Story Created:
Oct 24, 2009
Story Updated:
Oct 24, 2009
PK BLOG
For all the progress, and there was been much of it during the Bronco Mendenhall era, something has gone woefully astray.
BYU can’t win a football game that truly matters.
Do we need any more proof than what was on display in the 38-7 loss to TCU on Saturday night at LaVell Edwards Stadium?
Three words: No, no and no.
Falling a victim to his own success, Mendenhall has built a nice program down in Provo. Two conference championships and a soon-to-be fifth consecutive bowl appearance aren’t shabby accomplishments.
But spirit, honor and tradition are all beautiful words individually, but they don’t add up to what passes as a smashing success by current standards. It’s not that BYU has failed, it’s just that the program hasn’t measured up.
Like boiling water, it burns to say that BYU is no Utah. Yeah, I know Cougar fans, but let’s be honest.
BYU rarely wins big games. Do the Utes lose big games?
Let’s start with this season.
The Cougars beat a thought-to-be tough Oklahoma team. Give them credit, no matter the
Sam Bradford injury or how OU’s season plays out.
But that’s it. Las Vegas Bowl wins over Pac-10 No. 5 don’t count.
I get furious at the assertion that BCS-conference teams don’t want to be there when they lose bowl games (see, Alabama vs. Utah), so I’m not going to discredit BYU’s impressive win over Oregon three years ago. But at the same time, no way I’m saying that is a big game.
Because if it was, would BYU really have won? History says probably not.
Even if FloridaState tanks this season, that game last month was big. And the Cougars got hammered.
Following the string of dogs – you know them by name – the next big game was TCU. Nobody cares anymore when the Cougars drill UNLV, UtahState and ColoradoState.
More over, Charlie Brown.
I feel like a fool in thinking the Cougars could compete with a legitimate BCS team. Even though I went with the Horned Frogs, I didn’t expect more embarrassment.
The Cougars barely bothered to show up. Save one defensive stop on TCU’s first possession, this was a gross mismatch.
Who knew the talent discrepancy was that big? Maybe BYU just can’t hang with real competition.
One thing’s for sure - from here on out, it’s no more for me. Any big game, I’m going with the other guys.
As George Bush said, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice . . . don’t get fooled again.
Here’s an idea: Hire the former president to coach. Maybe he would put winning big games as the program’s top priority.
Mendenhall deserves credit for restoring a program that had plunged to a mind-boggling depth. Even more the impressive, he did it virtually overnight, transforming three consecutive losing seasons into three consecutive seasons of double-digit wins.
Now, he’s got to find a way to do more. Even when the Cougars beat TCU and Utah, as happened for two straight years, they manage to blow non-conference games.
When they win non-conference games, the well runs dry against the MWC’s two premiere programs. Something’s got to change.
Otherwise, there needs to be one more banner that hangs outside the stadium’s west side, along with Honor, Spirit and Tradition. Of course, that would be: Losing Big Games.
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