Why are BYU fans so confident they’re going to beat us this?

[Ghost of the HEB]

They seem to bring up last year’s game as evidence that they’re better than us, and how they were winning for the first three quarters. Somehow they forget it barely took a quarter to embarrass them with our backup QB and RB, in a cold game, the week after learning we clinched the South and had no motivation to come out swinging against them.

What I would give for a another 54-10

[Italy88]

I’m baffled by it.  I was honestly just asking myself this question an hour ago.  I can’t figure out where all of their confidence for this years’ game is coming from.  They have to be the stupidest people on planet earth.  I continually see them stating that every position group they have minus the d-line is better than Utah this year…

[Larry B]

Ty’son Williams is somehow the best RB they’ve ever had. Zach Wilson is already better than Steve Young. Our O-line is going to get man handled by their D-line. Britain Covey and Zach Moss will both sit out. We don’t have any receivers that can beat their DB’s. Our LB’s can’t handle Matt Bushman.

These are all things you will read if you go to Cougarboard.

[ALUF]

There hasn’t been anything to show why they will win this past decade…blue goggles on nice and tight

[Tacoma Ute]

Maybe because they’ve damn near beat us each and every one of the last seven games and have had a chance in the last minute, or seconds of each.

[CincyUte]

This.  We’ve played well enough to win each year . . . but that’s about it.  We certainly haven’t shut them up. 

It needs to happen this year.  A nice old fashioned beating to the tune of 34-10 would do the trick.

[Tony (admin)]

Honestly we haven’t come close to clicking whe we play them in recent years.

[SkinyUte]

Doubt it. Even 54-10 didn’t keep them from claiming they were the better team.

[CincyUte]

That is true too.  But in their minds, 54-10 was an outlier.  And to be fair, we probably weren’t really 44 points better than they were that season.  We just really brought it that night and they basically folded once we turned up the heat.

What we need this year is–not just a solid point spread–but to be clearly in control from start to finish. In other words, this needs to be just an otherwise-unremarkable butt kicking.

[whitlessham]

Even 54-10 was tight heading into halftime.  I get why the zoobs think they have a decent shot…. because they almost always have a decent shot

[Stone]

Agreed. Frankly, I think it is often Utah fans that are unrealistic and myopic when it comes to predicting the outcome of games against BYU. Is Utah more talented? Yes. Should Utah win? Yes. But to think we will dominate them is belied by actual results from the past decade when every year those same statements were true (aside from the one outlier game that ENDED far out of reach).

[gUrthBrooks]

Exactly, “If it weren’t for the 7 unforced turnovers we would have won.” “We’re still the better team” “Those darn unforced errors, we only beat ourselves.”

[PhiladelphiaUte]

It’s because neither “logic” nor “reason” are part of the zoobies’ “brand”.  Down there in the bubble, a “close” game means either (1) “almost won”, or (2) “total domination” if they’re the ones coming out on top.  And in the first case, “almost won” means they were the better team, and we’d just gotten lucky, and that they therefore would/should be the favored team the next time around.

Don’t forget that back in ’08 zoob nation considered our 48-24 live-TV vivisection to have been a “close” game — because we only led by a FG by the end of the first half — but they consider their 3-pt OT win back in ’09 as a “dominating” performance.

Cougar fans are also traditionally uneducated.  Even mendenmidmajor said so.  If Utah led the entire game, then takes a series of knees to expire the clock, it counts as just as “close” of a game as if Utah had stopped them on 4th-&-goal, from the 1-yd line, as time expired.  And just look at how many games we’d ended in the “Victory Formation” DESPITE being well within additional scoring range.  Just because Utah DIDN’T run up the score, that doesn’t mean that we COULDN’T have.  But the zoobs just don’t understand that concept.

[whitlessham]

Dude, Utah has never dominated the zoobs all 4 qtrs.  What I’d like to see is the type of beatdown UofM and LSU put on the zoobs…. now that was a beatdown with no if’s or but’s

 

[PhiladelphiaUte]

Dude…we don’t NEED to dominate them for all 4 quarters. History has shown that we really only need to dominate them for just 1 of them.

And for the record, the OP was never about “How many quarters must the Utes dominate the zoobs?”. It was “Why are ybU-p fans so confident they’re going to beat us this year?” Your response failed to address either the OP, nor the comment to which you’d responded. That’s zoob logic. Don’t go there. It makes you look stupid.

[ProudUte]

I know Cougar board fans can be a little extreme because they can hide behind a computer monitor.  I have many BYU fans in my family and have many BYU friends.  Not one of them is saying anything like what you say is being posted on the Cougar board.  I don’t go there, so I have no clue what is being said there.  

I have not talked to one BYU fan that thinks they are going to beat Utah.  I assume part of this is simple sandbagging after losing 8 straight games.  I was talking to one BYU friend last week and told him Moss might not play because of a broken finger.  His response was that Utah’s 4th string running back is better than anything they have.  Most people I know are hopeful that Zach Wilson will develop into a top tier QB.  However, they are realistic about these first four games on their schedule and how Wilson will perform in them.  They are high on Wilson but realize he needs some top-level wide receivers and he doesn’t have any.  They hope that he will be able to utilize his tight ends which they are more comfortable with.

