BYU has a top-25 football team

Count me as one who was convinced this year's team was simply mediocre at best.



apparently the coaches' disagree with me.



Congrats Cougars. For this and a host of other reasons, we'll count this as a successful season.



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oddly enough. Utah didn't make the list...

BYU deserves to be in the top 25. Tulsa was a good team that BYU beat while playing badly. utah got no votes even though they played in the mighty pac 10 or 12 or whatever they call themselves these days. Being in the top 25 is a good thing no matter what some of the dark clouds on this board think. It is better for recruiting. When the coaches can tell a kid that we ended the year in the top 25 5 out of the last 6 (or 7) years, it is impressive. I don't think that the kids will find it hard to motivate themselves in the off season, they have a bad taste in thier mouths over the utah loss just like the fans do. Don't think for a second that it doesn't grate on the players as much if not more then it does on the fans to hear about 54-10. Anyway, good year, hopefully with the Heaps thing behind this team we will have a better one next year with a tougher sched.

BYU is top 25 by default in the Coaches Poll. USC is not voted for on the coaches poll because of their probation status. If you look at the AP poll USC is ranked 6th overall---The difference maker in that poll that keeps BYU out of top 25 in AP. I will take the top 25---but with take it with a grain of salt. Here's to a good signing day in February and a good off season where the whole team attends 66 out of 66 off season workouts/practices.

tooch300 wrote:
BYU is top 25 by default in the Coaches Poll. USC is not voted for on the coaches poll because of their probation status. If you look at the AP poll USC is ranked 6th overall---The difference maker in that poll that keeps BYU out of top 25 in AP. I will take the top 25---but with take it with a grain of salt. Here's to a good signing day in February and a good off season where the whole team attends 66 out of 66 off season workouts/practices.

I think it's the best of both worlds. The record books will show that this was a top 25 season, we can tell recruits we've been top 25 5 of the last 6 years, etc. On the other hand, it's not any reason for the team to start believing they're world-beaters by default.



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Dcr36 wrote:

BYU is top 25 by default in the Coaches Poll. USC is not voted for on the coaches poll because of their probation status. If you look at the AP poll USC is ranked 6th overall---The difference maker in that poll that keeps BYU out of top 25 in AP. I will take the top 25---but with take it with a grain of salt. Here's to a good signing day in February and a good off season where the whole team attends 66 out of 66 off season workouts/practices.

I think it's the best of both worlds. The record books will show that this was a top 25 season, we can tell recruits we've been top 25 5 of the last 6 years, etc. On the other hand, it's not any reason for the team to start believing they're world-beaters by default.



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Agreed. It's a good situation for BYU all around. That top 25 ranking really means a lot in recruiting and exposure status, and in a year or two, no one will remember the bad times, just that it was yet another top 25 ranking. Anyone wanting to see BYU end up in a power BCS conference has to be praying for top 25 finishes any way we can get them. Also, we have no delusions that we are better than we are, hopefully this will unite the team in practice and bring them out hungrier than they have been in years.

Congrats Cougars. Honestly as everything is political anyway, I'm glad to see BYU in the Top 25 whether they deserve it or not. I do view the Coaches Poll with more authority than the AP, but I think all of them are homers.

It is simple, you ALWAYS want to end up ranked, as it gives your program publicity and recognition, plus gives you the edge to recruiting and for being ranked in the top 25 the next season.



Yewts trying to bring up the 54-10 game is comical...just remind them of what was on the line when they stepped on the field with mighty Colorado at home, and lost to a 2 win team. Typical Yewt hypocrisy.



BYU has a great schedule in 2012, an unbelievable schedule in 2013, so here's to Riley and the boys having a great off season, and for Hill getting some good experience to be ready for 2013 (home schedule with Texas, GT, Utah, Boise State).

#25 isn't bad. It was a productive season with a lot of wins, but they weren't world beaters, so 25 is probably about right.



BYU lost by 10 on the road to the #14 team TCU. They lost by 1 on the road to a top 30 team Texas. And the loss to Utah was a wheels-came-off-the-bus loss. 7 turnovers, with two resulting immediately in TDs. The first half was bad but BYU was still in the game, but in the second half everything completely spiraled out of control.



Also, if you look at the schools receiving votes, but not ranked, I think BYU would have a good chance against most of those teams.

Isola wrote:

Also, if you look at the schools receiving votes, but not ranked, I think BYU would have a good chance against most of those teams.

I agree. Plus, I think western non-AQs generally get the nod over eastern non-AQs which a lot of the "others receiving votes" are.



"Who did you lose to?" seems to be the most important question for rankings these days. I don't agree with the methodology, but it explains why we are ranked. Most of the others receiving votes have a loss to a bad team. We don't.



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I love that we ended ranked. I think we were on the upswing at the end of the season and that is a great thing going into 2012.



I won't be able to count this season as a success because of two things:



1. The loss to Utah. Most embarrassing loss for BYU in my 22 years of following the Cougars. A permanent black mark for me on this season.

2. The overhyped and under delivered expectations by our coaches and players for this season.



I will take the ranking over not being ranked anytime. But this team was poor on so many levels this year. Hopefully the 2012 season will be much better.

10 Wins - Top 25 Ranking - Highest Ranked Team In The State Of Utah - Enjoy it folks. BYU needs to schedule appropriately to win 10+ games every season, and Independence will work out just fine and we will be ranked ahead of Utah nearly every year.



