Is the top 25 ranking a blessing or a curse?

I’m convinced that overconfidence will be the result. Kind of human nature to lose focus. Beat Arizona, lose to Cal, beat Wisconsin... Target now squarely on us. Guess we’ll find out within a couple of weeks.

SenorCougar wrote:

I’m convinced that overconfidence will be the result. Kind of human nature to lose focus. Beat Arizona, lose to Cal, beat Wisconsin... Target now squarely on us. Guess we’ll find out within a couple of weeks.

"Convinced" is a strong word. Why?

Blessing.

I really hope that the taste of bile from last year is still strong with them and particulary strong with the coaches.I really hope that the win was a turning point for Sitake and that they long for the feeling again and that this motivates them. I have really struggled with him and have not been overly excited about him as the coach but have tried to be patient. I do however know that he loves BYU and he loves his players.I want for him to succeed in the worst way. We have such a small coaching pool to draw from so really dont want to start the hiring/system change process again he has made no secret that he would like to stay around keep winning and that will happen.

I try not to look a gift horse in the mouth.



That said, if you look at this team and Sitake's performance overall, last weekend was an outlier.



Now, with Grimes on board perhaps a new trend is taking shape. We'll see. We need more data.

It definitely puts a target on your back, but it's something they need to work through to continue to advance. It's so unusual for a BYU team to be 2-1 and ranked in the top 25. I think it took a huge bunch of us by surprise.

EM_Puma wrote:

It definitely puts a target on your back, but it's something they need to work through to continue to advance. It's so unusual for a BYU team to be 2-1 and ranked in the top 25. I think it took a huge bunch of us by surprise.

I think it shows how independence has helped, and outside of last year, BYU has been pretty successful and beat teams all over the country. The media has seen us win at Ole Miss, at Michigan State, at Georgia Tech, at Arizona, at Texas, at Nebraska, and now at Wisconsin. It is apparent we are not being treated like a G5 team, which is great news. Independence has elevated our reputation.

dsmith1212 wrote:

I’m convinced that overconfidence will be the result. Kind of human nature to lose focus. Beat Arizona, lose to Cal, beat Wisconsin... Target now squarely on us. Guess we’ll find out within a couple of weeks.

"Convinced" is a strong word. Why?

You’re probably right. Let me change “convinced” to “concerned”.

My feelings echo both Screamineagle's and Gunk's. I was not a fan of the Sitake hire but I want him to succeed in the worst way. Last year my worst fears about him were realized. I drank the coolaid after week one and wanted to jump off a tall building after week 2 because I felt like the 16 team was back. I love the win but am in a wait and see mode because IMO the Wisconsin win was an outlier for him. If they continue to get better than I will be happy with what this team has done. I think that the tallest order on tap this year will be Washington because they will not overlook a team that went on the road and beat #6 Wisconsin. Not only that but I watched the WA vs UT game and BYU absolutely can beat that ute team this year with continued improvement and if BYU loses at Washington but wins out including a win against the utes, I will have to put this right up there with one of the best BYU seasons in my lifetime. I hope Sitake gets things fixed, I love his personality and his love for BYU and would like him to succeed at his dream job if he can because if he does, we all benefit.

Blessing if we lock up some recruits.

SenorCougar wrote:

I’m convinced that overconfidence will be the result. Kind of human nature to lose focus. Beat Arizona, lose to Cal, beat Wisconsin... Target now squarely on us. Guess we’ll find out within a couple of weeks.

Florida State wasn't great in 2009. Once we had beaten Oklahoma, reached a top-10 ranking and won another game (against Tulane), we came out weak (or FSU came out hungry) and we had 5 turnovers and our defense was next to worthless. The next week? Florida State loses to USF, 17-7, and then loses the next week as well to Boston College, 28-21, and the week after that to Georgia Tech (who were ranked #22 at the time), 49-44.



Washington, Utah State, Boise State, and Utah will be very difficult this year because UW is top 10 and the other three are (to some extent, depending on the perspective of our fans or their fans) a rivalry game (Utah State and Utah would both rather beat us than each other, and Boise State is developing into a rivalry on par with Utah State).

hawkwing wrote:
Blessing.

I agree that it’s a blessing. Winning our next game is not guaranteed, top 25 ranking or not. It’s nice to have it even if it only lasts a week.

We should never had been ranked. I can’t even see a top 50 ranking right now. We read and believed the press releases. Right now I feel it was a curse.