BREAKING NEWS - Johnny you might be interested

So hopefully none of you have forgotten about that post written back in August, about this AMAZING basketball player who BYU missed on. And BYU deserves to lose because we didn't recruit this kid.

The kid's name was missing from the post and I really wanted to know who it was to see how much of the story checked out. I'm not sure if the author didn't know the name of the kid or if he knew but didn't want there to be any follow up; regardless, I happened to figure it out.

The kids name is Christian Parker, son of former NBA star Sonny Parker. He went to BYU-Hawaii for a year, and then served a mission in ATL. He redshirted his first year at BYU-Hawaii and after his mission, he decided that he wanted to play D-1 so he transfered from BYU-Hawaii and enrolled at CSI, the one and only College of Southern Idaho.

The entire story checks out, including the part about having a kid brother, who happens to be Jabarri Parker, http://illinois.scout.com/a.z?s=169&p=8&c=1&nid=4451328 The kid already has some legit D-1 offers from Kansas and Illinois. He's still only a freshman. However, the main theme of the post was how stupid Coach Rose was for not picking this kid up (the older brother Christian). So let me fill in the story with some facts, and you be the judge of whether or not this guy has a place on BYU's team, who is currently 17-1, and ranked #17 in the country.

Currently at CSI Parker has played in 5 of the 15 games, averaged 3.8 minutes per game. He's averaging .8 (less than 1) points per game, scoring a whole 4 points on the season. He has played the least amount of minutes of anyone on the team, hence scoring less than anyone else on the team. The games he did play in, the team won by an average of 40 points. Do I need to say where his minutes came from? I'm not so sure that's the type of player that's going to help BYU win many games in March.

I have nothing against the kid. I wish him the best, and hopes he becomes an amazing basketball player, and if he does I hope BYU can pick him up. With that said, let's be realistic for a second, not every kid is going to be a great player. And I think in this case, the BYU coaches just might have made a good decision by recruiting Tyler Haws, who has started 16 games for yours truly, averaging 12 points, and 5 rebounds, shooting 54% from the field; and Brandon Davies, who has played in all 18 games, averaging 14 minutes, scoring on average 6 points, shooting 59%.

I think somebody owes the BYU coaches an apology. If I recall correctly, the "kid had a desire to go to BYU" (I don't blame him), but the coaches were "incompetent." So yes in this case the BYU coaches rightfully recruited "a kid from Utah County than get an athletic kid from Chicago." (Both Haws and Davies are from Utah County)

One other detail that I didn't realize until now was the claim that the younger brother would never go to BYU unless his brother was there. If my math is correct, the younger brother is in the class of 2013, so his first season at college will be 2014. The older brother is a redshirt-freshman now, so he will graduate college in 2013, making it impossible for the 2 to play together. I don't think the argument holds much weight that we should have recruited the older brother to get the younger brother. BYU may not get the younger brother, but I don't think it has anything to do with his older brother not getting an offer to BYU. If the younger brother only goes where his older brother had offers, it looks like he'll either go to BYU-Hawaii or CSI . . . hmm tough choice.

Go Cougars!!!

Max Hall is Horrible

...and I apologize if I ever praised him at any point.

He'd better drastically improve during the off-season, get healthy, or something. Because this "most competitive person I've ever met" description about him we always hear needs to be qualified with "most competitive person I've ever met against teams that are no good."

There...I said it.

Fans We Don't Want

Casey's seen, and the guy copied a guy who did it for Hitler as a Cowboys' fan, but still amusing

BYU Basketball Online in High Def (Is there HD for internet streaming? If not BYU TV looks pretty darn close to HD)

For all your cougar fans out there, just wanted to let you know that BYU TV is showing some of the men's basketball games on the channel, and if you don't get the channel then you can watch it online at www.byu.tv or http://www.byutv.org/streaming/ (if you go to the latter link, just click on "BYU TELEVISION Tune In Now" right in the middle of the screen). The online quality is awesome (and no I'm not being sarcastic). I know BYU plays two more basketball games tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday, and both games will be online or on the channel. Enjoy.

