CougarCorner

I am mystified why people think our record would be that different? Until guys catch the ball, make the blocks, fill the gaps, practice hard, call the right plays, make the throws, no reordering of our schedule will result in a different WL record

I honestly don't see much difference, maybe a game. I doubt we'd be bowling.

snoscythe wrote: ↑Tue Nov 28, 2017 4:47 pm Given how we came out of the gate against lowly Portland State (finished their FCS season 0-11), I don't think the order of games played would have made a lick of difference.

Bingo.

Ddawg wrote: ↑Wed Nov 29, 2017 4:55 pm

snoscythe wrote: ↑Tue Nov 28, 2017 4:47 pm Given how we came out of the gate against lowly Portland State (finished their FCS season 0-11), I don't think the order of games played would have made a lick of difference.

Bingo.

If you look at a turd from the other side is it still a turd?

pikoi wrote: ↑Thu Nov 30, 2017 9:59 am

Ddawg wrote: ↑Wed Nov 29, 2017 4:55 pm

snoscythe wrote: ↑Tue Nov 28, 2017 4:47 pm Given how we came out of the gate against lowly Portland State (finished their FCS season 0-11), I don't think the order of games played would have made a lick of difference.

Bingo.

If you look at a turd from the other side is it still a turd?

That's a tough question. I will venture a tentative "Yes."

BoiseBYU wrote: ↑Wed Nov 29, 2017 4:51 pm I am mystified why people think our record would be that different? Until guys catch the ball, make the blocks, fill the gaps, practice hard, call the right plays, make the throws, no reordering of our schedule will result in a different WL record

Easy. Injuries. And the discipline stuff. Wouldn't have happened until the back half of the schedule, which is the difficult half. With a full stable of our best running backs and our top two quarterbacks and a healthy defense, BYU beats Hawaii, UMass, UNLV, Fresno, and SJSU to start the season. We would only need one other win to go bowling.

YNot wrote: ↑Thu Nov 30, 2017 10:16 am

BoiseBYU wrote: ↑Wed Nov 29, 2017 4:51 pm I am mystified why people think our record would be that different? Until guys catch the ball, make the blocks, fill the gaps, practice hard, call the right plays, make the throws, no reordering of our schedule will result in a different WL record

Easy. Injuries. And the discipline stuff. Wouldn't have happened until the back half of the schedule, which is the difficult half. With a full stable of our best running backs and our top two quarterbacks and a healthy defense, BYU beats Hawaii, UMass, UNLV, Fresno, and SJSU to start the season. We would only need one other win to go bowling.

I think our best 2 RBs were playing the last half of the season. The coaching staff just didn't know they were the best 2 because they never saw them in practice.

hawkwing wrote: ↑Thu Nov 30, 2017 10:18 am

YNot wrote: ↑Thu Nov 30, 2017 10:16 am

BoiseBYU wrote: ↑Wed Nov 29, 2017 4:51 pm I am mystified why people think our record would be that different? Until guys catch the ball, make the blocks, fill the gaps, practice hard, call the right plays, make the throws, no reordering of our schedule will result in a different WL record

Easy. Injuries. And the discipline stuff. Wouldn't have happened until the back half of the schedule, which is the difficult half. With a full stable of our best running backs and our top two quarterbacks and a healthy defense, BYU beats Hawaii, UMass, UNLV, Fresno, and SJSU to start the season. We would only need one other win to go bowling.

I think our best 2 RBs were playing the last half of the season. The coaching staff just didn't know they were the best 2 because they never saw them in practice.

Tolutau, Canada, and Dye (or Fonua) would have rushed for 200+ yards against all five of Hawaii, Umass, UNLV, Fresno, and SJSU. Mangum and Hoge would have managed the games and limited turnovers well enough to win all 5. The resulting confidence from a good start and the team health could have given us a chance against ECU, Boise St., and Utah St.

It's all conjecture. Things may have played out worse. Different injuries, HC violations while celebrating a win, less sense of need to practice hard, etc.

YNot wrote: ↑Thu Nov 30, 2017 10:29 am

hawkwing wrote: ↑Thu Nov 30, 2017 10:18 am

YNot wrote: ↑Thu Nov 30, 2017 10:16 am

BoiseBYU wrote: ↑Wed Nov 29, 2017 4:51 pm I am mystified why people think our record would be that different? Until guys catch the ball, make the blocks, fill the gaps, practice hard, call the right plays, make the throws, no reordering of our schedule will result in a different WL record

Easy. Injuries. And the discipline stuff. Wouldn't have happened until the back half of the schedule, which is the difficult half. With a full stable of our best running backs and our top two quarterbacks and a healthy defense, BYU beats Hawaii, UMass, UNLV, Fresno, and SJSU to start the season. We would only need one other win to go bowling.

I think our best 2 RBs were playing the last half of the season. The coaching staff just didn't know they were the best 2 because they never saw them in practice.

Tolutau, Canada, and Dye (or Fonua) would have rushed for 200+ yards against all five of Hawaii, Umass, UNLV, Fresno, and SJSU. Mangum and Hoge would have managed the games and limited turnovers well enough to win all 5. The resulting confidence from a good start and the team health could have given us a chance against ECU, Boise St., and Utah St.

BYU had 171 yards rushing against Portland State - Canada getting the most but Founa also getting 8.4 yards on limited carries. Portland State is not good. Hawaii is better than they are - our rushing game made adjustments during the year to improve. There is no way anyone could know that we'd rush for a bunch of yards against teams at the beginning if the year. Think that we improved during the year, and that we may have actually lost to Hawaii had we played them first. Week zero we beat Portland State 20-6 Hawaii beat UMASS 38-35. Anyone predicting a win over Hawaii in week zero seems crazy - as in there is zero evidence of it. If we can magically be a better against some teams by playing them in a different order, we must be honest enough with ourselves to assume that the teams that we beat may have beat us if we played them in a different order too.

No other team scored as few of points as we did against Portland State. We sucked week zero. Hawaii didn't. Both UMASS and Hawaii were playing better at the start of the year than we were. I say that we definitely start off the year at 0-2 (and it only gets worse from there)

As far as injuries go - I don't know that our injuries came against LSU, Wisconsin or Mississippi State. Magnum's high ankle sprain came against Utah and his final injury against Fresno State. Hoge's injury against Utah State - it's not like an injury cannot happen against an AAC or MWC team. I'm sticking with my believe that we'd have lost to Hawaii out of the gate and then had a very very very bad year - worse that it was this way until I see an argument that makes sense otherwise.