BYU is featured in Sports Illustrated this week as the team having the best chance of any mid-major to crash the BCS.

But one of the SI writers has apparently already forgotten that Utah was the first BCS buster:

"If all goes well, the Cougars could follow in the footsteps of Boise State and Hawaii, who have reached BCS games in each of the past two years, and give the MWC that proverbial jackpot the WAC has hit the last two years."

Washington's points allowed defense from 2007 is listed as 134th in the NCAA and 13th in the PAC 10; OUCH!

Equally dangerous as a passer or runner, Jake Locker is the top returning rusher in the PAC 10 (986 yards).

Locker had 13 rushing TDs, 14 passing TDs, 15 interceptions, 155 of 328 passing for 2062 yards (47.3%).

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Redshirt junior Kevin Craft will start at quarterback for UCLA in its season opener against No. 18 Tennessee. In 2006, Craft played nine games, including five starts, as a redshirt freshman at San Diego State. He was 69-of-121 for 737 yards with four touchdowns and six interceptions that season.

He left for Mt. SAC, and was 313-of-511 for 4,231 yards, 44 touchdowns and 10 interceptions last season as the Mounties went 10-3 and won the Southern California Junior College championship.

Maybe Jeff knows more, but byucougars.com reported yesterday that Brenden Gaskins IS the backup quarterback.

I like the top three of the MWC better than the top three from the WAC (Boise St., Fresno St., Nevada). The MWC will make noise this year.

"Washington's points allowed defense from 2007 is listed as 134th in the NCAA and 13th in the PAC 10; OUCH!"

13th in the PAC-10? That is pretty bad.

Isn't there only 10 teams in the PAC-10? So being 13th in a league of 10 is really bad? Well then, I guess BYU should do some scoring on this Washington team.

What will be fun, and just getting ahead of myself some. If BYU beats Washington it will be fun to see who beats Washington by a bigger score: BYU or USC.

Who knows, maybe BYU loses but keep the fingers crossed.

And I do like how this guy went out of his way to get his transcrips. And the list of teams he turned down for BYU is dang impressive.

Mendenhall needs to keep the Cougs very focused but on paper these two games are looking better and better for BYU. Washington is pretty weak beyond Locker and UCLA has a very young, inexperienced o-line trying to protect an even more inexperienced QB. I think if we go into those games very focused we can take both by at least 2 tds. We need to do more than barely get a win like last season's bowl game. The BCS voters know WA and UCLA are struggling and they will need to see more than just a close W or they will look for reasons to put a 2 or 3 loss BCS team over us. If we are truly BCS worthy we should dominate our schedule. Say all you want about playing at Utah or TCU but the voters still see a BCS conference schedule as much much more difficult than anything the Cougs face. I really think WA and UCLA will both end up in the lower half of the PAC-10 and the voters will look at that.

WOW, Washington must be bad this year because theuy're behind all the real Pac-10 teams plus three imaginary ones! Idiot. Why do you think they call it the Pac-10? There are TEN teams in the conference, not 13. Oh, and just for your reference, there are 120 Division 1 teams, meaning again, you've added 14 mystical teams. Typical idiot BYU fan.

134th out of 120? 13th out of 10? Wow.... That's awesome. Do you work for WorldCom or the mortgage industry? I hope you are not an accountant. Your math skills are along the lines of Boo-Boo the monkey.

This is a position where it benefits both players for coaches NOT to make a clear cut choice. Keep them both on edge and working hard because it is the one backup position in which you may end up with almost zero quality on field time. So staying sharp through practice competition is needed to keep improving. The Beck - Beck situation was probably not ideal for Jason Beck. No one really pushed him. Not saying he didn't push himself but the backup at that position often needs something extra to keep him going especially when the started is so firmly entrenched like Hall. Whoever wins this battle I hope the coaches continue to describe it as very very close to keep both kids working hard.

13th out of 10. It's true. Apparently USC and Oregon's scout teams were ranked higher than Washington's varsity.

Read the entire sentence carefully--Utah was not a BCS buster in the last two years, but BSU and Hawaii were.

It's astounding how much information we glean when we read all the words in a sentence, rather than just the first few and jump to a conclusion about what the rest of the sentence says.

MT in MD

As usual, brainless Ute sarcasm can't see the forest for the trees and ignores the real point:

Washington's defense last season was horrible, and their offense wasn't much better.