Also, here is a link to BYU's schedule: http://www.byucougars.com/Schedule.jsp?SP=111 The schedule shows which games are broadcast on BYU TV.

And one final plug for BYU TV. They also have archives of True Blue (If you've never seen it you should definitely watch an episode) and highlights of recent football and basketball games.

MWC dominates the BCS

This has got to be a telling stat. The Mountain West Conference is 9 -4 against BCS conference teams this season.

The wins came against: Washington, Stanford, UCLA, Oregon State, Tennessee, Iowa State, Arizona State, Michigan, Arizona

The losses came from: Cal, Okalahoma, Texas A&M, Colorado

Now I'll admit that none of the wins came against any of the premier BCS teams; however, just to think that UNLV, who is 2-0 versus the BCS and 0-5 versus MWC teams, would have a better season playing in the Big XII or the Pac 10 is interesting. Also note that many of these wins were from the bottom dwellers of the MWC, which tells me that the MWC is definitely more balanced than many of the BCS conferences, and this year is superior to several of the conferences.

Of the Pac 10, ACC, and Big East there is only ONE team, one team from those 3 power conferences that has a team ranked higher than the top THREE MWC teams. Simply put, of the 30 teams that make up the Pac 10, ACC, and Big East; USC is the only team ranked ahead of BYU which is the THIRD highest ranked MWC team.

If the MWC doesn't deserve an automatic bid in the BCS when they have 3 teams ranked in the top 15 of the BCS, while ONLY the Big XII has more teams ranked in the top 15 than the MWC; then the BCS is an absolute joke. Okay, that's a foregone conclusion. But seriously, with statistics like this, how does the media conveniently and constantly forget about this conference?

BYU and the Kings

The Sacramento Kings old basketball coach apparently is a huge fan of Bronco Mendenhall and BYU. Eric Musselman has a blog and he has posted about the Bronco several times. Check it out: http://emuss.blogspot.com/

I doubt Phil Jackson or Jerry Sloan are BYU fans.

Go Cougs!!!

Someone at ESPN said what?

After I saw a sportscenter highlight a while back, that featured BYU, that was introduced with a montage of the Washington State game weeks after it was played, I was completly sure of the big network bias. I think they're just pissed that the MWC chose to have their own network for sports rather than sign with ESPN, but that's for another time. . .

I was very suprised that someone from ESPN actually gave the cougars a chance at the BCS National Championship game. (See the last section of the link)

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/notebook?page=iform0808&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1

"Hell?. . . is that you? Why is it cold in here?"

BYU and MWC

Podcast about BYU and the MWC

Conference Rankings

http://realtimerpi.com/football/ncaaf_conf_Men.html

This website's stats backup my earlier post.

Kirk Hops on the Bandwagon...Sort of

30 feet = "High"

Let's be honest with ourselves here. BYU outplayed UW all day. Our defense looked bad, but our offense was unstoppable. If Harvey doesn't uncharacteristically fumble (considering he fumbled once last year) into the endzone then we win easy.

As far as "the penatly" goes, Locker broke a rule, which is not a new rule. It may be a dumb rule, but the rule was enforced. Which makes me wonder, if Locker would have been called on this in the 1st quarter would it have mattered? Of course not. Now suddenly college football is suppose to pick and choose when to call penalties like the NBA does? Last I checked 3 steps in the first quarter and 3 steps with 5 seconds left is still traveling and should be a turnover.

On top of that, all the ESPN losers that say he "flipped the ball over his shoulder" prove that they either didn't watch the game at all, so they should shut their faces; they are completely biased toward the BCS; or most likely, they are completely retarded.

And since when did a 30 yard field goal from straight on become a big deal? I wish UW would take some responsibility and realized that UW special teams lost the game not Jake Locker for throwing the ball.

Game 1 Thoughts

Just off the top of my head.

Second-half Fumbles A Good Thing

Despite the anxiety that a 27-17 lead against Northern Iowa caused me (I believe I blacked out at one point and had to be revived with an oxygen tank), I think the reason that it was closer than it should have been (our mistakes: fumbles) will serve us well for the rest of the season because they served as a reminder. I think if we had continued with the momentum we had in the first half and annihilated NIU, we would have gone into UW almost too confident. The fumbles reminded us that "yeah, we're good, and yeah, we have an extremely high-powered offense, BUT we still need to protect the ball no matter who the opponent is." I think it was good.

