Cougars-Beavers: Mountain West's BYU Embarrasses Pac-10 Darling, 44-20

So that was it?

That was the big, bad, fierce, beast from the so-called BCS conference Pac-10?

Okay, whatever.

In the build-up to the 2009 Las Vegas Bowl, all I heard about was how good the Oregon St. Beavers were.

All the talk was about the Rodgers brothers, their brutal "Civil War" with Oregon to decide who got roses, their overwhelming speed, and their superior Pac-10 conference.

But come game time, all I saw was an inferior Beaver squad playing against a better, more structured, and more prepared BYU team.

After giving up seven early points BYU went on to score the next 37 straight points crushing the Beavers 44-20.

BYU QB Max Hall was terrific, throwing for three touchdowns, and the Cougar defense shut out the Beavers in the second and third quarters.

It was a rout, a mis-match.

In fact, BYU played better teams in their own conference.

Tonight, the Beavers showed they would be a fourth place team in the Mountain West. I'm not exaggerating. I'm being serious. The Beavers were lucky to be playing in the Pac-10 this year.

No, I'm not some clueless Pro-Mountain West guy either. I understand that the Mountain West has the likes of New Mexico and Colorado St., but they also have three top 10 caliber teams and it's been that way for the last half decade.

So do you think I was surprised when the ESPN announcers said in the second quarter that BYU was opening a can of whoop ass on the Beavers' backside?

Of course not.

BYU's been playing the likes of TCU and Utah lately; the Beavers were a step down.

That's a fact.

Not only did the Beavers get waxed on the field, they got out coached in every way. This was no fluke. It wasn't the windy conditions, the civil war let down, no, BYU was just better. Max Hall was better, Harvey Unga was better, Bronco Mendenhall was better. Even the Cougar cheerleaders were better.

But was does it all mean?

Nothing, really.

Without a playoff, this particular game, along with every other bowl game, except one, is meaningless.

Now we just talk about how maybe the Mountain West should get more consideration to play in more meaningless BCS bowl games.

We do it every year. It's nonsense.

All that can be said about this year's Las Vegas bowl, is that BYU right now, is a better team than Oregon State. And I stress "right now," because that's all we know.

In every other sport "right now" is what counts. Playing great "right now" means you advance on, you continue to prove it on the field. But not college football.

With this win, BYU is done. They can't advance to any next round. It doesn't matter that they are playing their best football of the year. Nope, time to go home and watch other undefeated, or one and two loss teams play in bowl games that mean nothing as well.

It's stupid.

So while it was nice to see the Pac-10 exposed by the so-called "inferior conference," I have to admit, it means nothing.

Sadly to say, it meant nothing a year ago, when undefeated Utah opened a can of whoop ass on Alabama.

In meant nothing, when three years ago, undefeated Boise St. punk'd Oklahoma.

It meant nothing five years ago, when undefeated Utah, mopped the floor with Pittsburgh.

And it will only get sadder when undefeated TCU, the best team in America, plays undefeated Boise St. in their meaningless bowl game.

College football is so sad. Really, it is.

Can you imagine if say the NFL's Colts' went undefeated after the regular season and then were put directly into the Super Bowl? Why not? College football does it? We all know the Chargers are playing their best football right now, but who cares? They aren't undefeated.

Even worse can you imagine if the Chargers were undefeated, but say the AFC sent the Colts anyway because of a tougher conference?

Hogwash.

But, oh well, nothing anyone can do about it.

So, oh yeah, there was a game tonight, sorry.

All that happened tonight, was that BYU beat the living crap out of Oregon St., and exposed the Pac-10 as being no better than the Mountain West.

And what exactly does that mean?

Absolutely nothing.