Nevada punts BYU from 2008 schedule

BYU was suppose to open the season with a game against a top tier WAC opponent, until Nevada decided to bump the Cougars for a home date with Grambling State. The Deseret News broke the story on this bombshell. This same thing happened to Wyoming for next season when Syracuse backed out of their contract and must pay Wyoming $250,000, but at least Syracuse let Wyoming know a year in advance unlike Nevada who gave the Cougars an 8 month notice.  Nevada claims that they want to have a competitive non conference schedule, the other games included Texas Tech, Missouri, and UNLV.  So with BYU their schedule was pretty tough, but it they wanted to get out why not reschedule back in August or something.  Now BYU is looking for a new home game for Aug 30th, there has been talk of bringing in Florida State who has an open date and the fact that BYU is heading to Tallahassee in 2009 so this might work.  One thing BYU should try to avoid is scheduling another I-AA for a gimme  home game, but instead they should try to schedule teams from BCS conferences, but play the lower teams for easy wins against teams like Baylor, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, and Stanford.  Because those teams are from a BCS league that would be more impressive then beating I-AA and for some reason some even better then a team like Nevada even though Nevada is probably better then those teams I mentioned.  This method of scheduling, if possible, would help the league with almost for sure wins and they would help the strength of schedule.  This is exactly what the Missouri Valley Conference does in basketball, by playing teams in power leagues that are mid or near bottom where if they win it helps their RPI because of the league the other team plays in.  Plus if they were to lose it would not damage their RPI.  This is what BYU and the MWC needs to do this allows them to schedule wins but also not be ridiculed for playing Eastern Washington or Weber State.   As for teams for BYU to play I will see what I can find who would be good replacements for BYU

11/24 Basketball Preview

(5-0)  #1 (6-0)

Las Vegas Invite Orleans Arena 7:30PM PT TV:

BYU all ready beat on top 10 team and their reward is another game against the number one team in the land against UNC.  UNC is beatable just look back at their close game against Davidson recently, and BYU has a similar up tempo style game that could cause problems for UNC.  Last night against Louisville the Cougars were lead by the two man team of big man Trent Plaisted and Jonathon Tavernari who combined for 50 points and 19 rebounds.   UNC also likes to run so BYU better be careful what they wish for in this game.  A matchup to watch for is BYU’s big man Trent Plaisted against UNC’s Tyler Hansbrough.  Plaisted does have a slight height advantage, but one trend that I noticed last year when watching Plaisted play against someone who had size he struggled.  This will be a good test to see how Plaisted can matchup against someone with size and who is NBA ready.  UNC should win because they want to score in the 90’s each game and run similar to BYU, but UNC has better athletes.  For BYU to stay close they need to play the inside outside game that was going on last night to be able to keep the defense honest and limit mistakes.  This game will be close for a half, but I think BYU used most of their energy last night and will falter down the stretch to the Tar Heels

(3-2) (5-0)

Hispanic College Fund Classic Spokane, Washington 2:30PM PT TV: NONE

This is the second game of this mini tournament in Spokane. Air Force was able to knock off Mississippi Valley State by 18 points and have a surprisingly great start at 5-0 and have a chance to make it 6-0 against a solid Montana that comes from the Big Sky conference.  Air Force continues to play their grind it out slow it down game and have been successful even with their new coach in Colorado Springs.  The Falcons win came down to their defense which they held Mississippi Valley to 24% shooting and that is what they will have to do defeat Montana who likes to score and they have 70 points in every game so far this season, so something must give tonight.   Look for the defense to take over and look for Air Force to slow it down and pull out the win.   Montana is coming off a pretty good performance where the lost to #9 Washington State by 11, but they were unable to shoot a good percentage because of Wazzu’s defense.  Now against Air Force Montana will need to make their possessions count because Air Force will slow it down, and throw in the fact that the Falcons play pretty good defense.  Look for Air Force to pull this game just as long as the Falcons slow it down because the Grizzlies like to score.

Week 7 Rankings

Here we go for the  week 7 rankings.  There is a little movement up top but not too much this week.

1.

Even after a less then spectacular performance with the win against Vegas, but a win is a win and BYU has not lost a conference game since the 2005 loss to Utah.

2.

The Lobos slide up after soundly defeating a good Wyoming team last week 20-3 and on the road no less.  We will wait and see if the pat of New Mexico will haunt them where the Lobos seem to every year lose to a team they should not.

3.

The great story of Troy Calhoun who now has the Falcons one win away from being bowl eligible at 5-2.  They destroyed a bad Colorado State team and Chad Hall looks to possibly challenge Max Hall for offensive player of the year as he put up more then 250 rushing yards last game. 

Week 7 Preview

Another fun filled week in MWC play! This week there are 5 games this week with all 9 teams in action.

War Memorial Stadium 12PM TV: The Mtn

Here is another showdown between the top teams in the conference, and for Wyoming they need to win to keep pace with the BYU Cougars later this month. This game will pit a great defense in Wyoming against a very good offense by New Mexico. The key for New Mexico is to be able to run the ball and have Rodney Ferguson rush for 100 yards, and that will be tough since the Cowboys have yet to allow one all year. New Mexico also has the weapons in the passing game to be able to have success in running or throwing, but the run game is the key for New Mexico to win. As for Wyoming their defense must remain constant and keep doing what they do, as for their offense they must not have a let down like they had against Ohio. The Cowboys must be able to move the ball and not turnover the ball, their offense is not prolific but it is good enough to put up 21 points a game.