Pitta Better Than Harline?

This may have already been a point of discussion last year, and too early in this season to tell already, but Pitta was an absolute beast. Harline will forever be etched in BYU fans' minds because of the catch, and he was undoubtedly a beast at tight end, but I think Pitta will put up some crazy stats.

Other input? Thoughts?

Max Hall in NY Times

Feisty Quarterback Could Help B.Y.U. Crash the B.C.S.

Cougars, Utes expect to compete for MWC title, BCS berth

My only question is: How are the Utes in this discussion?
______________
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/preview08/news/story?id=3529952

Few football rivalries around the country combine the fierceness of the gridiron with the passion of religion like BYU and Utah, and this year their rivalry could have an impact of national proportions. No Mountain West team has accomplished an undefeated, BCS bowl season since Utah in 2004, but the Cougars and Utes have the rosters and the schedules to be the conference's hope in the BCS standings.

The schools have battled on the football field for 86 years -- or 112 if you go by Utah's records -- but few outside know the depth of the rivalry and the contempt each team has for the other. That could change this season as the finale on Nov. 22 could mean the difference between an undefeated record and BCS berth.

"In the state, [the rivalry] is one of the most fierce things I've ever witnessed of any of the places that I've coached," BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "There isn't a gray area here. No in-between. You're either a BYU fan or a Utah fan."

During the early part of the season, Utah has a chance to make a name for itself with games against Michigan and Oregon State, while BYU will face Pac-10 foes Washington and UCLA. Those are important stepping-stones toward gaining momentum and prestige heading into a Mountain West Conference that BYU has swept each of the last two seasons, including dramatic wins over Utah during the final games of the season.

But as great as BYU has been over the last two seasons -- 11 wins in 2006 and 2007 -- the Cougars have never generated as much buzz as they have this preseason. As luck would have it and in true rivalry fashion, Utah, which won eight of its last nine to finish 9-4 last season, returns almost all of its starters and is attempting to wrestle the spotlight away from its neighbors to the South.

It's easy to dismiss this rivalry because it doesn't have the immediate pizzazz of an Alabama-Auburn or a Florida State-Miami, but it's as rich in tradition and as heated as any rivalry in the country.

The game is often referred to as the "Holy War" because of BYU's affiliation with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and because Utah is owned by the state, the whole week leading up to the contest tends to take on a church vs. State undertone.

"I think one of the reasons that makes the rivalry so fierce is both teams are having success, No. 1, but the second thing is any time you have religion or faith into any topic, it would be similar to politics, the emotions that it brings out in people are just unreal," Mendenhall said.

During the opening contest between Utah and Brigham Young Academy in 1896 there was a full-scale brawl in the stands. BYU actually dropped football from its program for the next 26 years.

In the 1990s there were more brawls -- some between fans, some between players and some between players and fans. In 1998, BYU linebacker Derik Stevenson attacked a fan in the crowd who was harassing his father. A year later in Provo, a Cougar fan jumped out of the stands and attacked a Utah male cheerleader who was running around the field with a Utah flag after a Utah touchdown. The cheerleader proceeded to beat the fan until police separated the two.

The violence moved from the stands to the message boards and every year each campus braces for the defacing of property by the opposing school's fans. Even Utah coach Kyle Whittingham endures scrutiny because he graduated from BYU, which only adds to the intense nature of this rivalry.

"I don't think there's anything friendly about it," Mendenhall said. "[Utah] Coach Whittingham and I, I think, have a professional relationship and one of respect. But that's the extent of it.

"Both of us have to be careful how we describe [the rivalry] because no matter what we say it will end up with someone taking it out of context. You really can't make the rivalry bigger than it already is."

These teams are 9-9 in the last two decades and 10 of the last 11 games have been decided by a touchdown or less.