Husky Team Stats

taken directly from the Sports Illustrated Washington Huskies Team Page:

---------------per game---NCAA---PAC10
Total Offense--394.2 yds---57th---6th
Total Defense--446.4 yds--106th--10th
Points Scored---29.2 pts---82nd---8th
Points Allowed--31.6 pts--134th--13th

official stats from the NCAA:
---------------per game---NCAA---PAC10
Total Offense--394.2 yds---60th-------
Total Defense--446.4 yds--103rd-------
Points Scored---29.2 pts---51st-------
Points Allowed--31.6 pts---92nd-------

I project the Utes will be 15th in the MWC and 172nd overall...

I don't know if i would trust any of preview's stats after those first couple of blunders.

And that Washington quarterback is a special player, but cbs.sportsline reported in their pac-10 preview that he's had a nagging hamstring strain that won't go away, and when you're a quarterback that has both the running game and the passing game on your shoulders it's tough to stay healthy, and I bet it'd be even harder if you don't start out healthy.

Goooooo Cougars!

Hey, genius, next you're going to tell me there's more than 10 teams in the Big Ten.

Catching punts, that would be fun.

Everybody knows BYU has the best football team in the country.

You probably think the Big Ten logo has the number "11" in it.

Stats and ordinals are directly from SI and NCAA. Don't shoot the messenger. Verify the stats yourself, then complain to the webmasters.

Anybody with half a brain would have realized that the original preview ordinals were a farce and were posted BECAUSE they were ridiculous.

Such a typical BYU post...your team isn't the best in the nation (far from it). You must be one of those fair-weather fans that doesn't know who the quarterback is.

IT IS GOING TO BE A FUN YEAR WATCHING UTAH AND BYU FOOTBALL. IT SOUNDS LIKE BYU IS LOADED WITH TALENT. AS A UTAH GRAD GOING TO GRAD SCHOOL AT BYU I WAS A LITTLE NERVOUS ABOUT WEARING RED AT COUGARS STADIUM WHICH I DID ALL YEAR. I WASNT ASSAULTED, SWORN AT OR HAD (ROOT)BEER POURED DOWN MY NECK.I EVEN FELT COMFORTABLE TAKING MY WIFE TO THE GAMES. IT'S KINDA NICE HAVING A FAMILY ENVIROMENT AT THE GAMES. AS A DIEHARD UTE I HAVE TO ADMIT THE COUGARS HAVE CLASS. PS MY DAD ALLWAYS TALKS ABOUT POPCORN ROGERS WHO RAN A KICKOFF BACK 100 YARDS FOR A TOUCHDOWN IN COUGAR STADIUM CIRCA 1981.ANYBODY OUT THERE REMEMBER THAT GAME?

Little uptight today, are we? Learn to laugh.

BYU is once again freakin' awesome.

BYU will be decent but the Utes will win it all this year. GO NORTHERN IOWA

Sports Illustrated .com had Washington Defensively at 106th in the nation and 10th in the PAC 10 last year.

Of course, BYU won the MWC the last two years, and beat Utah both years also, so if we are going to use last year for this year's matchup, why even play any games.

Let's just have Craig Thompson sit in the Luxury Box and have someone run down and give BYU the trophy now.

And re: kitty litter, I have read your post and found it to be deep, insightful, and respect you not only for your dazzling intellect, but for the way you have disected the upcoming season. There is no way to argue your facts.

"re: re: Blah Blah Blah | 12:19 p.m. Aug. 19, 2008
Such a typical BYU post...your team isn't the best in the nation (far from it)."

Brilliance!!!

"Read the entire sentence carefully--Utah was not a BCS buster in the last two years, but BSU and Hawaii were."

Right, so what's the big deal about reading the sentence slowly?

Can we get a kid's table, and one for those who know football?

Kitty Litter...

Perfect description of where Chris Hill would keep Utah's Football and Basketball Programs the past two years.

I like it!

Maybe I am confused...or maybe Harmon is becoming senile, but I could've sworn that he reported yesterday in one of his blogs that Gaskins had won the backup QB role. Then, in this article here, he reports that the #2 QB spot is still in contention.

What gives, Dick? No need to worry. On the BYU Cougars website, it is official.

Enough what the guff . . I'm ready for the opening kick-off to see what the Cougs can do on the field. I'll cheer for the Utes for every game this year except facing BYU blue. Cougars have the talent anc coaching to win every game . . . now can talent be channeled into motivation and protected from over-confidence!

Correction. Dick Harmon didn't write the above story. It was Jeff Call.

Catching punts is tough.

Getting hit is tougher.