These are oldies but goodies. Thought maybe you guys might enjoy a glimpse into what makes this thing tick. There’s developmental programs and then there’s this guy. You can see pretty clearly why he’s stuck around, and why we really don’t ever have any turnover… relatively speaking of course.
(Sorry, very aware I’m going full-on hardcore homer. But with the Ireland game, I figured the platform makes it somewhat appropriate. Only 11 more days! I promise I’ll start spreading it around a little more after that. I’m following all of you. Appreciate you all!)
Here is AFR’s schedule show. They talk about every game on BYU’s schedule with a BYU angle. You may find it interesting. Blaine Fowler was the backup QB when BYU won a championship. Nixon is the you get guy and played in the NFL and played linebacker at byu in the 2000s. Also Taysom’s BIL. Dave Mcann might as well be me.
Very fair and complimentary angle w/ regard to ISU. Pretty surface level and it looks like a Big Ten Network TV studio segment with them standing there lol, but that’s ok because the production and legitimate look and feel to BYU commentary is always legitimately impressive, and it plays well to the masses I’d imagine which is important given your broad fanbase area and national/global brand appeal.
To me, BYU should and will start 6-0 going into the Holy War. One cause for concern if I were a BYU fan, is you have to figure out the offense on the fly EARLY. I think 6-0 is so very doable and 100% needs to be the expectation, not just the hope. It is a tall task for young Bear and company though, you’d almost rather open with one of those 4 hard games if you’re going to drop 1 or 2 anyways, which even two would be entirely reasonable and make for another elite season.
But overall the schedule breaks to me that it looks like it starts with 6 gimmes, four slobberknockers in a row, and then ends with 2 more gimmes (overexaggerating on purpose, but you get the jist). I don’t think BYU has to do anything but avoid a headscratcher stumble to get to 8-4. That’s probably entirely up to the “new offense”, I’ve seen and heard nothing but good things on D, so I think there’s confidence and high expectations on defense.
Good take from your guys. I love the BYE coming smack dab in the middle of your tough stretch. That’s HUGE imo. But it cuts both ways a bit because I’m going to double and triple circle that Texas Tech game in Provo because of it. That is the real swing game from bowl eligible solid season to another elite season as a conf title and CFP contender type season. Tech coming off @ KSU in Manhattan, and BYU getting a home game off a Bye? Absolutely need to handle Tech there Full stop, no excuses. Though, it completely remains to be seen what both teams are really going to look like at that point.
I’d throw Baylor in that mix to a lesser extent as “contenders but who really knows”. KSU ISU and ASU I think we have a better handle on what they will look like as contenders. But of course, that’s why we play the games, so there will obviously be wild deviations everywhere because that’s the Big 12 for ya.
For me, it’s coaching. I like their personnel, but my opinion is still Aranda is overrated as a HC. You give a top coach in this league his roster, they are a problem. They are no easy out by any means, but kind of middle of the road when it’s all said and done.
Bit of a hot take but I stand by it.
No disrespect to their roster, they might be as talented as anybody. I’m just not sure this one is demonstrably better than they have been with underwhelming results.
To be fair, you could say the same thing about your game against ISU as well.
Knowing that, I think we climbed into our shell a little bit and dared your offense to make us come out of it, but Houston was definitely right there for the majority of the low-scoring game.
This was actually really tough to do. I stand by this ranking emphatically, and I also think it’s going to be completely useless and wrong🤣
Arizona State
Iowa State
Kansas State
Kansas
TCU
Texas Tech
BYU
Baylor
Oklahoma State
Houston
Utah
UCF
Colorado
Cincinnati
West Virginia
Arizona
Big time buying KU, TCU, and yes gimme OSU too! Selling Utah and Colorado. Those are probably what would make mine somewhat unique. The bottom 3 are the bottom 3, but 1-13 wouldn’t shock me in just about any order. I want to flip BYU and Tech, but I’m actually a pretty big Behren Morton fan, so i gotta give them the edge over my man #47 Bear for now.
Tech is getting 5* from Georgia the SEC thought he would naturally play in SEC. The point is to pull for B12 as we take SEC recruits to get some parity.
1)Lance Leipold might be the best and certainly most underrated Football HC in the Big 12. (That’s should say something considering the steady diet of CMC developmental “more with less” propaganda I’m feeding you guys daily LOL.)
2)Last year at this time, KU was coming off 9 win season and picked pretty unanimously to finish 4th I don’t think much has changed overall despite their record in 2024. I’ll explain what I mean.
3)I’m telling you guys this guy LL is a SOB to go against. First off, they run a crazy spread option attack, they do a lot of out of the box stuff and give you all sorts of exotic looks. Ppl I trust say it’s a nightmare to prepare for. What’s worse is they scout you so well, they seem to always press the right button, they always seem to know what you are trying to do… and they always have a way to isolate your weaknesses and attack it. They play the pre-snap and matchup game really well, but they aren’t vanilla or predictable about it at all. Their system masks things and keeps people honest. Something the average fan doesnt really see easily, they play the pre-snap and scouting game so freaking well.
First 6 games, ok disaster city. Daniels was giving it away, 1-5 start. Stick a fork in them, KU is KU. And nobody can be blamed for thinking that, it’s totally understandable. BUT i think we all just mentally have them there. That’s why a sustained body of work and narratives are so important, and I get why we think this way about Kansas, trust me the narrative is well-deserved. But Leipold specifically, maybe not so much. Sure, it was a complete collapse by that group under pressure. If any team gets a one time pass with me for that, it’s Kansas. It happens to a lot more seasoned and storied programs, for sure.
5)KU got red hot down the stretch. Not much to play for, only the best of coaches and culture builders can do anything with a team who should be checking out…so what happens? After playing Arizona State tough, Rolling Houston, Loses close heartbreaker to KSU… they are sitting at 2-6. THEN outta nowhere they reel off 3 in a row…Against who, you ask? Peak ISU, BYU, and Colorado, respectively. It’s crazy we don’t give them credit for that run. One decent reason is they got blown out by Baylor to end the season. So, it kind of died with a whimper. I think that’s all the more reason they are laying in the weeds with nothing to lose and everything to gain. They think they’re legit, and I tend to agree. We will see.
Bonus points for Leipold owning ISU. They are literally the only current Big 12 team that can say that right now, so it’s hard for me to just ignore that. As fans we all have ways of explaining away or minimizing our losses. Even the ASU drubbing in the CCG, I can come up with a somewhat decent defense and play lawyer for my team. With KU I can’t. They just beat us fair and square any way you try to slice it, and fairly effortlessly to boot. We are simply outplayed and outcoached. Sure we lose our share of games, but rarely like that…except when we play Liepolds’s Jayhawks, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence.
7)Can Daniels stay healthy? If so, can he avoid shooting himself and his team in the foot. Hate to say it, but he’s unstoppable when he’s on. I really do hate it so very much, but I gotta respect it. 6TH YEAR talented QB who understands the system. Should be a recipe to sneak back up on people.
