[SeattleUte]

A monster win for the Utes, and an absolutely meaningless loss for BYU.

On the one hand, the Utes come into the season minus all their key skill position offensive players from last year, including their quarterback (the top player picked in the NFL draft), and with a thoroughly untested quarterback, and a new coach with no head coaching experience. On the other hand, Utah's fans have been spoiled silly by success, and Whittingham didn't exactly inherit a bare cupboard. The Utes really needed this win against Arizona, a Pac 10 team, with a coach who has a proven record of success, that finished last year drubbing ranked arch rival Arizona State. A Ute loss wouldn't have necessarily told that much about the future, but it sure was nice for Whit to start his carreer with a win in these circumstances. Also, it seems there was a real reality check with Brian Johnson. The eighteen year old showed a lot more than promise. Finally, this was the kind of game McBride would have lost 80% of the time; it had all the elements.

BYU on the other hand, is at the opposite end of the spectrum. Three straight losing seasons, three straight losses to Utah, eleven straight losses to ranked teams, etc. The coach is new, and it takes a long time to turn around a football program in BYU's condition. I could cite a lot of coaches who struggled mightily early on with football programs, only to create greatness three years or so down the road: Lavelle Edwards, Bill McCartny (Colorado), Lou Holtz (Notre Dame), Bill Parcells. There are many other examples. This first game for BM is meaningless. BYU fans should realize they have a long climb if the team is to regain respectability. It seems that those who predict instant success are always the ones who are the first to turn on the coach. These fans are immature and not realistic.

Had BYU won a logical explanation might have been that it was a fluke.