In last year's game, BYU quarterback Max Hall found receiver Austin Collie for a 49-yard gain on fourth and 18 with 1:34 remaining in the fourth quarter. Harvey Unga rushed for an 11-yard touchdown with 38 seconds remaining to give BYU a 17-10 win.

BYU returns almost all of its offense from a year ago and is ranked No. 17 in the preseason coaches' poll. BYU also holds the nation's longest winning streak at 10 games.

Whittingham said this year's offense is the deepest he's had in his four seasons with the program. The Utes were decimated by injuries last season, but all of those players are back and the young players who stepped in now provide depth.

If these schools are as good as most predict, the game on Nov. 22 could be one that has fans and non-fans alike glued to their televisions, giving the Mountain West a much-needed boost in prestige both by BCS schools and within the non-BCS.

"In a perfect situation, that's the ideal scenario, to have that game come down to the championship every year," Whittingham said. "That's what college football's all about. When you have the opportunity to decide a conference championship against your No. 1 rival, I don't think it gets any better than that."

Fall Practice

Many college football fans are gearing up for the start of the season. Fall practice is just around the corner and the fans are pumped! I however hate fall practice. Nothing could be worse, and from a fans perspective, nothing good comes from it.

I used to be one of those fans, who couldn't wait to read about developments that occurred during the days practice, and to listen to the player's interviews. I understand where the enthusiasm comes from, but let me explain to you why this is the worst time in all of college football.


There are only 3 things that happen during practice-

1) We hear that an individual player is "improved" during the offseason and is better than ever.
My rebuttal to this is, it's all relative. Okay so he is better than he was, but hot much better? or you think he's better because you got worse? or I'm just saying he's better because he's my teammate and I can't say that he didn't get any better or that he is worse?

2) We hear the score of the scrimmages-
As my good friend Matt Bauman (ILB, Jr, BYU) pointed out, "fans only want to hear that the offense is doing well. If the defense shuts out the offense, then the offense has problems." BYU for example is suppose to be stacked on offense, but during spring ball, there were a few occasions where the inexperienced defense, shut the offense down. But for some reason this does not mean that the defense is solid, it just means that the offense isn't as good as advertised. When a team is playing itself there is no winner. Why do we care when the offense kills the defense, or the defense shuts down the offense? How is any of that good news?

3) INJURIES!!!
The worst part of fall practice is that critical players get injured on a regular basis. I brace myself before reading articles that recap the practice for fear of reading that Max Hall broke his foot. Practice never ends with a player healing miraculously, and if miraculous healings were happening they'd be at BYU first! But they're not so don't dream of it.

So before you get all pumped for football to start next week. Take a cold shower and realize that the status of your team can only get worse between now and the first game. Follow me and avoid reading the fall camp updates and spare yourself the torment of learning of your team's self destruction on the practice field.


PS. JD was suppose to add a picture of some gruesome injury to this post, but obviously he's slacking.

Strength of Schedule

I was going to post this as a comment under Hauser's post, but I decided to get my first post out of the way and expound on my thoughts, so JD, start booking that ticket.

While at training in Cleveland, I met a girl who attended the University of Florida. She immediately informed me that Florida had "amazing academics and athletics." I nodded my head, while simultaneously trying to control my gag reflux. After she started throwing out numbers I politely reminded her that not only did BYU's accounting school dominate Florida's, but that BYU's basketball AND football team finished better than Florida did last year. She shut up pretty quick after that. But the next day she had a friend of hers debate me about how Florida is sooooooooooooo sick. After reminding them that I'm don't have a vote on the polls, they just decided to throw out the whole strength of conference bull shiz.

That confrontation coupled with Hauser's post got me to thinking about the legitimacy of that claim. First of all there is a cyclical component to conferences that you just can't ignore. An entire conference can be soft but it can avoid expose by the fact that 2/3 or more of their games are against common opponents. And the other side of the argument is that many teams in the BCS conference schedule play terrible teams for their nonconference games.

Nebraska for example scheduled Western Michigan, San Jose State, and New Mexico State for their nonconference opponents. Last year Nebraska won 5 games. Now are you telling me that if BYU or another good nonBCS team couldn't beat those three teams and win 2 out of 9 games against the Big XII?

