Closer than it should have been. That's the best way to sum up BYU's 28-27 at Washington on Saturday. Yards, first downs, time of possession. All were dominated by the Cougars for much of the game. Still, it came down to the final play.
Why? Two reasons: Turnovers and Pac-1o officials. BYU's interception before the half cost the Cougars a likely 21-14 lead at intermission. And Harvey Unga's fumble at the goal line would have put BYU in control and on its way to a probable double-digit win.
The Pac-10 officials missed one holding call after another, missed an intentional grounding on the Huskies' final drive and the review officials missed overturning a bobbled catch on the sideline that kept the final drive alive. On and on.
The funniest part of the day? FSN announcers Barry Tompkins and Petros Papadakis going nuts about how the officials cost UW the win. My wife actually laughed out loud at that. The officials played a key role in giving UW a chance to tie that game. In fact, if they call the final drive right, UW never gets to the 3-yard line to set up Jake Locker's TD.
Crazy day, indeed. But the fact BYU overcame its road woes while losing the turnover battle and getting the raw end of a few game and officiating breaks, is something significant.
Two-and-oh. UCLA's next. While the narrow nature of the win won't aid BYU's cause in the polls, a convincing win next week puts the Y right where it needs to be.
4 comments:
I completely agree with your call on the game. The stats tell the real story; in spite of the stripes' best efforts, BYU still walked away with a regulation-time win.
On a side note - what about those ECU pirates? If at the end of the season we are undefeated and so are they, I have to assume that they get the BCS nod. They have knocked off two RANKED teams in a row, and today it wasn't even close. Will ECU run the table?
Don't get me wrong guys, i'm not sure BYU's defense is ready for prime time. I'd rather get to the big game when we are ready, when we deserve it.
I know, I know, we're only 2 games into it . . . but if we can barely handle a TERRIBLE UW team, why would we be able to handle a big time BCS program (defensively)?
About ECU:
1- We're still ahead of them in the only human poll that's out that the BCS uses.
2- We should still have a stronger overall SOS thanks to MWC versus CUSA in-conference play.
Especially if UCLA and Utah end up ranked at the end of the season and we've beaten them Mars.
And please don't get me started on Petros Polykronopolis. I had a tough time sitting through it all.
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