Welcome to CrashUtah – Where BYU fans Talk Sports

Today I was seriously jonesing for something BYU, and there just wasn’t much to be had. If the men’s volleyball team had played better then maybe they would be defending their homecourt right now, but no.

Jonathat Tavernari is still testing the NBA waters, but if he leaves he is stupid in my opinion.

Matt Ah You is now a former BYU linebacker, though I can’t imagine why you would leave before your senior year. I’m sure he had a reason, and I wish him my best.

CNNSI.com had BYU listed under the barely missed it section of the post-spring top 25. Obviously this ranking doesn’t mean a whole lot, but the fact that TCU and Utah were both in the top 25 it goes to show that the MWC really made an indelible mark on the country last year.

I can’t imagine how Utah could be so high after losing Brian Johnson, Paul Kruger, and others but whatever, it is what happens on the field that matters, not the polls.

Tickets for the Oklahoma game should be released shortly which is exciting. Part of me hopes people are expecting a blowout so tickets will be cheaper. On the other hand, I want as many people as possible to see BYU be competitive. I guess we will see.

BYU’s softball team is now waiting to see where they will end up to take their shot at the women’s college world series. They should make a good run of it, if they get a good draw.

So while I am anxious for the football season to come, there is still quite a bit of BYU stuff going on.

This hasn’t been the best year when it comes to the head to head with utah, but I came across a pleasant surprise tonight.

My wife and I had just finished watching a show on our DVR and when I turned it back to live tv it was on ESPN, which is what it usually is. As I flipped up the ESPN stations the title said college rugby, so I decided to stop and take a look. As luck would have it, it was BYU and utah playing.

What was even more beautiful was that BYU was dominating, and they have continued to do so since I started watching. I started watching about ten minutes into the second half, and it has just been a BYU scorefest since then.

Now I won’t begin to tell you that I know much about rugby, but any idiot can tell you that winning by 39 is a good thing. The hits have been hard, the passes accurate, and the playmaking creative. Make that winning by 46. Call me crazy but that is a good score for the game, not just for margin of victory.

I really wish I had gone to more rugby games in high school, it is just so much fun to watch. Having gone to Highland High the few games I did see were a lot of fun to watch.

It is such a pure sport when it comes to straight up strength and skill against your opponent. From what I understand, it is also the ultimate team game. Having one or two stars does you no good if they don’t have the support behind them.

I am also just starting to enjoy more of the sports that aren’t as well followed. It is so refreshing to see athletes playing just for the thrill of playing your best and winning. There is no expectations of huge paydays from the pros, and no over-analyzation of the media.

Congrats to BYU for a dominating win, and good luck with the rest of the season.

With the conference tournament really starting today, it merits a few moments to consider what BYU stands to lose, and in turn gain, in the tournament.

In short, I really don’t think the outcome of the tournament will have a tremendous impact on BYU in terms of the NCAA tournament. Of course losing to Air Force in the first round would not be a good thing, but how likely is that to happen. Beyond a first round loss there really is not much damage to be done. Losing to San Diego St. would not be a huge upset, nor would losing to UNLV in their home invitational. Losing in the championship to anyone else would not be terribly tragic either.

In terms of what good can come of it, I also feel it is limited. Lets just say that BYU beats AFA, then either San Diego St. or UNLV who are pretty comparable, and Utah in the championship. All that may do is move BYU up one seed, two at the most. So instead of being an 8-9 seed they are a 7-8. There really is not a huge difference in the long run.

The biggest thing BYU could gain from the tournament is getting on a roll. It is insane how good they are when they get hot. With a shooting team like BYU it cannot be overlooked how important getting on a run can be. When shooters get hot it is hard to stop them. Playing three quality games in a familiar, if not friendly, arena could do wonders for helping them go into the big dance with some momentum.

Either way, I am excited for the tournament to start and the madness that is march to commence.

As a true BYU fan it is impossible for me to congratulate the heathen university to the north for anything, so let me thank Alabama for getting completely manhandled by a supposedly inferior opponent. Not only did you give me another win in my office pool, which I am sure no one else won, but you exposed the BCS yet again.

