The 2013 Schedule by Difficulty

The matter has been decided. Here is how Cougar Corner feels the 2013 schedule looks from the most to least difficul teams. Notre Dame won the final vote with 76% of the vote.



1. at Notre Dame

2. at Wisconsin

3. vs Texas

4. vs Boise St

5. vs Utah

6. at Utah St

7. vs Georgia Tech

8. vs Middle Tennessee

9. at Nevada

10. at Virginia

11. at Houston

12. vs Idaho St

Virginia is the toughest game - this week.



I think VA is under-rated by this poll. The rest is about right. USU perhaps should swap with U. Ask me again about that on Thursday night - late.



UVA has new coaches with big-time experience. That is why I think they were under-rated.



Perhaps you can repost this list weekly - with the current opponent at the top.

I can't imagine ever posting the schedule with Idaho St listed as the toughest game - even during the week of that game.

SpiffCoug wrote:
I can't imagine ever posting the schedule with Idaho St listed as the toughest game - even during the week of that game.

I think that is the one game we could take lightly and still survive as long as at least 11 players show up.



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I will be honest. I am very nervous about this season for some reason. I like how confident our team is and how hard they have worked. it is very clear that they have worked very hard and there is good chemistry going right now. we have good student leaders in place. bronco seems happier and more confident than he ever has. i just hope we can translate all of this into wins on the field. I fear that a few turnovers or mistakes could cost us a game at VA. I fear that we lose to texas not because we are not good but because they are just really good. then i fear we lose a squeaker to utah again.



it is feasible that we are a good team but that we start 0-3 and the whole world would fall apart if that happened because we have nothing to play for at that point.



The stakes have never been higher. I just hope we are ready come this Saturday. They have certainly put the preparation in. Lets just hope it was the right kind of preparation.

I'm nervous too. I could see us losing many games as well.



Games that wouldn't surprise me if BYU lost:

Texas

Utah

Utah St

Boise St

Wisconsin

Notre Dame



Even losses to Virginia and Houston wouldn't be huge surprises as they're on the road.



I could see BYU losing every road game, plus home games to Texas, Utah and Boise. I don't think losing 9 games is making to big a leap.

Cougarbib wrote:
Virginia is the toughest game - this week.



I think VA is under-rated by this poll. The rest is about right. USU perhaps should swap with U. Ask me again about that on Thursday night - late.



UVA has new coaches with big-time experience. That is why I think they were under-rated.



Perhaps you can repost this list weekly - with the current opponent at the top.

I was thinking the same thing when I saw this.

SpiffCoug wrote:
I'm nervous too. I could see us losing many games as well.



Games that wouldn't surprise me if BYU lost:

Texas

Utah

Utah St

Boise St

Wisconsin

Notre Dame



Even losses to Virginia and Houston wouldn't be huge surprises as they're on the road.



I could see BYU losing every road game, plus home games to Texas, Utah and Boise. I don't think losing 9 games is making to big a leap.

I think if we lose 9 games I am going to take a big leap.. off a small cliff

So we lost to number 10 and now number 5, but we beat number 3. Should we be concerned about number 6-9 on our list?



If we redid this list now, where would Virginia be and where would Texas be? I think Utah still is right at 5.

BYU fans got what most wanted. Challenging games almost every week. I would not take any game but Idaho State lightly.



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Wickchad84087 wrote:
So we lost to number 10 and now number 5, but we beat number 3. Should we be concerned about number 6-9 on our list?

Absolutely! And I'd take this schedule any day over old WAC and MWC schedules. Exciting, competitive games every week. And, even at 1-2, we still have some exciting football to look forward to. Utah St., Georgia Tech, Boise St., Notre Dame, Wisconsin. Heck, even Houston is undefeated still. And BYU will have a chance to win every one of these games.



Also, though 10-win seasons are fun, the WAC/MWC competition has given much of Cougar nation a false reality of where BYU's program lies. We are definitely a couple of notches ahead of the average MWC team, but we are also a couple of notches below the top performers. And that is fine.



But, suddenly, independence brought national expectations - I think our expectations outpaced reality by a step or two.

Wickchad84087 wrote:
If we redid this list now, where would Virginia be and where would Texas be? I think Utah still is right at 5.

Too early to tell on the Wahoos. They got it handed to them by the (legitimate) No. 2 Ducks, and then handed it to a mediocre FCS team. I think this weekend's game at Pitt will tell us whether we should regard the August 31 game as an outlier (either way).



Texas had a decent game in their win over Kansas St and while battling injuries. I also expect them to win on the road at Iowa St. The Red River Rivalry will show us whether Texas is as bad as we made them look just 9 short days ago. Hopefully Ash is healthy by then.



It's also interesting to see that Notre Dame and Wisconsin are barely ranked. There's still a strong possibility that the 2012 schedule turns out more difficult than 2013.

Difficulty is not so much about a single team being ranked1, 5, 10, 15, 20, or 25 at year end. We will probably lose to them irrespective. The difficulty that is most important is how many teams you play that will be favored, 50/50, or even 60/40 odds for you. Those result in losses or close games that could go either way.



Convetsely, it is how many teams you play that are not likely to challenge you that makes an easier schedule.



In 1984, BYU played less than 6 games vs teams that had any realistic chance of beating us and zero that would have been heavy favorites other than Pitt who turned out to be a dud.



and, yes, we played and beat #1 Miami but not much else Detmer's senior year.



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