College Football: My Preseason Top 25, Part 3

buster this year?  While Fresno State and Utah look like good alternatives, my money is on BYU.  BYU won a national championship (not a typo) in 1984, and the school has a history of performing beyond its means.

The Cougars have nine returning on offense, most notably QB Max Hall, who put up some impressive numbers last year (3,848 yards, 26 TDs, 12 INTs).  WR Austin Collie and TE Dennis Pitta should be catching most of Max’s passes.  Harvey Unga is now on the national scene after having a 1,227-yard rushing season last year, averaging five yards a carry.  BYU also returns four starters on their strong offensive line.

Here is something you should know about BYU.  The vast majority of their players are Mormon, and many go on Church missions while they are at school and do not lose eligibility.  Most missions are two years long.  Thus, BYU consistently has an older, mature team that seems more disciplined then most.

The Cougars have now had two 11-win seasons (including bowls) in a row.  They have three wins and three losses against BCS teams in those two years as well (Arizona, UCLA, Boston College, and Oregon).  This is a high-powered offense and a team that knows how to win.

Defensively, BYU returns three starters.  While that seems like not a lot to work with, I still expect the Cougars to do a decent job.  Two starters are the defensive ends and look to fight their way into the backfield often this year.  Talented defensive ends should not only be able to stop the outside run but also create pocket pressure and force bad passes.  This team will do exactly that.

The defense as a whole is not expected to start a single freshman or sophomore.  While many of these players did not start last year, they have stuck with a program that develops talent well, especially in the secondary.

This is the team to beat in the non-BCS world this year.  Head coach Bronco Mendenhall very rarely gets blown out and will maintain his poise to take this team pretty far this year—I would say all the way to a BCS bowl.

Opponents: During the regular season BYU will play two BCS opponents, both in September and both in the Pac-10.  First, they visit Washington on September 6. The Huskies have been constantly imploding since Rick Neuheisel took the team to a victory at the Rose Bowl in 2001.

While Tyrone Willingham has done yeoman’s service cleaning this program up, his winning percentage has left many Huskies fans calling for his head. Here is the now infamous story about the Huskies’ downfall: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004147443_rboverview27m0.html.

The Huskies have not been the same since then, and BYU has too much talent to lose to Washington.  Look for a convincing win.

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