The unranked Arizona Wildcats and their head coach Mike Stoops never made the AP Top 25 Poll during the 15-week regular season, but showed how overranked No. 17 Brigham Young University was by beating the Cougars 31-21 in the Las Vegas Bowl.
BYU wanted to strut its stuff at the expense of Arizona but came up sucking pond water in Louisiana. After getting whipped by Arizona Saturday (12-20-08), the Cougars finished the year at 10-3 while the Wildcats ended their campaign at 8-5.
There is a real significance to BYU's only 3 losses, and it is this: the Cougars got beat by the only 3 decent teams they played all year. After waltzing through 6 straight wins and rising to No. 8 in the AP Poll, the Cougars traveled to TCU and got crushed 32-7. After 4 more wins against weak opponents on an easy schedule, they ran smack into the Utah and got burned 48-24.
Both Utah and TCU are from the same Mountain West Conference as BYU, and Utah went on the win the MWC title with an unbeaten 8-0 record and a 12-0 perfect regular season. TCU was runner-up in the Conference and BYU was 3rd.
Who would have thought that the mighty Cougars, now ranked No. 17 and with an "outstanding" 10-2 record, would have a problem with a 7-5 Arizona squad? Answer: Mike Stoops and everyone on his Wildcat team.
Just listen to BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall after being upset by Arizona: "Ten and three is a solid season, but the standards here are much higher," said Mendenhall. "Our standards here are to win the conference championship and be on the national scene." Yeah, Bronco, like Arizona doesn't have any standards, the Wildcats just have the victory in the Las Vegas Bowl and still no national ranking.
Mendenhall should have been a spin doctor for a political party. Mendenhall should answer this question in a press conference: If Brigham Young is the 17th best team in the nation coming into the Las Vegas Bowl, where should Arizona be ranked? Arizona got no props from the polls all season while the Cougars were playing weak opponents and sitting around reading their press clippings.
Somehow the national media seems to fawn over unbeaten mid-major teams-like Utah and Boise State-and exaggerate their importance in the national rankings. Both Brigham Young and Arizona played and won against two common opponents-UCLA and Washington. That is the end of head-to-head comparisons and, in the final analysis of opponents, BYU comes up on the short end of the stick.
During the regular season, BYU faced and lost against only 2 AP Top 25 teams-TCU and Utah. Arizona faced 5 AP Top 25 teams, beating California and Arizona State and losing to Southern Cal, Oregon and Oregon State.
Had BYU also faced Southern Cal, Oregon, Oregon State, California and Arizona State instead of 5 cupcake opponents, there is no way BYU would have come out with 5 victories; the Cougar record might well have been 7-5 (exactly the same as Arizona) if not 5-7.
Arizona won the 1st half against BYU 10-7 and also the 2nd half 21-14.
The game itself was no big deal. Willie Tuitama, Arizona's senior quarterback, was 24-for-35 for 325 yards and 2 touchdowns in the air and 1 on the ground. The victory over BYU was Arizona's first in 10 years. Wildcat head coach Mike Stoops spent 5 years building up an Arizona program that needed some major attention, and now the Wildcat program is gaining credibility at the expense of Brigham Young University.
Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley
Read my other detailed, knowledgeable, interesting articles on college football, including:
"So Who Are the Current Worst Players in Division 1-A Football in the Nation?"
"Tulsa the 19th Best Team in Nation? You Must Be Kidding and Here Is Why"
"4 AP Top 25 Teams Have Some Proving to Do-Missouri, Texas Tech, South Florida and Kansas"
"Meet the Illinois Fighting Illini - The Most Overrated Team in the AP's Top 25 Poll"
"Famous Quotes by Vince Lombardi, Knute Rockne and Lou Holtz During Football's Annual Bowl Season"
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