BYU Football: Rock Bottom, It's Here

It's bye week. That is great news!

The best thing about BYU’s bye this Saturday is that the Cougars will not be facing a team with a winning record.

Yes, BYU has won six games this season. No, not one of those six wins has come against a team with a current winning record. Beating Central Florida is the biggest standout of BYU’s 2011 résumé. The Knights are 4-4.

In other good news, the next two games are automatic wins. Coming off its bye, BYU will host Idaho and New Mexico State. The Vandals and the Aggies have combined for four total wins with an impressive 4-12 record.

BYU can thank its schedule for what will be wins No. 7 and No. 8...

Sloppy Joes, Sloppy Sloppy Joes

Beating TCU in first downs 24-14, in total yards 354-283 and in time of possession all looks great on paper. Losing the final score 38-28—well, that’s not so impressive.

Clean snaps: Do they mark the difference between the haves and have-nots of college football?

Maybe not.

Having a coach that wears something better than a sloppy gray T-shirt on the sideline, maybe so.

If the Cougars follow the trend of the season, the game at Hawaii on Dec. 3 will be another loss. After all, at 5-3 Hawaii looks primed to have more W’s than L’s come December.

BYU beating a winning team this year would be asking far too much.

Pick on Someone Cougar-sized?

If independence is going to work in Provo, the cougar ship has got to turn around in a hurry.

The schedules of the next few seasons loom like icebergs for a team that looks shabby in comparison to say, the Titanic.

Is BYU football sinking into irrelevance on the national scale?

Yes it is. And the only way to fix the problem is to beat teams a bit more formidable than Idaho or New Mexico State.

2012 Gets Tougher

Next season BYU will face Georgia Tech, Utah, Boise State and Notre Dame. If the execution, grit and guts of this team do not solidify in the offseason, BYU fans can look forward to watching the Cougars lose each one of those games against competition that plays smarter, faster and with more confidence.

2013 Is Even Tougher Than 2012...

2013 only gets worse. Texas, Georgia Tech, Houston, Boise State, Notre Dame and Utah will all expose the Cougars' sloppy play and stalled drives in the red zone.

Matching the difficulty of the 2013 schedule, BYU plays Texas, Georgia Tech, Houston, Boise State, Southern Miss and Utah in 2014.

Cougars Gettin' Jimmered

The BYU fans that fill the 65,000 seats in LaVell Edwards Stadium have been screaming for a better schedule. They want to watch big-time college football, not The Battle of the Sisters of the Poor for the Golden Pom-Pom.

The fans’ wish will be granted. When BYU announced its independence, TCU coach Gary Patterson warned BYU to be careful what it wishes for.

Fans: Are you sure you want to see better competition play in Provo? Good competition plus lackluster efforts will equal the great sinking decline to BYU football—for good.

SOS, Big 12, SOS!