In my opinion

[Goatnapper'96]

that was a statement game. UNM might be the 2nd best team in the MWC, perhaps they are a bit lower but it is difficult to argue that they were not playing like a top tier team coming into that game.

They had marked their calendars for that game ever since last year. They were taken to the woodshed in Provo and it was their chance to make a statement game. Rocky commented on how excited he was to get BYU in his house this year and they made the game homecoming. This was their game of the year.

UNM, as one of the top tier MWC teams, also was returning their entire team that left Provo last year wearing diapers dripping fecal matter out of a sorely stretched out anal sphincter. With all these returning players and all that emotion they got an early matchup with a rebuilding BYU team.

BYU lost pretty much every skill player from last year's good squad. Relying upon offensive skill players that include 3 sophmores and one freshman, none of whom had played the past two years presents a BYU squad that is ripe for a MWC top tier UNM team to beat at home.

Further, on the road BYU didn't play exactly crisp, though I think a great deal of this was due to UNM. Specifically, I think they got in Max Hall's head. It is huge advantage to run that defense against teams with innexperienced qbs. The scheming advantage bolstered UNM as BYU's solid pass offense was consistently struggling.

In the end, BYU won the game. It won the game because it made the key plays at the key times. Key defensive stops, it made fewer mistakes and it connected on a long bomb that the high risk-high reward blitzing defensive scheme exposes itself to. I watched the game and I concluded that BYU is better coached. They are more consistent. I agree with Rocky's sentiment that his team is just as good as BYU- this year. The - this year is my own caveat. I think UNM has the same potential to be as good as BYU this year. However, because BYU has a superior coaching staff they will win more games this season because they are more consistent. I don't buy the argument that UNM is as talented as BYU.

BYU's talent is innexperienced. That is why UNM can be as good as BYU this year. Next year when Max Hall has seen that defense once and if Austin Collie is 100% you will witness another trip to the woodshed for the Lobos complete with the requisite diapers to wear home to catch the dripping fecal matter when the Lobos learn that "my little Pony" is hung like a horse.

What does all of this mean and why the hell did I steal 15 minutes from my employer to play cheerleader? I think that if such a rebuilding BYU team can beat a top tier MWC team who considers the game to be their game of the year, and the comforting argument around the conference is to use what I might refer to as "zoob logic" to justify that UNM is just as good a team as BYU, is not a good omen to MWC foes. This is the year to get a shot in on BYU and it might not appear many of them have the talent and ability to take it.

I think we are beginning to see credible evidence that Coach Mendenhall is indeed returning BYU back to being a consistent program. It takes years to accomplish that, but in those years is included many games just as was witnessed on Saturday.