SOS. Strength of Schedule.
It matters a lot in college football. Especially for a team like the Brigham Young University Cougars in 2014.
They beat the Houston Cougars last night, but only by 8. Final score 33-25.Will that hurt the country's perception of how good BYU is? Possibly. Houston opened with a terrible looking loss to lowly UTSA, the Roadrunners of San Antonio, who at least put a scare in a PAC-12 Arizona team the following weak. But the real strength or legitimacy of these teams remain to be seen. And the other opponents as well. It is only midway through September going into the 3rd week, so much is to be proven as to how good BYU's opponents are or will be.
As of now, BYU's whole schedule is rated at 75, which is not that high compared to other teams projecting as high to having a perfect season, as BYU. Obviously one loss for BYU at that SOS schedule would end any championship (final four playoff) or even January big bowl hopes, games that it has never achieved in its noted history, despite a national championship in 1984, a number 4 or 6 finish in 1996, and a few other great years in the Lavell Edwards era (1972-2000).
UConn, the team BYU opened with a 34-10 shellacking in the northeast, barely beat an FCS Stony Brook squad, 19-16 the second game. Not looking good. The Huskies must do better for that SOS ranking to rise.
Eegh.
As does Texas. If the Longhorns can upset ranked UCLA or other Big-12 powers, then this could do wonders for the perception of how legit the Cougars of Provo are.
And then the Cougars of Houston who showed some pluck on the Thursday night ESPN game as mentioned, not going quietly after trailing 23-0 early, but rallying with some opportunistic and at times fantastic scores, making the BYU team look rather human, less than stellar, less than what BYU looked like in Austin, which was invincible.
Going for a controlled and convincing win in the first half, a couple of turnovers, one a tipped pass and another foolish inbounds lingering by feisty receiver Mitchell Juergens which lead to an unnecessary fumble with time running out, made BYU look less than January bowl worthy. The second half maintained the status quo of the 8 point lead, and while relieved to win period, the BYU Cougars know that they deserved some more "style points", i.e. a final score that indicates that they are better than only 25th in the land.
I hope Houston goes on and does great things this year. Like the close win BYU had with them last year (it was a shootout, and BYU was lucky to escape). They, the Cougars of Houston, have some really good talent on both sides of the ball.
It remains to be seen how healthy and stealthy and powerful the BYU team will be. Now comes the payback game against Virginia, a completely avoidable loss to start off last season (2013), but BYU has 9 days to rest and prepare. Maybe super stud Linebacker Bronson Kaufusi will be back from his high ankle injury.
Maybe Juergens will not allow 2 turnovers, one in each half, leading to 9 points to the opponent, making BYU look less than they should.
Winning, but not only the W or L, but the scores and their consequent perceptions matter in college football.
Here's hoping things start to look better this weekend and onward for BYU.
Go Cougars. Go opponents! Just not against the Y.
Blog it, EMC
It matters a lot in college football. Especially for a team like the Brigham Young University Cougars in 2014.
They beat the Houston Cougars last night, but only by 8. Final score 33-25.Will that hurt the country's perception of how good BYU is? Possibly. Houston opened with a terrible looking loss to lowly UTSA, the Roadrunners of San Antonio, who at least put a scare in a PAC-12 Arizona team the following weak. But the real strength or legitimacy of these teams remain to be seen. And the other opponents as well. It is only midway through September going into the 3rd week, so much is to be proven as to how good BYU's opponents are or will be.
As of now, BYU's whole schedule is rated at 75, which is not that high compared to other teams projecting as high to having a perfect season, as BYU. Obviously one loss for BYU at that SOS schedule would end any championship (final four playoff) or even January big bowl hopes, games that it has never achieved in its noted history, despite a national championship in 1984, a number 4 or 6 finish in 1996, and a few other great years in the Lavell Edwards era (1972-2000).
UConn, the team BYU opened with a 34-10 shellacking in the northeast, barely beat an FCS Stony Brook squad, 19-16 the second game. Not looking good. The Huskies must do better for that SOS ranking to rise.
Eegh.
As does Texas. If the Longhorns can upset ranked UCLA or other Big-12 powers, then this could do wonders for the perception of how legit the Cougars of Provo are.
And then the Cougars of Houston who showed some pluck on the Thursday night ESPN game as mentioned, not going quietly after trailing 23-0 early, but rallying with some opportunistic and at times fantastic scores, making the BYU team look rather human, less than stellar, less than what BYU looked like in Austin, which was invincible.
Going for a controlled and convincing win in the first half, a couple of turnovers, one a tipped pass and another foolish inbounds lingering by feisty receiver Mitchell Juergens which lead to an unnecessary fumble with time running out, made BYU look less than January bowl worthy. The second half maintained the status quo of the 8 point lead, and while relieved to win period, the BYU Cougars know that they deserved some more "style points", i.e. a final score that indicates that they are better than only 25th in the land.
I hope Houston goes on and does great things this year. Like the close win BYU had with them last year (it was a shootout, and BYU was lucky to escape). They, the Cougars of Houston, have some really good talent on both sides of the ball.
It remains to be seen how healthy and stealthy and powerful the BYU team will be. Now comes the payback game against Virginia, a completely avoidable loss to start off last season (2013), but BYU has 9 days to rest and prepare. Maybe super stud Linebacker Bronson Kaufusi will be back from his high ankle injury.
Maybe Juergens will not allow 2 turnovers, one in each half, leading to 9 points to the opponent, making BYU look less than they should.
Winning, but not only the W or L, but the scores and their consequent perceptions matter in college football.
Here's hoping things start to look better this weekend and onward for BYU.
Go Cougars. Go opponents! Just not against the Y.
Blog it, EMC
No comments:
Post a Comment