The BYU fans I know are hopeful about this season and as fans, they should be.  But, not one of them is gloating yet.  However, if the Cougs upset the Utes, I know I will never hear the end of it.  After they beat Wisconsin last season, they went nutts.  I tried to tell them that this was not the Wisconsin of old and they should hold their emotions in check.  But, they couldn’t do that.

[Tednab]

Going back to some of last years games, I think the Utes underperformed a lot ; which has me being a little concerned for this year .. humans are creatures of patterns and behaviors .. frankly I thought we were going to lose to BYU three quarters in; before they started to pulled their heads out ( that forth quarter rally showed a lot of heart ) .. They were frustrating to watch playing against AZ St, Northern Ill, Washington st and pathetic against Northwestern. I think they have all the potential to go far , as long as they stay focused and hungry . We’ll know the answers to some of those questions in 16 days .. With that said, I haven’t been this excited for the season to kick off for a long while .. In the past, I was always excited to just get to a bowl . now that excitement, expectation and probability of going further is an actual reality .. it’s time to shut up put up and play ball . GO Utes !

[leftyjace]

Maybe it’s cuz I’m a big dude and people don’t want to mess with me, but I don’t get anyone razzing me and saying “BYU’s gonna win this year”. Anyone I talk to about the game that is a BYU fan lowers their eyes and admits there’s a very low chance they could win. Most every BYU fan I talk to seems resigned to the fact they’re going to lose.

I dunno.

[dystopiamembrane]

No reason to be c**ky. We know that these games are always close.

[ProudUte]

I agree.  There is no reason to be c**ky.  If it’s a one TD game, anything can happen in the end and it happened to us many times in the past.  For example:

– The infamous doink

– Harlene

– 4th and 18 completion to Collie

– The fumble in 2000 that wasn’t called and led to a late score for BYU to win

– In 2001 – we led the whole way.  If our RB hit the hole with 2 minutes to go – we win

– Max Hall’s OT pass in 2009

These are all examples of times BYU won with late miracles.  If the game stays close, anything can happen.  We need to knock these guys out early.  

[Charlie]

No big deal.  I expect everyone we play is thinking they could win.  In the 80s, over and over I thought I saw a way to win this game, why wouldn’t they do the same.  The thing is we soon play the game and see.  Oh, and if you think you will win and don’t, the disappoint is porportional to the expectation.

In the 80s there was very little red in their stadium and a lot of blue in ours.  That has been reversed, no reason to stress.  I have been where they are and walking out of the stadium clearity on this question arrives.  Likely this year the game and score will be more convincing that usual.  See you in Provo.

[UtMtBiker]

Aside from the logic and reasoning comment which i think is dead on. They also need to be optimistic hoping that they catch us unprepared and squeak out aclose win in an ugly 6 turn over kind of game.

If they get trounced and lose confidence the trip to Tenessee looks nearly impossible. 0-2 into USC and Washington could easily turn 0-4 and cause chaos in ptown.

Toledo should be a win but not a gimmie on the level of Umass. 1-5 against a USF team that started 7-0 last year. Throw in some injuries to a couple key players and it gets ugly quick.

1-6 going into Boise and USU who both beat them last year. Losing both is a real possibility but I’ll give them a split.

2-7 takes them to a “WTH” loss to Temple.

2-8 and Zoobville is fasting to know if they should want Sitake to be fired.

2 wins against Umass and ISU and they start talking about turning the corner for 2020 and drop the last game to SDSU.

4-9 for the season and Sitaki “resigns”.

[Chidojuan]

Yup, the front half of the schedule is brutal enough to cause the team to mentally check out by the time they reach Toledo if they haven’t won a game.  From there, it’s anyones guess if the season is salvageable.  With their depth issues, it could get ugly really fast.  4-9 is actually a very reasonable prediction.

[Charlie]

They often show the ability to upset someone. Will that be someone out of the MWC? Or do they catch lightning and get a P5 that overlooks them? I do think they can get a big upset win but still not have 6 wins.

[St George Ute]

My neighbors are big BYU fans. Great people, great friends. We were talking a couple weeks back and they said they thought this was BYU’s year. I asked why and they said “we deserve it” and “we have to win eventually”.

My response…”Do you really???” 🙂

I think some fans look at the match up as so close that the law of averages states that over a large sample, they should win 50% of the time. They fail to respect the fact Utah is just a better team.

I hope to see them prove it once again in 15 days time.

[leftyjace]

Lol I just heard you say “Do you rreeeaaaaallllyyy?” in my head.

[St George Ute]

Yeah, that’s pretty much how it sounded coming out of my mouth too. 😀

[EagleMountainUte]

“Deserve it.” 😝