Boise State vs. BYU

You all know me and how I love to gab and gab about sports, well here I am again to plainly state my view on the two teams that have caused the most attention on my facebook. Being a fan of both teams I will make this sound as unbiased/most fair as I can make it.

Which team is better? Or more importantly which team will bust the BCS? After week three of the college football season its plain to see who's definitely got a better chance. That would be Boise State who is currently 3-0, ranked #8 in the nation, and to me only has two tough games that are stopping them from an undefeated season. That would be @ Tulsa, and at home against Nevada. You can't count out Hawaii too, because it has always been hard for Boise State to garner a win in Honolulu, and Boise State has lost the last two trips to Honolulu. Both in 2007 against conference champion and BCS buster Hawaii, and then later that year to East Carolina in their bowl game. Boise State has already topped their two biggest challenges on their schedule. A 19-8 win over previously ranked Oregon and a 51-34 win over Fresno.

Boise State had a close call on Saturday, even though the score doesn't tell. Boise State's run defense struggled as Fresno had three touchdowns on runs of 60+ yards. I hope to me it was an off night, but if it wasn't then Boise could have some challenges against Nevada who has a great scrambling quarterback calling the shots. Boise State didn't show much offense except for some big plays that garnered them the most points. They failed to efficiently drive down the field. They definitely have some more room to improve.

My prediction BSU finishes undefeated and is ranked #4 at the end of the regular season behind Florida, Texas, and Penn State.

Brigham Young University started this year under the radar at #20, but a thriller over #3 Oklahoma immediately put them on the spotlight. They jumped the most spots after a preseason poll ranking to #9 in the nation, ahead of Boise State and in the driver's seat to bust the BCS. After a 54-3 drubbing of Tulane it seemed like BYU had everything figured out. The defense was making plays, and the offense was back to how it was at the beginning of the 2008-09 year.

Then came Florida State. Florida State was previously ranked before losing to Miami, and then needing some last minute heroics to beat a terrible Jacksonville State team. With the game being in Provo, and the look of the Cougars it looked like BYU would be able to comfortably handle Florida State. Boy were they in for a surprise. Christian Ponder and the Seminoles had a sound first half. Scoring touchdowns on every drive. But BYU wasn't a slouch either. If it wasn't for an opening drive fumble in the redzone and a fumble on the last kickoff return, we could have went into halftime with the score 27-21, but instead 30-14. BYU was in catchup mode the rest of the game, and a pick 6 from Max Hall on the opening drive of the 3rd quarter didn't help much. Max Hall played like he did against TCU/Utah/Arizona last year. The defense was nowhere to be found. The Cougars could not make a stop on third down to save their life and the Florida State Seminoles rolled to a 54-28 victory.

BYU will be fine. Florida State is a solid team, and I believe they will have a successful season. BYU will also be successful if they tune up their defense, because let's face it, BYU cannot win when they go down by more than one score. They panic. They get in too big of a hurry and make up costly mistakes that turn a leak into a flood. Almost how I play my NCAA Football games on my XBOX. I worry for this team, and I don't think they'll be able to make a BCS berth this year. They'll be lucky to win the conference with the sound TCU team looking good.

My prediciont: BYU 10-2. They will lose to TCU and be 2nd in the MWC.

What do these two teams have in common? Well they both proved that they have a long ways to go on both offense and defense. Boise State has an easier schedule and right now that seems to be the better strategy, because even if BYU wins the rest of their games I don't think they'll be able to catch back up. And it will definitely look bad for BYU if they lose to Utah, because we all know who Utah lost to this week... Oregon. So even though we don't know which team is better right now, we do know which team has a better shot at the better games, and that is the BCS.