Home School Fans Episode 4: Week 3 - Postmortem: Cougs Crushed
I watched it happen. The supposedly superior BYU defense could not stop the Ducks in Eugene. Some fans cursed at the members of the church sponsoring Brigham Young, which is my faith, my belief-system. I did not learn this till later. I could blog about that a little bit.
Quick results of my seven: BYU walloped by Oregon, 41- 20. Ouch.
Utah cruises and bruises the San Diego State Aztecs, 35-7. Almost a shut-out.
Texas A&M holds off ranked Miami, 17- 9.
Fresno State crunched by the USC Trojans, 45-17.
Virginia holds on to beat instate opponent Old Dominion, 16-14.
Indiana heart break Hoosiers get lucky for OT Win over Western Kentucky, 33-30.
James Madison had the weekend off and jumped up the ranks like 20 spots.
Of my list of seven, Indiana (ranked 63 by CBSSports) and now 82nd ranked JMU are the last two without a loss. Only 31 other college teams can claim that.
BYU Was Pounded. Insulted, too
The last time the teams met, perhaps in the Vegas Bowl in 2008, the Bronco Mendenhall-led Cougars smashed the Ducks, like 38 to 6, or somewhere around there. This was a reversal, and the stakes were higher. BYU had just jumped to a top 12 team, and Oregon was still smarting from their opening game blood letting to the crazy good Georgia Bulldogs. They feasted on FCS squad Eastern Washington, and then pounced on the Cougars. BYU did pull it within 10-7 at one point, but there was no chance when BYU could not stop the Ducks their first 6 possessions! That was sad.
I was poised for a good watch Saturday afternoon, but when I learned that two prominent defensive linemen were not healthy for the game for BYU, I had a little sinking feeling. And by halftime that feeling was confirmed. Cougars trailed 24-7. Oregon only had four possessions, and scored all four. One Field Goal biffed by the visitors, which BYU formerly solid kicker missed. I thought if BYU had held them to 20 versus 10 at halftime, maybe the Cougs could have rallied. Opening the second half, Oregon scored again. And again. 38-7 into the third quarter.
BYU got some defense (an interception) and some offense (two TDs with a missed two-point conversion), later in the game, but the die was cast. Perhaps one of the injured linemen, Tyler Batty, played in the second half, but it was too late. I think he had bruised ribs. Now the whole team has a bruised ego.
Ouch. This will hurt for a while. And then the fans in Eugene--some of them-- chanted the profanity against our church members, nicknamed Mormons. There was some scuttlebutt about this between state governors and some journalists, this against a school that had a basketball series cancelled by South Carolina because of a reported racial epithet at a volleyball game in Provo. Well, pots, let us not call the kettles black.
Here is some of my thoughts of so-called fans yelling religious insults at visiting religious schools, like Notre Dame or Boston College being Catholic, or SMU being Methodist: it's wrong, and mean, and not cool. Does it make it okay if the school is a smaller minority like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Of course not. What if the minority were Muslims, Sikhs, or Jewish? Heads would have fallen.
Another thing: not all BYU players are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Do the Irish ever get maligned for being Catholic? What is the deal, you ignoramuses?
We cannot tolerate hate speech; we are (I am) glad that the flagship university apologized, and the Oregonian governor too. Ignorance and hate cannot stand. Some accuse BYU of hate mongering based on its religious and moral values that are opposed by much of the "woke" crowds of the world, but again, that is mixing two different arguments. If you have a beef with BYU's religious policies and Honor Code, please use other means to vent your protest other than the F-word. A sexually offensive word to begin with, in my opinion. Rapists think this word is cool. A violent sex act used in heated terms, yes? Not so peaceful, and plenty suggestive. I am offended by it alone, without the denigration of religion mixed with it.
Oregon Duck fans: own your victory and celebrate it, but don't be crass, lewd, and bigoted. Thanks. Tremendously played and schemed from the coach to all its players. You beat us bad. Your team deserves better than these puerile threats. Good luck the rest of the season. Big game in November against Utah, which is about one third Latter-Day Saint. Do not get too many Mormons mad, that is a bad play.
And finally, speaking of Latter-day Saints, aka Mormons: I am not sure how many, but a good and splendid sample of people of my faith have played their hearts out for the University of Oregon. I am sure that young men and women from your great state of this religion have poured their souls into your athletic programs, across the board. I know that some highly sought-after recruits from Utah, of the faith in question, like former all-everything Hali Ngata, have played as Ducks and gave you glory.
So: shut up. Use another forum to complain against your opposing views or feelings against faiths or other minorities. You do not want to lose out on prime recruits of the Church of Jesus Christ, because they will continue to bless you on and off the field of play. Yes, Oregon, a state that has substantially more average of LDS per capita compared to the national average. And, like most teams in the Western U.S., you still want the best talent of the burgeoning state of Utah, and elsewhere where there are good numbers of the faith who can play.
Said it.
Back to the game played, sorry. Oregon had an amazingly effective way of moving the ball. It was not till the end of the game that BYU got a little bit of edge, but that was after the wonder-all transfer Bo Nix sat down. He was unstoppable. He passed, ran, did everything. The RBs ran well, too. Oregon has now jumped up in the rankings, to 16th, and BYU has fallen to 19th. They need to regroup as Oregon did after Georgia. I hold out much hope. The two best BYU receivers were out, and the defensive guys should heal up. They will be hungrier now, I wager. Plus, the argument could be made that they were still sore from that big Double OT win against Baylor... BYU plays Wyoming next, and Oregon has Washington State. Now ranked 23rd after upsetting Wisconsin in Madison and blowing by hapless Colorado State. These Cougars look to be all right, should be interesting. WSU.
Utah Pummels a Decent MWC Foe
To be continued in Part II
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