Conference USA #3 in Armed Forces Bowl - better than U think

Since BYU fans are apathetic right now due to November doldrums and no conference championship race to follow - this one is relevant and interesting. Try to follow it.



Iirc, this is who we face in our Bowl. It seems that the Conference USA Championship game will bear no relevance to determining our opponent, but it actually might.



Southern Miss at 9-2 is a lock to be in the Conference Championship Game (CCG) as no team in their division is even close. Even if they lose their next game, I think they are in. So they will have 2 or 3 regular season losses - and probably a CCG loss on top of that. Worst case 4 losses and maybe playing us. Best case 2 losses and in a better bowl. Even at 3 losses, they probably get a better Bowl.



Houston and Tulsa will battle next week to determine who plays So. Miss in the CCG. Houston is 12-0 and Tulsa is 8-3 like BYU and Tulsa is ranked right about where BYU sits in the polls. Before you award the CCG opportunity to Houston - consider this. Tulsa made the mistake many BYU

fans seem to want BYU to make. They decided to play anyone - anywhere and play the best opponents on the biggest possible stages OOC. An in-conference showdown with 11-0 Houston Vs a 11-0 Tulsa with CCG and BCS implications would not have been enough, apparently. Maybe they just needed the money.



OK - I get wanting to play Okie and Okie State. Football is supposed to be about regional rivalries and state championships. But is that wise given the BCS Beauty Contest dominated system in place. Well - even if you decide that was the right thing - even when Houston doesn't have to play TCU and Texas and Baylor and A&M and TTech hoping not to lose a couple - then Tulsa throws in Boise State for good measure.



What I am saying is that a Tulsa team with 3 losses to Okie, Okie State, and BSU could beat Houston and maybe that should not be considered to be an upset. If Tulsa does beat Houston and then beats So. Miss in the CCG - I think we get So. Miss, but I am not sure how that works.



If Houston helps keep this whole thing simple - and beats Tulsa before beating So. Miss in the CCG, then we get a very dangerous 4-loss Tulsa team - ranked behind us with losses to 4 Top 10 teams that will likely be favored to beat us. Maybe our Bowl game will be challenging, interesting, fun, and actually mean something if we win it. Maybe we do get one really good test for one or both of our QBs this season after a decent dress-rehearsal type test at Hawaii.



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This is a good point. I hear a lot of complaints about how after 1 loss, our bowl destiny was sealed. But we don't yet know who BYU will draw as an opponent. Before the season I expected a repeat of last year's New Mexico Bowl, an awful C-USA opponent. But Tulsa or So Miss could be a good game. It has been fun to watch this unfold.



Before anyone says it, I know the team has no control over its destiny. The players have less motivation. That's a valid reason to consider joining a conference.

What have you guys seen that would make you think we could beat any team with a winning record? Both Tulsa and Southern Miss would likely dismiss us easily. Of course the bowl game will be a challenge, and if nothing changes, a game that we will lose. If we can beat Hawaii, my opinion might change, but that's a huge IF.

cougman wrote:
What have you guys seen that would make you think we could beat any team with a winning record? Both Tulsa and Southern Miss would likely dismiss us easily. Of course the bowl game will be a challenge, and if nothing changes, a game that we will lose. If we can beat Hawaii, my opinion might change, but that's a huge IF.

Did I somehow leave you with the impression that I was assuming a victory. My point is that those fans that think we are going to have a boring bowl game where we just go in and whip UTEP or some other team that is lucky to be Bowl eligible, we will likely be playing a team that we will need to improve as a team to beat.



Some worried that we would not even get tested again by another decent defense until 2012. I think we will get tested by a very good one this year.



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cougman wrote:
What have you guys seen that would make you think we could beat any team with a winning record?

Well gee, mister sunshine, I saw a lot of positives in the TCU game, I saw a Texas game that we would have won had we already made our QB switch, I've seen us dismantle every bad team in the latter half of the season after struggling against them early on. I've only seen one game this season that would tell me that we can't beat a team with a winning record compared to many that say we could, how about you?

cougman wrote:
What have you guys seen that would make you think we could beat any team with a winning record? Both Tulsa and Southern Miss would likely dismiss us easily. Of course the bowl game will be a challenge, and if nothing changes, a game that we will lose. If we can beat Hawaii, my opinion might change, but that's a huge IF.

