The year was 1985, January actually. BYU had just been recognized as the 1984 Associated Press National Champions in football. With a strong team finishing the year and many returning for the next season, many believed BYU could win it all two years in a row. In the fall, along came the University of Texas El Paso, a team that would finish the 1985 season with one win. That win was against BYU, shattering all hopes at repeating as National Champions. BYU would lose that single game in 1985.
Fast forward to the year 2010. The BYU football team struggled early to put a quality game together. Following a firing and suspension, Cougar head coach, Bronco Mendenhall went on a journey to "find the soul of this team." He found that soul and what looked to be a dismal season ended with an invitation to play their 1985 dream breaker foe, UTEP, in the New Mexico Bowl on December 18.
While BYU has been improving, UTEP has been floundering this year. Following that trend, the Cougars should easily send UTEP packing. In all likelihood, BYU could finally come away with a shutout victory and tons of momentum heading into 2011.
Of all the teams from the old Western Athletic Conference, none were more prone to give up points to BYU than UTEP. BYU regularly put up 40 on the Miners while surpassing 60 twice. For those that love offense this will be a great game and should bring back memories of the old WAC shootouts.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Bowling!
Earlier this evening, BYU announced that it had accepted an invitation to play in the "prestigious" New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque, NM. The fact the Cougars are bowl eligible after a 2-5 start is simply amazing and as fans, we really can't complain about which bowl we're off to or who our opponent may be.
We had one chance to possible sneak into the Las Vegas Bowl again, but fate was not on our side and those pesky Utes BLOCKED our last opportunity. As Bronco always says, most games come down to one team making one more play than the other. In this year's edition of the rivalry game, it was Utah that made one more play as time expired.
Now back to the amazing turn around and the fact we even made a bowl game. The effort and results of the final 7 games of the season was really spectacular and only goes to show that we have one of the best coaches in the country and we should be grateful that Bronco Mendenhall is sticking around to bring up this program. There's nothing better than watching a team battle and leave everything out on the field. The most disappointing losses are the ones where you know the team didn't give their all. Bronco has an uncanny ability to reach his players and pull out of their core more than even they imagined. This BYU team is poised for great things over the next few years.
A quick side note on the BCS and what a crock it is. The Big East conference champion is guaranteed a spot in one of the BCS games. This year, that champion is likely to be UCONN, if they win this weekend to finish 8-4 on the season. I'm so glad they get an automatic bid...Meanwhile, teams like Boise St, Nevada and even a couple Big 12 and Big 10 teams with only 1 or 2 losses will be left out of the party to make room at the great table for a team that had merely a good year. Can we have a playoff now?
We had one chance to possible sneak into the Las Vegas Bowl again, but fate was not on our side and those pesky Utes BLOCKED our last opportunity. As Bronco always says, most games come down to one team making one more play than the other. In this year's edition of the rivalry game, it was Utah that made one more play as time expired.
Now back to the amazing turn around and the fact we even made a bowl game. The effort and results of the final 7 games of the season was really spectacular and only goes to show that we have one of the best coaches in the country and we should be grateful that Bronco Mendenhall is sticking around to bring up this program. There's nothing better than watching a team battle and leave everything out on the field. The most disappointing losses are the ones where you know the team didn't give their all. Bronco has an uncanny ability to reach his players and pull out of their core more than even they imagined. This BYU team is poised for great things over the next few years.
A quick side note on the BCS and what a crock it is. The Big East conference champion is guaranteed a spot in one of the BCS games. This year, that champion is likely to be UCONN, if they win this weekend to finish 8-4 on the season. I'm so glad they get an automatic bid...Meanwhile, teams like Boise St, Nevada and even a couple Big 12 and Big 10 teams with only 1 or 2 losses will be left out of the party to make room at the great table for a team that had merely a good year. Can we have a playoff now?
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