Is this year's BYU football team really a BCS bowl worthy team? Many will say it's way too early to tell - I mean we haven't even played one game yet this season. Some look at last year's record, national stats, returning players, and sports magazine & internet write ups on the 2008 college football teams to convince themselves that this is the year for BYU to crash the BCS party.

I'm a staunch BYU fan - not an Airwolf clone, but I wonder if sometimes we kid ourselves in beleiving that this year's team is good enogh to compete against the big boys.

Can you folks help convince me that BYU can really do it this year. What away or home game against a highly ranked team have we won in the last 5 years that let us know that we can beat any top ranked team? BYU just beat UCLA last year on BYU 'home' terf and UCLA was not a top PAC 10 team and BYU barely beat Utah (a non ranked team) at BYU last year. We could also throw in the Tulsa game to add to the debate. I just don't feel that comfortable in saying BYU will go much further this year than it did last year. If BYU can beat Washington at Washington that might mean something, but beating UCLA at BYU won't be that great of an accomplishment in my mind.

I'm with you, I think going undefeated is pretty tough and I think BYU drops one next year (due to problems in the secondary)

In the first place, let's be sure to divorce playing in the BCS with being a top national team. These two things are not the same. Hawaii proved it last year. Pittsburgh proved it in 2004. Notre Dame proves it all the time. Being BCS-worthy only has a little to do with being a top team.

Now that I got that out of the way, maybe we can reframe the question - is BYU really a Top 10 team?

timmyboy wrote:

In the first place, let's be sure to divorce playing in the BCS with being a top national team. These two things are not the same. Hawaii proved it last year. Pittsburgh proved it in 2004. Notre Dame proves it all the time. Being BCS-worthy only has a little to do with being a top team.

Now that I got that out of the way, maybe we can reframe the question - is BYU really a Top 10 team?

Well, let's see if I can list 10 teams that I think will be better next year


USC
Georgia
Missouri
Florida
West Virginia
Ohio State
Arizona State
Texas
LSU
Oklahoma

I probably could have thrown auburn and Wisconsin in there as well.

BYU at TCU in 2006. BYU thrashed a TCU team, on the road, that turned out to be a GREAT team. By the end of 2006, I would have taken BYU against almost anyone in the country. BYU had one of the top offenses in the country and one of the top defenses. That BYU team was easily a Top 10 team by the way they played.

Last year, BYU ended up about where they should have. The team played well but you could tell they didn't rise to the same level as the previous year. Then again, nobody in college football played as well as the previous year.

This year, all of the elements from 2006 are back - plus even more. You have all of the elements of a top team: an offense returning 10/11 starters (and the 11th was an SEC starter a few years back), a veteran coaching staff, a team that went 11-2 the previous year, an amazing conditioning staff, the goal of being a top team, a defense that has played well for several years now regardless of personnel, a very excited fan base, and more.

This team should be amazing. I firmly believe that. I can say that I think they will be a Top 10 team because I believe they will be better than the 2006 team - and that team was a Top 10 team.

It was? What was BYU final ranking? Did I miss something?