Who's the little vs. big brother?

[exUte]

Utah goes undefeated twice in the last 5 years. They go to the BCS bowl twice in the last 5 years. And BYU? Right now, unfortunately, Utah is the big brother.

[All-American]

Originally Posted by exUte

Utah goes undefeated twice in the last 5 years. They go to the BCS bowl twice in the last 5 years. And BYU? Right now, unfortunately, Utah is the big brother.

I'm sure you enjoy the fact that your team is back.

Don't worry; the things Alabama is about to do to Utah will diminish the luster of this season, though it won't reduce the check BYU will get. Besides, you ought not forget that in the Mendenhall and Whittingham era, BYU and Utah split their match-ups 2-2. BYU has two conference championships; Utah has one. BYU has also won more games in the last four years than Utah has. Sure, Utah had the better year this year. At the beginning of the year, BYU was at the top; if BYU can go undefeated next year, or even just win the conference, they'll be at the top again.

If you want to evaluate and compare the programs, you need to take a step back and use a little perspective.

[MikeWaters]

The demise of Whittingham that seemed so obvious in the past couple of years has turned into an "oh no, he is actually better than we thought" and now people that had crowned Bronco a living football-prophet are starting to parse through his corporate-speak, wondering if he isn't pulling off one of the biggest con jobs in college football. Firesides, the least practice of any team, the least amount of work by any coaching staff, and almost nothing in the way of big-time wins.

Bronco thanks God for Crowton every night. Because BYU fans, even if getting a little antsy, realize that these are pretty good times. Even compared to the end of the Lavell era.

In fact, this may be about as good as it gets.

[Cali Coug]

There isn't much difference between BYU and Utah this year. People need to relax. Whit isn't suddenly the greatest coach alive, and Bronco isn't suddenly a coach who has taken his team as far as they can go.

Both BYU and Utah were fortunate to play a soft OOC schedule this year. Utah got their toughest games all at home (OSU, BYU, TCU), and BYU got all of their toughest games on the road. Anae called a terrible game against Utah (leaving the game in Hall's hands, when Hall was clearly having a very bad day and when the running game was clearly having a very good day). Things could very easily have gone the other way and BYU could be the BCS team or both BYU and Utah could be 1 loss teams (Utah to BYU, BYU to TCU) with BSU then being acclaimed as the greatest non-BCS team.

Utah caught the scheduling breaks this year and they had a decent team that could take advantage of that fact. Kudos to them. BYU's schedule sets up similarly next year. I expect BYU to take advantage of that fact as well.

[exUte]

Originally Posted by All-American

I'm sure you enjoy the fact that your team is back.

Don't worry; the things Alabama is about to do to Utah will diminish the luster of this season, though it won't reduce the check BYU will get. Besides, you ought not forget that in the Mendenhall and Whittingham era, BYU and Utah split their match-ups 2-2. BYU has two conference championships; Utah has one. BYU has also won more games in the last four years than Utah has. Sure, Utah had the better year this year. At the beginning of the year, BYU was at the top; if BYU can go undefeated next year, or even just win the conference, they'll be at the top again.

If you want to evaluate and compare the programs, you need to take a step back and use a little perspective.

Winning a conference championship (MWC) is great but I'll take an undefeated season every 5 years over that any day. Along with the $3.5M even if we were to get embarassed.

Didn't we have the favorable conference schedule last year? Um?

[exUte]

Originally Posted by Cali Coug

There isn't much difference between BYU and Utah this year. People need to relax. Whit isn't suddenly the greatest coach alive, and Bronco isn't suddenly a coach who has taken his team as far as they can go.

Both BYU and Utah were fortunate to play a soft OOC schedule this year. Utah got their toughest games all at home (OSU, BYU, TCU), and BYU got all of their toughest games on the road. Anae called a terrible game against Utah (leaving the game in Hall's hands, when Hall was clearly having a very bad day and when the running game was clearly having a very good day). Things could very easily have gone the other way and BYU could be the BCS team or both BYU and Utah could be 1 loss teams (Utah to BYU, BYU to TCU) with BSU then being acclaimed as the greatest non-BCS team.

Utah caught the scheduling breaks this year and they had a decent team that could take advantage of that fact. Kudos to them. BYU's schedule sets up similarly next year. I expect BYU to take advantage of that fact as well.

just watching your OC call a lousy game and not making any adjustments. In fact it fell on Collie to make a half-time speech to the team during the Air Force game to fire up the troops......not Bronco. And Max wasn't that upset with losing the Utah game........read his comments after the game. He put it all in perspective.......family, Thanksgiving dinner, etc. Which is great. But I want football players to focus on football and let the clergy do their part on the 'perspective' speech.

[Cali Coug]

Originally Posted by exUte

just watching your OC call a lousy game and not making any adjustments. In fact it fell on Collie to make a half-time speech to the team during the Air Force game to fire up the troops......not Bronco. And Max wasn't that upset with losing the Utah game........read his comments after the game. He put it all in perspective.......family, Thanksgiving dinner, etc. Which is great. But I want football players to focus on football and let the clergy do their part on the 'perspective' speech.

Good thing you are an ex-exUte then. You don't have to worry about this stuff.

[Cali Coug]

Originally Posted by All-American

I'm sure you enjoy the fact that your team is back.

Don't worry; the things Alabama is about to do to Utah will diminish the luster of this season, though it won't reduce the check BYU will get. Besides, you ought not forget that in the Mendenhall and Whittingham era, BYU and Utah split their match-ups 2-2. BYU has two conference championships; Utah has one. BYU has also won more games in the last four years than Utah has. Sure, Utah had the better year this year. At the beginning of the year, BYU was at the top; if BYU can go undefeated next year, or even just win the conference, they'll be at the top again.

If you want to evaluate and compare the programs, you need to take a step back and use a little perspective.

I actually think Utah will be competitive with Alabama, and maybe even beat them. Alabama has been the most overrated team in the nation this year. They also rode the wave of the blessed schedule up through their final game. Alabama has no passing attack. Their running game is average, and their defense is quite good. Utah needs to be careful not to let Alabama score on defense, because Alabama's offense won't put up a lot of points. Utah's defense is pretty solid against the run. They didn't look good against BYU, but in part that was due to them being forced to respect BYU's passing game. I think it will be a very close game, and while Alabama has the home field advantage, they aren't nearly as excited about the game as Utah is. I think the Utes can win the game in a tight one.

[exUte]

Originally Posted by Cali Coug

Good thing you are an ex-exUte then. You don't have to worry about this stuff.

anything better than that?

Correct me if I am wrong, but even BYU wanted Kyle as their No. 1 guy. Discussions had been going on ever since the middle of Crowton's last year at BYU.

[All-American]

Originally Posted by exUte

Winning a conference championship (MWC) is great but I'll take an undefeated season every 5 years over that any day. Along with the $3.5M even if we were to get embarassed.

Why don't you wait until after the bowl game to talk about the undefeated season?

Originally Posted by exUte

Didn't we have the favorable conference schedule last year? Um?

Yes, and as I recall, we went 8-0 in conference play. What's your point?