BYU football: Will the Cougars repeat the feat?

September 11, 6:10 PMBYU Cougars ExaminerKelly Martinez

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I hate to be the one to sound the alarm, but don’t look now; BYU could be headed for something really big this season.

In the days since BYU’s historic win over No. 3 Oklahoma, there has been a lot of talk about where the 2009 team ranks amongst the all-time best in Cougar history.

Such talk is premature, but there is something unique about the position BYU finds itself in right now – something that has the team on pace with another team that lives on in the hearts of Cougar faithful.

Since the beginning of the modern era of BYU football in 1972, the Cougars have opened the season against five AP preseason top 10 teams: No. 3 Oklahoma (2009), No. 2 Florida State (2000), No. 4 Washington (1997), No. 1 Florida State (1991) and No. 3 Pittsburgh (1984).

Of those five games, BYU won only two: the 14-13 upset over No. 3 Oklahoma just days ago and a 20-14 win over No. 3 Pittsburgh in 1984 – the only season the Cougars have ever won a national title.

The 1996 BYU team that finished 14-1 did open the season with an upset win over Texas A&M, but the Aggies were ranked No. 13 at the time.

It would be silly to imply that because BYU knocked off a top 10 team in the opening game of the season means the Cougars will repeat the feat of the 1984 squad. There is too much dissimilarity between the two seasons, not to mention the college football landscapes.

First and foremost, the BCS didn’t exist back then. The system in 1984 was not difficult to figure out: win all your games and you had a better-than-average chance of winning the national championship.

That’s not to say there weren’t biases in 1984. For instance, had BYU been one of two or more teams that went undefeated that season, the bigger and more storied teams would have likely been crowned national champs.

Unlike BYU’s 1984 team, however, this year’s squad will probably face more than one ranked opponent. The Cougars’ only ranked opponent in 1984 was Pittsburgh (which went on to drop out of the top 20 by Week 4 of that season). Not even Michigan – the Cougars’ 1984 Holiday Bowl opponent – was ranked.

This year, however, the Cougars will likely face at least three top 25 teams during the course of the season – barring unexpected drops in the rankings by TCU and Utah.

To put that into perspective, last season’s Rose Bowl teams – USC and Penn State – each played three top 25 teams during the regular season.

Had Florida State’s Jarmon Fortson made the catch in the end zone at the end of the game against Miami last Monday night, the count would have been four likely top 25 opponents for the Cougars this season.

But for now, it’s time to stop the talk of “BCS busting” and focus on Tulane which is coming off a 37-13 season-opening loss to Tulsa.

In the words of “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler: to do anything less would be uncivilized.