snoscythe wrote:

I don't see USC and West Virginia improving. In fact, I think both will see a substantial drop off. USC is losing their rudder on offense with the departure of Booty, and they are losing their emotional leader on defense with Rivers leaving and their Dline is losing its two stalwarts in Jackson Lawrence and Sedrick Ellis along with 3 other Dlinemen on the two-deep. They also lose their tight-end and receiver(Davis) andtop runningback (Washington) from last season. They are losing more contributors this year than they lost they year Leinart and Bush left.

Do you really think USC is going to lose all of these players and improve on a #2/#3 finish? Honestly? I mean, I understand that USC reloads, but those expectations are simply unprecedented.

As for West Virginia, I highly doubt they improve from a #6 finish. The program is in shambles, the AD made an emotional decision after the bowl win in hiring Bill Stewart...and I will lay money Stewart only lasts 2 seasons. The guy is talking about how they are going to keep the offense, but start throwing the ball downfield....have you seen Pat White throw deep??? The guy can barely keep the ball in the field of play past 15 yards. He has also decided to keep the 3-3-5 defense, but the DC he hired has never coached a 3-3-5, and neither have the key assistants. It's a bad spot when your players know the defense better than the coaches. Stewart is in over his head and has simply made all of the wrong moves in hiring friends and former players instead of expertise. So, in the face of all of the administrative turmoil and the departure of Steve Slaton, how do the Mountaineers improve over their #6 finish last year?? I would have dropped them out of the top 15 on the departure of Slaton alone, but with administrative and coaching issues, I would be surprised to see WVU finish in the top four in the Big East, let alone the top 25.

I agree. Although USC will likely be able to reload and remain a top 20 team, they will not surpass last year's success. Too many key losses on offense and defense.

I also think WVU is going to struggle. White and Devine are talented, but the program is reeling. The defense lost a lot of starters. If they can get past the lawsuit, document shredding, accusations of fraud, and other chicanery, they might be bowl eligible--but only because they play in the Big East, which I predict returns to the circle of suck next year that is usually is. Pitt wins the Big East, IMO.

Also think people are underselling the UCLA game. The Bruins are going to be fired up for revenge, and Neuheisel is no dummy. They have talented athletes on both sides of the ball, and a good coach can do a lot with good athletes (better overall than Washington, IMO). And don't forget Chow. For all of his supposed faults, he is a great OC that can make the best of his players. I wouldn't be surprised if he can make Ben Olsen look good for a quarter or two. Don't get me wrong. I think BYU wins because it is a home game. But it won't be a breeze.

The Washington match will be the most difficult of the season because it is in Seattle and there will be little to no film to help in preparations, followed by the games at Utah and TCU. The UCLA match is a close fourth. All of these are potential minefields, but certainly BYU has the ability to win ALL of them. Alot of it will come down to preparation and poise. Unfortunately, the Cougars tend to get nervous in big games, particularly on the road against BCS teams. In addition to poor officiating and execution, that was one of the primary reasons they lost in Pasadena last year, IMO.

Should be a great year--even better than last. Go Cougars!

BYUtx wrote:

Hengst wrote:

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.

Just for clarification, this is a list of teams that will improve next year (as opposed to teams that will be better than BYU), right?

Ohio State and Wisconsin I think deserve to be on a list of improved teams. Wisconsin should go from awful to bad and Ohio State should go from mediocre to decent. Neither team was better than BYU last year and neither will be better next. The Big T11en is a freaking joke-right on par with the Big East.

Nope it's 10 teams I think are easily better than BYU right now. We'll see how the season shakes out, but I think BYU would lose to all of those teams if they played them on opening day.

gmj81 wrote:

Hengst wrote:

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.

Wisconsin? You're joking right? Need I remind you that they are from the big-sucky-10 and that they barely beat Vegas last year? Wisconsin and Michigan were way overated last year. Auburn is a maybe even though they lost alot. But the rest I'll definately concede. The only team I think we could for sure beat on that list is West Virginia. The rest I would be inclined to say a loss but that is before we see how the season plays out.

Need I remind you that BYU needed a miracle to beat a bad pac-10 team that was on their 3rd string qb on a neutral field last year. Let's not get our hoops too high.

Hengst wrote:

BYUtx wrote:

Hengst wrote:

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.

Just for clarification, this is a list of teams that will improve next year (as opposed to teams that will be better than BYU), right?

Ohio State and Wisconsin I think deserve to be on a list of improved teams. Wisconsin should go from awful to bad and Ohio State should go from mediocre to decent. Neither team was better than BYU last year and neither will be better next. The Big T11en is a freaking joke-right on par with the Big East.

Nope it's 10 teams I think are easily better than BYU right now. We'll see how the season shakes out, but I think BYU would lose to all of those teams if they played them on opening day.

I completely disagree with OSU, Wisconsin, Missouri and ASU. I think we would beat all of them at home, 3/4 neutral and at least 1 on the road. I like our chances at home against 1/2 of the rest of these teams. We would struggle on a neutral field, maybe winning 1 or 2 and probably lose pretty bad on the road.

Also, thanks for not putting Michigan up there.

Hengst wrote:

gmj81 wrote:

Hengst wrote:

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.

Wisconsin? You're joking right? Need I remind you that they are from the big-sucky-10 and that they barely beat Vegas last year? Wisconsin and Michigan were way overated last year. Auburn is a maybe even though they lost alot. But the rest I'll definately concede. The only team I think we could for sure beat on that list is West Virginia. The rest I would be inclined to say a loss but that is before we see how the season plays out.

Need I remind you that BYU needed a miracle to beat a bad pac-10 team that was on their 3rd string qb on a neutral field last year. Let's not get our hoops too high.

Wisconsin would have probably won 2 games if it were a Pac-10 team last year. They were terrible.

BYUtx wrote:

Hengst wrote:

BYUtx wrote:

Hengst wrote:

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.

Just for clarification, this is a list of teams that will improve next year (as opposed to teams that will be better than BYU), right?

Ohio State and Wisconsin I think deserve to be on a list of improved teams. Wisconsin should go from awful to bad and Ohio State should go from mediocre to decent. Neither team was better than BYU last year and neither will be better next. The Big T11en is a freaking joke-right on par with the Big East.

Nope it's 10 teams I think are easily better than BYU right now. We'll see how the season shakes out, but I think BYU would lose to all of those teams if they played them on opening day.

I completely disagree with OSU, Wisconsin, Missouri and ASU. I think we would beat all of them at home, 3/4 neutral and at least 1 on the road. I like our chances at home against 1/2 of the rest of these teams. We would struggle on a neutral field, maybe winning 1 or 2 and probably lose pretty bad on the road.

Also, thanks for not putting Michigan up there.

Michigan is going to be a disaster next year. Mark it down, Utah will go up to the big house and beat them.