Another example: Louisville. Everyone was so high on them. They won 6 games last year, and played Murray State, Middle Tennessee, and Utah (whom they lost to by the way). Now I'm positive that BYU could beat those 3 teams and win 3 more games in 9 chances against the Big East.

How about another: Iowa. They have scheduled Maine, Florida International, and mighty Iowa State.

Okay one more: Indiana. Western Kentucky, Murray State, Ball State, and Central Michigan.

Since I know your enjoying this I'll share my favorite: Kentucky. They finished well with 8 wins. And they play the likes of Norfolk State, Middle Tennessee, and Western Kentucky. Okay, and then they split with the games in the SEC that included Ole' Miss and Vanderbilt.

Ohh, this is a good one, I can't pass this up. Ole Miss, won 3 games last year against Memphis, Louisiana Tech, and Northwestern State. They lost the next 9 games against the rest of the SEC. I only wish that BYU had the chance to play 9 games against BCS opponents each year.

Last one, I promise: Arkansas- They played Troy, North Texas, Florida International, and Chattanooga on their way to winning 8 games. I hardly doubt that if BYU played those 4 bums, then split with 8 SEC teams that they'd get any recognition at all.

I could go on, but I'll spare you.

Now here is my beef with Notre Dame's schedule. Some years their schedule truly is very difficult, but other years this is what it looks like. (The number represents the number of wins that opponent had last year, and keep in mind that for most of those teams, that number includes a win over Notre Dame). The thing about Notre Dame's schedule that is so deceiving is that they play a few a lot of schools with a good name which makes it appear like it's tougher that it really is. By my account, they play 4 good to great teams, and 8 average to below average teams. I see BYU winning at least 9 games against this schedule (my prediction marked with the *)

SDSU 4 *
Michigan 9 * (mainly this year since UM is completely reloading and is probably going to struggle)
Michigan State 7 *
Purdue 8
Stanford 4 *
North Carolina 4 *
Washington 4 *
Pitts 5 *
Boston College 11
Navy 8 *
Syracuse 2 *
Southern Cal 11

TOTAL = 77

BYU's opponents had a combined 74 wins last year, and that number isn't inflated like Notre Dame's schedule due to the fact that we beat all of the teams we played minus 1, which takes a number out of each of their win columns.

So to sum up my rant; the BCS is a worthless. and the strength of schedule garbage doesn't hold water for the BCS schools. All you have to do for the media to treat you like a powerhouse is beat 4 weak nonconference games, win 3 conference games against the weaker teams in the conference, then win a bowl game and BAM! 8 wins, and you are legit. I don't want to hear any more strength of schedule crap. No team would fair well if they had to play, USC, Georgia, Oklahoma, West Virginia, OSU, and Virginia Tech every year. But sure, play two of those teams and then 10 mediocre teams and it's manageable. And my last point - BYU IS SICK. We could compete in any conference. The argument that BYU couldn't "hold it's own in a BCS conference" just doesn't hold water. Not only would we be entitled to play 4 of the weakest teams in all of football, but we'd only have to win 3 or 4 additional games against even the bottom tier BCS teams to "compete". Really doesn't sound all that difficult. Now obviously BYU wouldn't be satisfied with just "competing" so give us 9 chances at BCS teams every year and you'll see we'd be sitting in a similar place.

There'll BEANO ten wins

I was listening to sports radio this afternoon as I was driving back to work and Colin Cowherd had Beano Cook on the show. I generally like listening to Beano, but I have to draw the line at this comment and emphatically disagree. He believes that ND will go 2-1 in their first three games and finish the season with 10 wins. I am sorry, but there is no way that is going to happen. The elite athletes do not go to Notre Dame. Charlie Weis is not that great of a Coach, and Notre Dame plays too many games against too many average-to-great teams.

Notre Dame will finish the season over .500, but will not win 10 games...

...There I said it.

ESPN's Face of the Program

Ivan Maisel, a senior writer at ESPN.com and College Football nut, has been compiling a "Faces of the Program" wrap-up, identifying who he feels is the 'face' of college football programs around the nation:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/face/index

Ivan's choice for BYU:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/face/team?teamId=252