Rice Eccles Stadium 1PM TV: San Diego Ch.4 CSTV PPV

So, what Utah team will show this Saturday, but on a side note even that I do not have The Mtn. this game is not being shown on TV at all unless you live in San Diego on local channel 4, but the game will be shown on CSTV PPV as well if you are not in the area. Well back to the game, the Aztecs are 1-0 in conference play after defeating Colorado State last week. If the same Utah team that showed up last week is there Saturday the Utes should easily win this game. The Utes need to have Darrell Mack keep running the ball well and he should get over 100 yards. For the Aztecs to pull this off they will need to play very well on defense and try to limit Brian Johnson and Darrell Mack or get some help from the Utes who have the chance to implode just like against UNLV and Air Force

Stanford Stadium 2PM PT TV: NONE

OK, Stanford knocked of USC last week, but besides that  they have been pathetic besides that one game.  As for TCU they have vastly underachieved and the Horned Frogs will be again without Tommy Blake.  With Blake missing games that could be the reason for their struggles so far, because Blake has been a leader of the team and he has missed quite a few of games and practices this year.  As for the game TCU has a great defense even without Blake and Stanford’s offense is ok while only scoring 22 a game, but besides that they have not scored much.  As for TCU they need Aaron Brown to run for at least 100 yards, and they need consistent play from whoever is at QB.  As for my prediction going with Stanford seems logicaly because they just beat USC, but they might feel over confident because what they have done but I will still go with Stanford to win this game in a close one.

Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium 3:30 PM MT TV: The Mtn. /Sirius Radio

Colorado is still trying to get their first win, and the way Senior QB Caleb Hanie has played and the ineffectiveness of Kyle Bell this might be a tough one.  Air Force will still be able run at will over this Rams defense, somewhere in the range of 175-300 yards on the ground.  Ever since Korry Sperry went down with a knee injury against Cal this team has not been the same.  They have untimely interceptions and just many turnovers, but for the Rams to win they must have Kyle Bell shoulder the load and keep the ball away from the Falcons.  The Rams are at home and that will help them some, but Air Force is the surprise team in the MWC and they should pull this one out in the end by wearing out the Ram defense.

Sam Boyd Stadium 6:30PM PT TV: The Mtn.

This is not the Rebels of every year for the past 1o years, which has been terrible.  BYU will most likely win, but they way the Cougars have played on the road do not count out Mike Sanfords team.  Frank Summers has been running the ball very well and Travis Dixon has emerged as a quality starter in this league.  BYU will need to take this game seriously which is something they did not do against a Tulsa team they lost to because of inflated egos.  The Cougars offense should be able to over match the Rebel defense, but the one thing that could hurt the Cougars is that the Rebels are able to create turnovers which is why they are better this year.  For the predictions go with BYU they should be focused after a bye week and their focus now is to repeat as MWC champs.

TCU 2007 Preview

The Horned Frogs from last year went an excellent record of 11-2 and the only two loses came to BYU and Utah last year. This year Gary Patterson has the Horned Frogs primed for a BCS run. They are ranked 22 in the preseason polls and they get the chance to play Texas this year on September 8th. A few problems with TCU is that coach Patterson is going with redshirt freshman Andy Dalton instead of Marcus Jackson who actually started a few games last year. The main keys for TCU to do well all depends on their quarterback play because of the inexperience there, Aaron Brown needs to step it up in the running game, and the nationally ranked defense needs to prove it can play that way again. The only weaknesses I see on this team is their secondary where they are replacing two new defensive backs and also the need of a go to wideout for the Horned Frogs.

Here is their schedule

September 1 Baylor 5:00 PM CT TV: CSTV

September 8 at Texas 6:00 PM CT TV: Fox Sports NET

September 13 at Air Force 6:00 PM MT TV: CSTV

September 22 SMU 7:30 PM MT TV: CSTV

September 29 Colorado State 6:00 PM CT TV: The Mtn.

October 6 at Wyoming 12:00 PM MT TV: The Mtn.

October 13 at Stanford 2:00 PM PT TV: NONE

October 18 Utah 7:00 PM CT TV: Versus

November 3 New Mexico 4:30 PM MT TV: The Mtn.

November 8 at BYU 7:00 PM MT TV: Versus

November 17 UNLV 6:30 PM CT TV: TBA(The Mtn. or CSTV)

November 24 at San Diego State TBA TV: TBA (CSTV or The Mtn)

Compare these schedules

I am going to list 2 teams schedule and I want as many comments out there on which is better. I will use a ranking of 1 to 6 with each point representing teams in order of ranking. So 1 would be teams ranked 1-20, 2 would be 21-40 and so on through the rest. I also will include the ’06 record as well, bold means bowl participant. One of these schedules is said to be one of the toughest in the nation I disagree strongly, while I know that one is most likely better then the other I just don’t think one is one of the top over schedules. You guys decide.