BYU and UCLA meet for the 3rd time in 53 weeks, perhaps a moment in NCAA history.  I’ll get our research department going on that once they get hired.  Three different locations, a team ranked each time and the third coaching staff for the Bruins.  With one win a piece, including a nail-biter blocked field goal as time expired to win the Las Vegas Bowl, what can BYU do to win this in convincing fashion? Continue Reading »

Balanced offense.  Balanced diet.  Balanced predictions.  Once again I follow up Josh’s predictions with my own tempered thoughts.  I’ll follow his lead and first own up to my predictions, perhaps gaining (or losing) some credibility in the process.

1. No BYU running back gets over 1,000 yards. Okay, maybe owning up wasn’t a good idea.  However, to my defense, at the time Fui Vakapuna was the slated starting HB and Harvey Unga was a practice phenom, but little more.  Unga ended up blowing up my expectations by rushing for 1,227 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground.  I stand (happily) corrected.

2. Hall throws for more than 3,000 yards, but barely. I was just tempted to leave off that last part, but I’ll own up to it.  Hall exceeded all expectations by throwing for 3,848 yards yards and 26 touchdowns.  So I was right.  Technically.

3. BYU will continue its winning streak at home. Cha-ching.

4. BYU will finish regular season with a 9-3 record. Glad I could get this wrong.  I predicted a UCLA loss and Wyoming or New Mexico.  Ouch.  Never saw Tulsa coming.  Off by one game, not bad.

5. Breakout players of the year: Kelly Poppinga on defense and Dennis Pitta on offense.  I could argue that I was right, Poppinga led the team in tackles and Pitta led the team in receptions.  If you wanted to argue Unga/Collie or Hall on offense, I’d probably let you win though. Continue Reading »

Coach Bronco Mendenhall has asked the team to strive for perfection this year.  Perfection in their assignments, perfection in their effort, perfection in their focus.  The national media has taken this quest and imposed a destination, a BCS bowl game.

Taking a few weeks (months) off to regroup, Cougar Legion is putting its best foot forward to cover what could be a special year and what is already a unique program.  Anyone mentioning the Cruiser episode gets slapped with a wet tuna.  End of story.

Since there is no easy way to catch up, I’ll hit on some things I’ve found interesting in the off-season thus far and we’ll take it a bit at a time, because..well..who are we kidding, we still have about 60 days of summer doldrums until LES rocks again (no… Stadium of Fire doesn’t count.) Let’s get going.

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This story isn’t related to BYU (thankfully!), but was so unbelievable that I wanted to pass it along. Peter sent me the link to an article about an offensive line prospect from a small Nevada town who committed to Cal…without being offered a scholarship. This is really a strange story and it will be interesting to see what the investigation uncovers.

Beyond Belief 

We’ll stay on top of this story as it unfolds and post any developments.

Fans of non-BCS teams may have wanted to see Hawaii pull the upset last night versus Georgia, but not me. I couldn’t have been happier with how that game played out, with Georgia running Hawaii off the field. No, I haven’t lost my mind, but thanks for your concern.

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