They will be awesome because Bronco is such an awesome person. They will execute at a high level with a high level of execution.

I can't believe they stole Andrew Rich from Snow. He was an all-american JC and still had one more year left at Snow. This 6'5 safety turned down full-ride offers to Cal-Berkley and Boise State to walk on at BYU. If BYU has a backfield of players like Rich, it's going to be a killer Defense.

The defense looks surprisingly promising this year with only four returning starters. The defensive line is stacked with talent and experience, I think every d-lineman has seen significant playing time. The defensive back situation has never been ideal. All of them are fast, smart, athletic guys (more athletic and talented than in the past) without experience so all we need is to get them all playing time and hope for the best! The only minor adjustment I would make is with the linebackers. It goes without saying it is up to Nixon to take the reigns as leader of the defense this year, which he has the capability of doing. If it were up to me I would have Nixon and So'oto as the inside guys. Matt Bauman and Shawn Doman are agressive players with speed, but they are lacking in size somewhat. I think they would both be the best as the outside linebackers. I hope I am wrong, but I don't know if the defense will measure up to last year's. In '06 they averaged 14 points a game, this past season they averaged 21. Would a 28 ppg average describe this years defense? I'm not sure.

Looks like Dick Harmon is sporting the blue goggles again. Your defense will stink, and you will wish you had players as good as Utah does on defense. This is the year the Utes take back the crown.

Jeff,

I'm pretty sure that Nixon is playing on the outside in Kehl's old position rather than inside as stated in your article.

Regardless, my only real worry about our defense is the secondary knowing their assignments and the ability of our new inside linebackers to stop the run as they are a bit lighter than in the past (losing Hooks was a bigger blow than most know as he was really impressing).

Before the detractors all run to post, what is nice is to know that the systems are in place, the athletes are in Provo, and they will be prepared for EVERY game.

I am not predicting a BCS Bowl. If they have the season I expect, that will come. I believe that BYU is loaded this year, and coming off the two strong seasons (results speak volumes), starting ranked in all of the polls that matter, and the type of statistics they will aquire, this could be one of the most impressive years BYU has ever had.

This going to be exciting. Hang on BYU fans, this will be fun. This would be a good year for all football fans in the state to get behind BOTH teams, quit bickering until they play Utah, and allow both teams to represent the state. I have always been a fan of both BYU and Utah. This will be a good year to be a BYUTE fan.

Kewgs wil have no defence. They will be ground by Washingten and UCLA. By the time they get to RES, we will own them and again prove our domimence. BJ will throw for 400 yards that game, and run for 200. Amd I hope coach wittingham kicks an onside kick when we are up by 50, and all ov yor returned missonarys miss the ball, and Utah will blow you owy by 59.

ITS OVER AND THE SESON HASNT EVEN STARTED!!!!

UTES ALWAYS ARE BETTER THAN KEWGS!!!!

Did I mention that B.Y.U. won a national championship in 1984?

It's very apparent, Ute Fan, that you are what you are and were schooled up at the U. I don't know if I have ever seen that many misspelled words in one post. I mean, you misspelled "of" (ov?)

See you at McDonald's this week. I'll get the usual.

Hey "Ute Fan"...

Your overwhelming ignorance contrasts sharply with the intelligent comments of "Great year coming"...

Remember, "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go thru life"!

If you're one who foolishly fights against the church via hate ~ pay special attention to that quote.

I think I actually lost intelligence reading the "Ute Fan" comment. I am a BYU fan and will be until I die, but really that is just disheartening to read. I don't care who you support, but at least sound like a decently educated human being... unless Ute fans aren't human at all... that would explain a lot :D

Ute fan I can tell by all of the spelling errors that you go to Utah. What and idot you are.

What is a kewg?

Last year's BYU club could have given anyone in the BIG TEN fits, with the exception of Northwestern and Minnesota. I wish instead of scheduling PAC 10 school, they would actually schedule teams like Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Michigan. I'd go pay to see those games at home or on the road. That is the measuring stick great teams need to be measured against instead of whacking MWC schools into submission... N. Iowa, should be a good opener for the Y, but an easy win. UW will be a good battle, but UCLA (sighs) is rebuilding for the 10th time since the 1981 Rose Bowl, and should be an easy one for the Y. The rest of the MWC doesn't really scare me with the exception of Utah, which is a good rivalry game.

Ute Fan, "what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it."

No such thing, only BYU haters. I am looking forward to the smack down BYU is going to put on the yewtes this year. I don't have tickets, but I know that come game time, there will be plenty of yewtes willing to sell their tickets (happens every year). As always we can count on the yewtes underachieving and losing a few along the way (happens every year). If it's close again this year, I doubt that it will be, but we COUGAR fans can count on the yewtes secondary making a mental lapse at crunch time to allow the COUGARS to snatch victory (happens every year).

