team learned a lot from that game. I'm sure there were lessons taken from the UCLA game as well. But they were not out-coached, and they shouldn't have been out-played.

thanks for your comment, utards can suck the big one big time. I actually just burned wrubell's calls of games/postgames/and other things to listen to whilst in the car, because i hate the radio yewt homers that much. I thought at least the powerhouse guy that got kicked off of sportsbeat (pain killer addiction) alema harrington from BYu would be respectable...NOPE

The problem with this as I see it is we already play 3 of the worst teams in D1 in our conference. When you add Logan HS(sorry if that insults anyone actually from Logan HS...they may be better than USU) and then a DII school you have almost half of the schedule against some of the worst out there. Our schedule is already dumbed down to the point it hurts us. Imagine what will happen this year of UCLA and Washington tank their seasons after we trash them. We will get about as much respect as Hawaii. Other conferences play patsys at the beginging of the season to warm up for their conference games. We can't do that because of all the patsy's in our conference.

I've said it all along we shouldn't be playing USU or any DII schools there is no upside and if they do well it only makes us look bad. We should be beating the bushes trying to line up mid level BCS schools from the Big 11, Big Least, and ACC.

Go Cougs!
L Hatton
Louisville, KY

Just a little FYI to those that say that Northern Iowa is a step down because they are D-II or FCS and not FBS...Their sagarin rating is 62...Nevada, who dropped out on us forcing us to look and pick up Northern Iowa, has a sagarin rating of 102. Strength of schedule will actually go up playing NI rather than Nevada.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt07.htm

KYCoug wrote:

...We should be beating the bushes trying to line up mid level BCS schools from the Big 11, Big Least, and ACC.

I gaurantee you they have been. But the big-6 conference teams have the luxury of scheduling winnable out of conference games. Do you really think they are the stoked about playing a BYU team that will be a force to be reckoned with? Then people would talk about how they lost to a mid-major, even if it was BYU.

Holmoe has done the very best he can to put together schedules that would be challenging yet confidence building as well. The Crowton/Hale regime scheduled some tough games but in the end .500 seasons didn't do anything but hurt us even if they were against respectable teams. BYU under Mendenhall has looked pretty dominant at times but they've still struggled against even some of the middle-tier BCS competition they've faced. Let's not throw them into the ring in a fight they can't win yet. UW and UCLA could be very good this year. They also might not that great. But nobody is saying that BYU has an easy schedule this year even if the pac-10ers turn out to be less than stellar. Plus, Holmoe has publicly stated that BYU wouldn't find itself in another situation where it would have to schedule FCS teams again IIRC. So, for those of you that want tougher non-conference games and more of them, relax... starting next season your wish will be granted.

But also remember, BYU can only play those who are willing to play them. It's a two way street.

Mingjai wrote:

BYU scheduling an I-AA school was more about maintaining a sixth home game than them being unable to find a I-A school.

We scheduled the I-AA when Nevada bailed. And the I-AA the year before when Utah State bailed.