Jhingman wrote:

Todd Christensen is my uncle, my Dad's brother. First off, Todd is a BYU fan, plain and simple. All of his boys went to BYU, his son Toby played for BYU, and one of his boys is still at BYU. If he said what he was feeling, he would go for the Cougars all the time. The MTN doesn't want BYU-biased announcers expressing their opinions, they want variety and even controversy, so Uncle Todd doesn't spout off BYU propaganda all the time. To be honest, Utah is better equipped athletically in a few positions, particularly secondary, which Todd is using as rationale to say Utah is the best team in the conference. I'd say overall Utah probably has better athletes, but BYU is a better team.

Except you don't look like you are a "BYU biased" announcer for picking the team that has won 2 conference championships in a row and returns most of its offense. Utah may have better athletes in the secondary, but that's about the only position slot where they do (if they do, G pittman and Bradly could probably give any of utah's corners a good run for their money athleticism wise).

Picking against a team you happen to like just to make yourself seam unbiased, doesn't make you look unbiased, it just makes you look dumb.

Hengst wrote:

Jhingman wrote:

Todd Christensen is my uncle, my Dad's brother. First off, Todd is a BYU fan, plain and simple. All of his boys went to BYU, his son Toby played for BYU, and one of his boys is still at BYU. If he said what he was feeling, he would go for the Cougars all the time. The MTN doesn't want BYU-biased announcers expressing their opinions, they want variety and even controversy, so Uncle Todd doesn't spout off BYU propaganda all the time. To be honest, Utah is better equipped athletically in a few positions, particularly secondary, which Todd is using as rationale to say Utah is the best team in the conference. I'd say overall Utah probably has better athletes, but BYU is a better team.

Except you don't look like you are a "BYU biased" announcer for picking the team that has won 2 conference championships in a row and returns most of its offense. Utah may have better athletes in the secondary, but that's about the only position slot where they do (if they do, G pittman and Bradly could probably give any of utah's corners a good run for their money athleticism wise).

Picking against a team you happen to like just to make yourself seam unbiased, doesn't make you look unbiased, it just makes you look dumb.

I don't know about that Hengst. We all think that Herbster (espn) is a huge OSU homer but they have consistently dominated their own conference.

But, I believe top to bottom, BYU is the better team. (Except maybe sakoda, who really is something else. I'm relieved their QB doesn't have such skills.)

declocoug wrote:

Hengst wrote:

Jhingman wrote:

Todd Christensen is my uncle, my Dad's brother. First off, Todd is a BYU fan, plain and simple. All of his boys went to BYU, his son Toby played for BYU, and one of his boys is still at BYU. If he said what he was feeling, he would go for the Cougars all the time. The MTN doesn't want BYU-biased announcers expressing their opinions, they want variety and even controversy, so Uncle Todd doesn't spout off BYU propaganda all the time. To be honest, Utah is better equipped athletically in a few positions, particularly secondary, which Todd is using as rationale to say Utah is the best team in the conference. I'd say overall Utah probably has better athletes, but BYU is a better team.

Except you don't look like you are a "BYU biased" announcer for picking the team that has won 2 conference championships in a row and returns most of its offense. Utah may have better athletes in the secondary, but that's about the only position slot where they do (if they do, G pittman and Bradly could probably give any of utah's corners a good run for their money athleticism wise).

Picking against a team you happen to like just to make yourself seam unbiased, doesn't make you look unbiased, it just makes you look dumb.

I don't know about that Hengst. We all think that Herbster (espn) is a huge OSU homer but they have consistently dominated their own conference.

But, I believe top to bottom, BYU is the better team. (Except maybe sakoda, who really is something else. I'm relieved their QB doesn't have such skills.)

I don't think Herbstreet is an OSU homer. I've heard him pick against them in the past, but the fact that he went there doesn't discourage him from picking them when he thinks they're going to win.

I would have to say that these two teams are very close talent wise. Obviously, we have barely beaten them the last two years, so this is not an outlandish prediction! Many people (ESPN analysts) have picked Utah to win the conference.

I would have to say that I feel that BYU is the better team, but top to bottom Utah could look like the most balanced team on paper. They have an even amount of returners on both sides of the ball.

People look at our lack of experience on defense as our achilles heel. If our defense can come out and suprise people, then people will probably change their minds!

Hengst wrote:

Jhingman wrote:

Todd Christensen is my uncle, my Dad's brother. First off, Todd is a BYU fan, plain and simple. All of his boys went to BYU, his son Toby played for BYU, and one of his boys is still at BYU. If he said what he was feeling, he would go for the Cougars all the time. The MTN doesn't want BYU-biased announcers expressing their opinions, they want variety and even controversy, so Uncle Todd doesn't spout off BYU propaganda all the time. To be honest, Utah is better equipped athletically in a few positions, particularly secondary, which Todd is using as rationale to say Utah is the best team in the conference. I'd say overall Utah probably has better athletes, but BYU is a better team.

Except you don't look like you are a "BYU biased" announcer for picking the team that has won 2 conference championships in a row and returns most of its offense. Utah may have better athletes in the secondary, but that's about the only position slot where they do (if they do, G pittman and Bradly could probably give any of utah's corners a good run for their money athleticism wise).

Picking against a team you happen to like just to make yourself seam unbiased, doesn't make you look unbiased, it just makes you look dumb.

I completely agree. I'm sure Todd is a great guy, but I can't stand listening to him on the broadcasts. He spends more time coming up with fancy words and phrases than football analysis. If I hear "cognizant" and "it is wisdom" again in a football game, I'm going to scream!

His partner, James Bates' junior high voice doesn't help either. I just wish they both stopped doing BYU games altogether, especially the BYU/Utah game.

The word "buffoon" comes to mind... how does that guy still have a job doing commentary?
I'd rather listen to John Madden or fingernails/chalkboard.