TLOS Preview: #17 Brigham Young

By John Gorman
Love of Sports Correspondent

(Starting August 1st, The Love of Sports began featuring one college football program each day, breaking down their offense, defense and - most importantly - their food, beverage, cheerleaders, tailgating prowess and all-around campus life! That’s because those are the things we value here the most. College football is all about the atmosphere, and that’s exactly what we’ll give you all season long!)

Today’s Preview: Brigham Young Cougars

TLOS Preseason Rank: #17
TLOS Predicted Record: 11-2
2007 Record: 11-2
Returning Lettermen: 50

Brigham Young is a paradox.

Nestled in Provo, Utah (pop. 115,000), it’s a haven 45 miles south of Salt Lake City with panoramic vistas of mountains, lakes, pine trees and rainbows. Over 34,000 undergraduates are proud students of BYU, making it the second-largest private university in the United States.

The student body is active in church and community functions, and they often take a year off to travel the globe and spread the good lord’s word. They are widely considered the nicest, most wholesome college students in the land. They make State College look like South Bronx by comparison.

In this little utopia in the heart of Nirvana, where cars let people pass on the left and the sky rains gold coins, a rude awakening awaits the out-of-towners on gameday.

Cougars. And no, not the type you bring home from the bar – though they play just as rough.

BYU’s athletic prowess is amongst the most highly-regarded. The football team has historically – and recently – been one of the most storied programs in the nation, despite meager stature in the Mountain West (though, admittedly, the Mountain West is our favorite football conference, because games are always on until 2:00am and they generally involve a score in the neighborhood of 57-51).

The lions of the great Wasatch Mountains are back and ready to roar, waking up their sleepy town and making some noise nationally.

So come along, let’s assume the missionary position and preview your 2008 BYU Cougars.

Offense

The Cougars will attempt to run the ball early and often with sophomore sensation Harvey Unga. Unga was a revelation last year as a freshman and should help BYU control the clock. When Unga requires some rest, look no further than the explosive Fui Vakapuna. Although he missed some time due to injury last season, the senior has the ability to bulldoze his way through the line and pick up short yardage.

Junior quarterback Max Hall led all QBs in his graduating class last season in passing yards. He’s efficient and throws a pretty deep ball. His receivers run routes well and should be there to clean up for him in case he’s not right on target. Last year, the Cougars hit their opponents up early, doubling up the opposition’s scoring output in the first quarter (79-40).

Defense

Linebacker Jan Jorgenson is absolute beast. He eats running backs up and puts pressure on the quarterback with unparalleled speed. He’ll draw double teams on a consistent basis, freeing up the rest of the line to make noise when needed. The big question mark for BYU will be how quickly their relatively green secondary gets acclimated to the air-it-out Mountain West. Junior corners Scott Johnson and Brandon Howard will need to get up to speed quickly to avoid the early season let-down loss against teams that try to exploit this weakness.

The Schedule

BYU’s schedule isn’t a cakewalk, but it sure sets up nicely for them. After a guaranteed win at home against Northern Iowa, they’ll face their first “big test” of the year against Washington. The Huskies haven’t been relevant in years, so we project that they’ll put the dogs to sleep. The game of the year comes September 13th against UCLA. This is where we see the perfect season go up in smoke.

BYU should go on a bit of a tear in the remaining portion of their schedule, with away games at Utah State and Colorado State sandwiching a favorable homestand against New Mexico, TCU and UNLV. TCU is nothing to sneeze at, but the Cougars should rock the Horned Frogs in front of the home crowd.

Their homecoming game against San Diego State should be an easy win, but those last two games against Air Force and Utah are both on the road, and one of those two teams should topple the Cougars.

Overall Outlook

The Cougars’ motto this season is “Quest for Perfection.” While we don’t necessarily believe they’ll achieve this, it is important to note that two of the last three teams to make noise in the BCS from outside the power conferences were Utah and Boise State – close proximity to Cougarland.

We project they’ll assuredly win 10 games again this season and give them an arbitrary 20% chance of going all the way. Should they prove us wrong and end with a doughnut in the loss column, then drinks are on us next time we visit Provo.

