After reading in other threads about how certain Ute fans say BYU was lucky to have won both games (I don't necessarily disagree), I looked again at the box scores of both games. BYU outgained both opponents and led in a majority of the statistical categories, and looking only at the box score, one would probably call each game a toss-up, except that BYU had fewer turnovers and substantially fewer penalties. Not a profound observation, I know, but if BYU can do that again this week, they'll beat UCLA. I'm not optimistic they can do this for the third time in a row.
It's great that the refs are turning a blind eye to BYU's dirty play, outflagging BYU's opponents thus far at a rate of about 3:1. Of all the improvements I've seen thus far, the absence of false starts and similar "stupid" penalties has been the most notable, although there's still room for improvement.
And it's too bad BYU fans tend to be employed and thus are left with little time to assemble video clips of all dirty play by the Utes. My first experience of that was when I was standing on the BYU sideline at Rice Stadium in '76 when a Ute DB ran John Van Der Wouden well out of the field of play and drove him into a small concrete barrier (was there a track around the field then?), separating his shoulder and ending his season. The DB got up with a smile on his face as he ran past me back to the field. Over the years, I've seen lots of cheap shots from the Utes, and pretty much every other team (including BYU) I've watched more than a couple of times. But I enjoy the faux righteousness of those Utes who regard this as unique to BYU.
It's great that the refs are turning a blind eye to BYU's dirty play, outflagging BYU's opponents thus far at a rate of about 3:1. Of all the improvements I've seen thus far, the absence of false starts and similar "stupid" penalties has been the most notable, although there's still room for improvement.
And it's too bad BYU fans tend to be employed and thus are left with little time to assemble video clips of all dirty play by the Utes. My first experience of that was when I was standing on the BYU sideline at Rice Stadium in '76 when a Ute DB ran John Van Der Wouden well out of the field of play and drove him into a small concrete barrier (was there a track around the field then?), separating his shoulder and ending his season. The DB got up with a smile on his face as he ran past me back to the field. Over the years, I've seen lots of cheap shots from the Utes, and pretty much every other team (including BYU) I've watched more than a couple of times. But I enjoy the faux righteousness of those Utes who regard this as unique to BYU.
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