Home School Fans Episode 8 and 9 - Weeks 7 and 8, Painful Losses...

    The season has gotten worser and worser for my main alma maters. I skipped all of week 8, and now I am due to report on week 9. Acchhh!

    Where to start? With the Brigham Young Cougars, the team that I watched with my family in person. The day was lovely, BYU lead 14-3 after one quarter, and then the wheels came off the Cougar train.

    BYU Gives Up the Ghost 

    OUCH. Worst loss in a long time. I have attended some other painful ones. Not the close losses, but the blow outs. East Carolina in 2017. Stanford in 2004. Washington in 1997. I feel like there was bad one or two in 1994 or 1995.

    This one hurt. We were deflated, and bashed. The offense could do next to nothing after the first quarter. The defense was incapable of forcing a punt. The entire game! Two turnovers helped a little, but far from enough. I was there.

    The game before, the week of BYU in the 7th weekend, was where the wheels came off against Arkansas. I had to work; I tracked some of the game as I was trying to get home for the 3:30 PM game. The Cougars had a late first half lead, scoring okay, before quick turnovers led to a halftime deficit, which went further quagmire mode in the second half. BYU gave up 52, only scoring 35 versus the Razorbacks. But, Liberty in Lynchburg was far worse. Week 9 is a gut check for the Cougar team.

    BYU has lost three in a row, by 8 to the Irish in neutral Las Vegas, by 17 to Arkansas in Provo, and (gulp) 27 to the Flames on the road. This is not a good trend.

    East Carolina means a lot this Friday night in Provo. Perhaps the whole season.

        BYU is rated 58th, dropping 13 ranks, 4-4, and East Carolina is now at 48th, rising 17 places after smashing a decent UCF squad, that is now 39th, dropping 13 spots. Four games left.

        

    I could on about BYU, but it is time to move on to... the best of my seven: Utah.

    Utah is Pretty Good Still 

    Utah beat top 10 (7th?) USC, in Week 8, two weeks ago. The Trojans losing almost always makes me happy, 42-32. (Don't tell my pilot church buddy from my military tour, or my former Zone Leader Elder Higginbotham from my second area time in Chile). They are giving up a lot and scoring a bunch. The Utes, that is. 

    I don't want to get into them too much, but they have had significant injuries and keep chugging, with Washington State next. CBSSPorts has Utah 15th, up one, and the Cougars of Pullman are down one from the week before, 43rd. The latter is 4-3, the Utes are 5-2. Losses to Florida and UCLA. 

    Incidentally, the Bruins who were pretty rocking, are now 6-1 after losing to the surging Oregon Ducks, 45-30. 

    Who is next best between Virginia, Indiana, Fresno State, James Madison, and ... who was my seventh team? Oh, Texas A&M. Probably the Aggies.

    Continued in Part II.