Utah may get bothered by that enough to find a way to play us every year - and if they do not play us every year - highest ranked in the polls will be the only basis for bragging rights as long as we can figure out how to beat USU every year.



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northerncougar wrote:
I love that we ended ranked. I think we were on the upswing at the end of the season and that is a great thing going into 2012.



I won't be able to count this season as a success because of two things:



1. The loss to Utah. Most embarrassing loss for BYU in my 22 years of following the Cougars. A permanent black mark for me on this season.

2. The overhyped and under delivered expectations by our coaches and players for this season.



I will take the ranking over not being ranked anytime. But this team was poor on so many levels this year. Hopefully the 2012 season will be much better.

I agree with pretty much all of the above. Add in the whole Conference Alignment Rollercoaster, and 2011 is a year to forget. And on #1, I'd like someone to come up with a more embarrassing loss in the history of BYU football (and no, the 1985 UTEP loss, while a close second, is NOT more embarrassing than getting curb stomped at home by your rivals on prime-time national TV. Thank you FSU and OU for playing a game at the same time...)

Y 4 Ever wrote:

I love that we ended ranked. I think we were on the upswing at the end of the season and that is a great thing going into 2012.



I won't be able to count this season as a success because of two things:



1. The loss to Utah. Most embarrassing loss for BYU in my 22 years of following the Cougars. A permanent black mark for me on this season.

2. The overhyped and under delivered expectations by our coaches and players for this season.



I will take the ranking over not being ranked anytime. But this team was poor on so many levels this year. Hopefully the 2012 season will be much better.

I agree with pretty much all of the above. Add in the whole Conference Alignment Rollercoaster, and 2011 is a year to forget. And on #1, I'd like someone to come up with a more embarrassing loss in the history of BYU football (and no, the 1985 UTEP loss, while a close second, is NOT more embarrassing than getting curb stomped at home by your rivals on prime-time national TV. Thank you FSU and OU for playing a game at the same time...)

Agree and don't think anyone can come up with a more embarrassing loss. I lived through the Hawaii and aTm losses in 1990 the year Detmer won the Heisman. The 54-10 loss is worse than both of those and any other that I can remember.

54-10 game still makes me hurt. It was awful. This was our year. 14-10 at half. Then we got decimated 40-0 2nd half. At home. I felt sick. Still do thinking about it.



Worst coaching job by Bronco ever. He was not ready, Doman was not ready, the team was not ready. No excuses. It was awful.

Lawboy wrote:
54-10 game still makes me hurt. It was awful. This was our year. 14-10 at half. Then we got decimated 40-0 2nd half. At home. I felt sick. Still do thinking about it.



Worst coaching job by Bronco ever. He was not ready, Doman was not ready, the team was not ready. No excuses. It was awful.

Yep. Not only am I sick about it, I am angry at Bronco and company too. Will be for a while.



:sick: :sick: :sick:

Sorry - losing to a UTEP team that never won another game all season was worse. Way worse. The Hawaii and A&M whippings after the Heisman Award rank right up there. I sat through a UCLA beat down and FSU loss that were about as painful the next year - and with a returning Heisman QB. There is at least one other UH shellacking.



Utah was a very good team when they beat us. UTEP was a horrible team - like New Mexico the last two or three years - but even worse. And that loss came with a returning Heisman candidate QB who had just won a NC and with a BYU team ranked #7 in the country at the time. And that BYU team ended up with three losses, iirc.



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UTEP was worse. It was so bad the only logical explanation was that they were listening to the play calls. Even then...Utep didn't win another game all year.



Utah tried to lose more games but Georgia Tech wouldn't let them.

I get why people think Utah is our worst loss ever. It's certainly in the discussion.



I generally try to tune the rivalry element out, though, and while 54-10 is certainly embarrassing, it's not as bad as losing to a crap program like UTEP. To me, Utah this year was just a worse version of the 2009 FSU loss - a disappointing blowout loss to a big-conference team at home that made less and less sense as the year progressed.



Heck, FSU may've hurt worse - there was decidedly little on the line against Utah. We already had a loss - it's not like they took the BCS away from us.

TrueBlueNoU wrote:
It is simple, you ALWAYS want to end up ranked, as it gives your program publicity and recognition, plus gives you the edge to recruiting and for being ranked in the top 25 the next season.



Yewts trying to bring up the 54-10 game is comical...just remind them of what was on the line when they stepped on the field with mighty Colorado at home, and lost to a 2 win team. Typical Yewt hypocrisy.



BYU has a great schedule in 2012, an unbelievable schedule in 2013, so here's to Riley and the boys having a great off season, and for Hill getting some good experience to be ready for 2013 (home schedule with Texas, GT, Utah, Boise State).

It's exactly what we would do. When you dismantle your in-state rival on their field by 40 points to the point where your coaching staff looks incompetent and the players basically cry uncle, you kinda get to say what you want to say.

Cougarbib2 wrote:
10 Wins - Top 25 Ranking - Highest Ranked Team In The State Of Utah - Enjoy it folks. BYU needs to schedule appropriately to win 10+ games every season, and Independence will work out just fine and we will be ranked ahead of Utah nearly every year.



Utah may get bothered by that enough to find a way to play us every year - and if they do not play us every year - highest ranked in the polls will be the only basis for bragging rights as long as we can figure out how to beat USU every year.



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Enjoy beating one good team all season and getting pummeled by our in state rivalry? I won't argue with the fact that being ranks helps the program, so I'm happy about that. But sugar coating it like this is mystifying.