Jan 09 2007
Cougars finish football season #15 & 16
Final polls released this morning show the Cougars’ rise to #15 in the USA Today/Coaches poll and #16 in the AP poll. Congrats to the Cougars for returning the program to national prominence!
8 Responses to “Cougars finish football season #15 & 16”
I think they were better than some of the teams just ahead of them in the polls but its a great finish.
I think Boise State got hosed and should have been #2.
I was blown away by how Florida put the whuppin on Ohio State. Troy Smith did not look close to the caliber of QB that John Beck is. OSU’s defense also was a shock to me. They forgot to show up.
Having lived in Ohio for 2 years, I came to love Buckeyes (though, not as much as the Cougars). I definitely wasn’t expecting… that. As I said to my roommates, mostly in jest, it is evidence that the terrorists have won.
Salt to the wound, though, is the secondary story that will be talked about around here. For the past few days, just about the only thing the Deseret News talked about in the sports page was about Urban Meyer (and the other former Utes) who are at Florida. I’m not looking forward to Ute fans thinking that they had anything to do with Florida’s championship and forgetting that they got used by Meyer. (Which makes Kyle Whittingham’s comment about Ute fans being “spoiled” during the past few years even funnier to me.)
Hopefully this position will slingshot BYU into contention for some BCS busting of their own! Maybe not next year, but perhaps the year after. What do you guys think? Where do we stand?
I mean–where do our Cougars stand? (doh, sorry Shirts)
I’m not too worried about Urban Meyer’s meteoric rise to coaching stardom. Utah will always be a footnote on his resume. I’ve heard lots of Ute fans calling in the past few days and today, and all of them so far have been smart enough to realize that the Urban Meyer Era at Utah was a flash in the pan. Some of them are still bitter about being used as a stepping stone.
On the other hand, hindsight is completely 20/20. What you saw was the outcome of several factors.
First, Ohio State had fooled everybody with a soft schedule that made them look as dominant as they were during the regular season. Think about it - Ohio State’s springboard to #1 started with a win over Notre Dame in last year’s Fiesta Bowl, the same Notre Dame team that gets ridiculed year after year for lacking the talent to compete with the best. So why did Ohio State get so much pub for beating them? Further, they gave up 39 points to a Michigan team that was utterly dominated by USC. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t see it because it was right there, plain as day. Remember the one guy who voted Florida #1 after the SEC Championship? The reason he cited was this - the Big 10 is as weak as it’s been in 25 years. Everybody scorned him, but he was right.
Second, Ohio State’s insistence on playing Michigan every year during Thanksgiving weekend meant that they had 51 days between games. No team can play polished football after 51 WHOLE DAYS off! Florida’s previous game was December 2nd, putting their layoff at 38 days, a much more manageable scenario.
Third, all of the motivation was in Florida’s corner. The Gators had been summarily written off by the media and most observers. It wasn’t even going to be a close game and Florida didn’t deserve to be there, so everybody said. A month’s pent-up aggression got unleashed on an unsuspecting Buckeye team that appeared to believe all the hype about themselves.
I mostly wanted Ohio State to win, but after thinking it over, I’m glad they didn’t. Ohio State are the New York Yankees of NCAA football. They spend about $100 million, a ludicrous amount of money, on athletics every year. That’s over three times what BYU spends. My loathing of the fat cats outweighs even my dislike of Urban Meyer. Here’s hoping somebody at OSU has the sense to not follow in the Yankees’ unholy footsteps and try to spend even more money to win.
Thank you sir may I have another????
Wow. The Buckeyes were totally overmatched, outplayed, outcoached and an embarassment to the Big Ten. I had to quit watching and catch up on my emails after halftime. Meyer, as much as I hate to admit it, is the real deal.
I suppose that all of the Utes will come out of the woodwork at the coming family gathering on Saturday in a love-fest for Meyer. That part I won’t enjoy so much.
At least the Cougars beat the Utes and finished up nicely.
Anyone want to buy a nice Ohio State hat?
I couldn’t believe the game. First of all, Florida is my fourth least favorite team, and this dates back before Urban Meyer. With him there, it’s even more reason. I agree, the Big 10 is soft and overrated.
My favorite thing about our ranking is that we’re ahead of every single ACC team. I was hoping TCU would also be, but to no avail. The ACC was supposed to be some super conference when Miami, Virginia Tech, and BC went to them (was it last year) Now, their champion is ranked lower than 2 so-called “mid major” conference champions.
I won’t go off too much here on Boise State’s end position, and you all know the arguments, but 5th and 6th for the only undefeated team in college football that defeated a quite good Oklahoma team? That’s pathetic. I want to say that’s the same ranking Utah ended up with 2 years ago, and the Utes’ schedule that year was incredibly soft, including there Fiest Bowl opponent “The Pitts”burg
As an entertaining item: a response article entitled John Beck’s arm is so strong that…..