There is the fact that WE have a winning record, so we might also come across a team that lucked into a winnin record as well (sarcasm)



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I've bought my tickets to the Armed Forces bowl, and I'll look forward to attending my first ever bowl game. I'm looking forward to the game, whoever the the opponent. I'm amazed at the negativity I've been seeing on this board for regarding a team that could finish with 10 wins. What happened to the blue goggles? 8)

IowaCougar wrote:
I've bought my tickets to the Armed Forces bowl, and I'll look forward to attending my first ever bowl game. I'm looking forward to the game, whoever the the opponent. I'm amazed at the negativity I've been seeing on this board for regarding a team that could finish with 10 wins. What happened to the blue goggles? 8)

I agree. This is a great bowl game, and our team is still getting better



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Name the last time we had a bowl game this late in the bowl season. It has been a while for sure. Add a good match up and makes me happy.



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Schmoe wrote:

What have you guys seen that would make you think we could beat any team with a winning record?

Well gee, mister sunshine, I saw a lot of positives in the TCU game, I saw a Texas game that we would have won had we already made our QB switch, I've seen us dismantle every bad team in the latter half of the season after struggling against them early on. I've only seen one game this season that would tell me that we can't beat a team with a winning record compared to many that say we could, how about you?

Your eternal well of optimism is commendable. And I'm serious. But the reality of the matter is we actually lost the TCU and Texas game. I know most of our fans consider those wins, but we really did lose them. We didn't dismantle Utah St. We didn't dismantle UCF. The wins against SJSU and OSU weren't anything to write home about. I'll give you the "dismantle" adjective for the Gem state teams and NMSU.

IowaCougar wrote:
I've bought my tickets to the Armed Forces bowl, and I'll look forward to attending my first ever bowl game. I'm looking forward to the game, whoever the the opponent. I'm amazed at the negativity I've been seeing on this board for regarding a team that could finish with 10 wins. What happened to the blue goggles? 8)

This is exactly the reason we'll never reach the level of TCU, Utah (excuse me while I vomit in my mouth), and Boise St. Everybody's happy winning 9 or 10 games against NOBODY! Big Game Bronco remains king of Provo.



What's our best win this season? Probably a 2-9 Ole Miss team. Wow.

cougman wrote:

I've bought my tickets to the Armed Forces bowl, and I'll look forward to attending my first ever bowl game. I'm looking forward to the game, whoever the the opponent. I'm amazed at the negativity I've been seeing on this board for regarding a team that could finish with 10 wins. What happened to the blue goggles? 8)

This is exactly the reason we'll never reach the level of TCU, Utah (excuse me while I vomit in my mouth), and Boise St. Everybody's happy winning 9 or 10 games against NOBODY! Big Game Bronco remains king of Provo.



What's our best win this season? Probably a 2-9 Ole Miss team. Wow.

yep...the WHOLE

Reason we suck is because you're a better fan than me!



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ABYUFAN wrote:

IowaCougar wrote:
I've bought my tickets to the Armed Forces bowl, and I'll look forward to attending my first ever bowl game. I'm looking forward to the game, whoever the the opponent. I'm amazed at the negativity I've been seeing on this board for regarding a team that could finish with 10 wins. What happened to the blue goggles? 8)

This is exactly the reason we'll never reach the level of TCU, Utah (excuse me while I vomit in my mouth), and Boise St. Everybody's happy winning 9 or 10 games against NOBODY! Big Game Bronco remains king of Provo.



What's our best win this season? Probably a 2-9 Ole Miss team. Wow.

yep...the WHOLE

Reason we suck is because you're a better fan than me!



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Nah, silly. I just care more. ;)

cougman wrote:

cougman wrote:
What have you guys seen that would make you think we could beat any team with a winning record?

Well gee, mister sunshine, I saw a lot of positives in the TCU game, I saw a Texas game that we would have won had we already made our QB switch, I've seen us dismantle every bad team in the latter half of the season after struggling against them early on. I've only seen one game this season that would tell me that we can't beat a team with a winning record compared to many that say we could, how about you?

Your eternal well of optimism is commendable. And I'm serious. But the reality of the matter is we actually lost the TCU and Texas game. I know most of our fans consider those wins, but we really did lose them. We didn't dismantle Utah St. We didn't dismantle UCF. The wins against SJSU and OSU weren't anything to write home about. I'll give you the "dismantle" adjective for the Gem state teams and NMSU.

Did we lose those games? OMG, you're totally right! What a brilliant fan you are, much smarter and more dedicated than the rest of us.



Seriously, you asked what we had seen that indicated that we could beat a team with a winning record, which I did, I didn't say I considered them wins. We played well against some of the better teams in the country, who are much better than many of the teams that simply have winning records. And I'm not going to quibble with you about something as trivial as which adjective to use to describe our dominance over lesser teams.

Our team started out dismal. they've gotten better. Much better. Now perhaps they're simply "not good"...lol.



j/k. Hard to know where we are now since we've beaten the teams we were supposed to beat badly by large scores. We might actually have a decent team now and won't know any better until we play a better team.