While I did not expect Bama to play that terribly, I knew that they were not the 10.5 point favorite that many expected. What was even more pathetic was how much the refs tried to help them win calling crappy pass interference calls throughout the game, and refusing to call anything on Bama.

I just love it when the better team wins despite having the odds, the fans, the refs, and the vast majority of America against them. It was truly an impressive showing, earned by a team that I truly hate.

What surprised me even more was all of the comments on the internet this morning in support of Utah as the number one team in the country. There were over 400 comments on one webiste, the vast majority of which agreed that Utah should be number one.

While it would be stupid to think they would kill USC, Texas, OU, or Florida, it would be difficult to argue that they wouldn’t at least give them a good game. Unfortunately the current system makes that impossible.

The case is actually quite simple for Utah: they are the only undefeated team in the country.

Some might say their schedule is weak. While the Michigan win lost its luster, no one would have expected that. Oregon St. beat USC, and while you could argue every team has an off week, apparently Utah didn’t, or at least they found a way to win on their “off” week. They also beat 3 teams that were in the final BCS standings (BYU, TCU, Alabama).

You could argue that the rankings were not accurate, but those same rankings that ranked those three teams, and kept Utah from a national title shot are the same rankings that put two teams with more losses than Utah into the national championship game.

Unfortunately, we are talking ourselves in circles because the powers that be don’t care about crowning a true national champion, they care about money. If the fans truly wanted to invoke change, they would boycott one or all of the BCS games. If the BCS lost all of that money they would be forced to make some changes. But that will never happen.

One comment I read asked how long the “mid-majors” like Utah, Boise St., BYU, and TCU would do nothing about changing the current system. This person obviously has no clue that all the non-bcs conferences have been begging for a long time for change, but the BCS refuses to budge.

What I really don’t understand is why the BCS is so afraid. If these other conferences are truly so inferior, they would never be ranked high enough to play in a BCS game, their “power conferences” would keep all of the money, and it would cease to be an issue. The reality is that just like in college basketball the playing field is leveling, and they want to keep their greedy little fingers on as much of the money as possible.

I place the blame on the NCAA for allowing a few money hungry people to control the biggest money maker in college sports. But, like everything else, I am sure the NCAA leaders get their cut and so they sit idly by letting someone else run their sport. Shame on them for letting the beautiful nature of sport and competition get taken away.

Let us all hope that someday they see the error of their ways and create a playoff system. It doesn’t need to be complicated, and it shouldn’t take an act of congress to make it happen.

The top 8 teams in the final standings of the season are selected regardless of conference affiliation, and regardless of how many times their universtiy presidents have gone fishing together. Their should be no automatic bids because some years you don’t deserve one (the ACC and Big East this year for example).

These four games are played at the four current BCS bowls (or you could add the Cotton Bowl and one more to save the bigger games for the “holy” BCS bowls).

The two semi-final games could be played at the remaining BCS bowls, if you chose to add the Cotton and one more.

The championship game location is selected just like the Super Bowl and gets played all over the country spreading the wealth and building the health of the sport as not only four cities in-turn get to profit from the game.

Once again we have seen that, just like the goverment, the BCS system is broken. Unfortunately, also like the government, the people that are in a position to make change care only about the money, and refuse to make a change. Thank you Bama for exposing them once again.

So I have not really trash talked the yewts in depth this year, because I honestly feel it is a waste of my time, and mostly self explanatory. However, I had to say something about one of the lamest acts I have ever seen in a sporting event.

In utah’s game last night against Oklahoma the joke named luka drca blatantly tripped one of the Oklahoma players. They were jawing a little bit as they started going down the court, but then being the coward that he is he kicked the other guy’s foot, tripping him. It is something you could see in any elementary school hallway without even looking hard.

I realize that the yewts suck this year, more than I can ever remember them sucking, but this was pathetic. Maybe he was just taking a cheap shot at Oklahoma because he feels the football team got robbed, but we all know that is not the case.

I am not one for blowing things out of proportion, but he really should be suspended for a game if you ask me. People do stupid things on the court all the time where they get technicals and that is sufficient, but this was a blatant shot that could have seriously injured the other guy.

Lets just hope they don’t pull some stupid crap like that when they play us.

In closing, congrats BYU on remaining undefeated, this season just looks more and more promising every week. Go Cougars!