Bold Prediction

The Over/Under on BYU players who get engaged during the season will be set at 17. We’re taking the over. (Over half of all BYU students tie the knot before they graduate, easily the highest rate in the nation.)

School Atmosphere

Pregaming

So, where do you pregame when you’re visiting a school and city that’s 98% Mormon? Well … uh … so, did we mention BYU is a dry campus? Students don’t drink, smoke, take drugs or have extra-marital sex (now you know why they get married so quickly). They’ve won the championship for No. 1 Most “Stone Cold Sober” campus in the country most every year since The Princeton Review started releasing those fabricated reports. No wonder my mom snuck BYU promotional materials under my pillow when I was 15.

Somehow, they rank in the Top 10 “Happiest Campuses” in the United States, in spite of all of this. So, where do you pregame?

I suppose you could check out one of their many vaunted museums. I also hear they have a gorgeous tabernacle. Any of these places will probably do. Get loud and nasty with your Cougar spirit. Or just try the parking lot – but bring a flask and a bible to hide it in. Go all Shawshank with it.

After the Game

Amazingly, the second-largest private university in the United States has not a single fraternity or sorority to its credit. So, your jungle juice postgame bash options are pretty limited. Oh, and good luck finding a bar. When we googled “BYU bars” or “Provo bars” we came up with sushi bars, juice bars, coffee bars and candy bars.

Unbelievably, we did some digging and found Atchafalaya (God Bless You!) Nightclub, which sounds like a wild after hours joint? And it is! It comes very highly recommended by the student body. Do check it out. If you’re not in the clubbing mood, head down to University and Center Streets, where numerous bars (real bars!) await. There’s City Limits Tavern and Season’s, to name a couple. It’s right off campus, so have a look see.

Want to really celebrate? We’d grab 10 of our closest friends, grab a blanket or six, hike straight to the top of Y Mountain and pass around a hookah and a bottle of scotch. Breathing the crisp mountain air, and eyeing scenic views of the campus and adjacent lake after a Cougar crushing. Sounds like heaven just got a little closer to Provo.

The Stadium

LaVell Edwards Stadium sits 64,000 comfortably – if you consider battleship bleachers comfortable. For those who like a little cushion during the big game, the BYU block letters signify luxury seats. Make sure you take in the surrounding scenery while you’re there. BYU boasts (along with Montana and Northern Arizona, but they are I-AA schools) the most gorgeous natural landscaping in college athletics. You can catch the Wasatch range and that Y Mountain we were talking about earlier.

It’s interesting to note that the largest collection of Jurassic fossils in North America is stored under the stadium as well. If you look closely, you can also find Jimmy Hoffa, Walt Disney and Kevin Federline.

Notable Alumni

--Mitt Romney – Former Governor of Massachusetts, our next president
--Jon Heder – Thespian, made like infinity boondoggles at scout camp
--Aaron Eckhart – Screen Queen, famous for playing dudes who steal your girlfriend and lunch money
--Jack Morris – The Chuck Norris of pitchers, threw a 10-inning one-hitter in Game 6 of a World Series
--Danny Ainge – Nearly ruined the Celtics before GM’ing them to a championship this year
--Steve Young – Best. Left-handed. Quarterback. Ever.
--Ty Detmer – Set a bunch of QB records in college, too bad those touchdowns don’t roll over like cell phone minutes
--Jim McMahon – Did the Super Bowl Shuffle with Da Bears
--Johnny Miller – Pre-eminent Golf Announcer, won a U.S. Open back in the Bronze Age
--Mike Weir – Token Canadian on the list, won a Masters, eh?

Shameless Cheerleader Pics!

PREVIOUS PREVIEWS

#25 - Fresno State Bulldogs
#24 - Penn State Nittany Lions
#23 - Oregon Ducks
#22 - Arizona State Sun Devils
#21 - Michigan Wolverines
#20 - Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors
#19 - Texas Tech Red Raiders
#18 - Boston College Eagles

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(The thing we like to do most while watching college football is drink an ice cold beer! If you like to do the same, then check out our sister site, The Love of Beer, to see what we’re drinking today.)