Congrats Ute Fan, you got us ! We took the bait- hook line and sinker

Good one....

need to be tempered with a little reality.

We are not that deep and as we must learn from our brethren up north, we are only one serious injury away from a so-so season.

Let's get by NIU, Washington, and UCLA before we start to even think about BCS or even a bowl game.

Then we only need worry about UNM/TCU/UofU-all tougher and more battle tested this season.

Having said that: Go Cougs!!!

Anybody else notice that "Blue Goggles" mistakenly bashed Dick Harmon??
I guess the Yewts not only have problems with spelling, but their reading abilities seem to be lacking as well.
Jeff Call wrote this article...not Dick Harmon.

Dallas Reynolds gave up more sacks last year than Wal-Mart.

I don't think the Utes will be beating the Cougars for quite a while.

A 'kewg' is what 'yewts' eat for breakfast.

As for whether or not BYU's defense will be better than last years or '06s, I say no.

The very best they could hope for is to be as good as last years. When you only return 3 starters it is very rare to be better than previous years.

Now, the '09 defense(assuming nobody leaves or gets injured) will be a very strong defense because they will return almost every player from the '08 season.

Hmmmm. Wonder what the Pac-10 would think if we quit playing them and instead went exclusively with the Big 10 and SEC? THOSE are the REAL football conferences.

Think the Pac-10 might suddenly have interest in BYU if the Cougs could maintain a winning margin over those two big-time BCS conferences? Maybe a little reverse psychology here?

BYU definitely needs to get out of this weak MWC conference and into a BCS conference. They'd help the Pac-10 get back some of its glory back by adding a perennial contender (yes, BYU looks to be on that track with Bronco at the helm).

Can't wait for this season to begin. Gonna switch from Dish to DirectTV this summer in moving to HD in order to ensure I get the mtn channel.

that BYU finally goes undefeated. They have all the right pieces.

Is this the same defense that lost to lowly Arizona in 2006? Is the same defense that lost to Boston College (30 points) and gave up 31 points to Utah? Let's hope so. TCU, Utah and New Mexico are licking their chops.

none of this matters.

Blue boy, you must be kidding. If BYU were to gain admittance in the Pac-10, they'd finish no better than 6th or 7th year in & year out.

Ironically, they would still end up playing in Vegas over the holidays against the first place Utah Utes from the Mole Hill West conference.

I get the sense that utah ute fans are shaking in their booties. What else is new?

It's always the same argument you guys come up with "6th or 7th in the pac-10" I don't get it. Do you not realize the better recruiting and attention they will get for being in a BCS conference? Man. You guys need to realize teams improve when they are in a BCS conference with strong recruiting grounds like California. Prime example is South Florida. 10 years ago they didn't even exist, but now they have a top program. Why? they are in the Big East, with BCS money, and are located in Florida. So what you say? well, how come Florida Atlantic and Florida International aren't powers? Because they are not in a BCS Conference. If the SEC or ACC picked them up, they would start contending within five years of that because recruiting would be so much better. You guys need to think things through and realize that better recruiting comes when you get in a better conference.

I can't wait for cougar football to start.

Ute fans like to talk up a team that signed to play Weber State??? They should have a winning season then, shouldn't they.

Northern Iowa is going to be a tougher game than most people think. I have read up on their team and they are pretty stacked. True they are 12-1 because of their division but they did beat a Big 12 team (even though it was Iowa State by a couple of points). I don't know if it is too early to make predictions, but BYU should win if they bring their A game. I realistically predict a 28-14 type win in favor of BYU. Thankfully the opener is at home otherwise I would be a little more concerned.

Oh and I am so excited about the kitty kats opening up against Northern Iowa. Now there is a real power house for you. At least with Weber we will see local kids on the field playing local kids. Granted Weber does not stand a chance but at least it gives the Weber guys to play a big time team before going on with their Big Sky schedule.

I'm looking forward to an exciting season. The secondary will finally have some top-notch athletes with intense competition at each spot all season rather than just overachievers fitting into a solid system. I actually see a bundh of Aaron Francisco type talent back there ever since, well - Aaron Francisco. The d-line will be very solid. The four starting linebackers will also be solid but we are very thin there. In terms of players, the 09' season will actually see our most veteran team in years and years. We will rebuild along the o-line (with some very talented pieces however) in 09' but will have almost the entire defense and offensive skill positions back. It may be that we fall a game short this season and really make 09' our BCS run?

I suggest both sides sit back and ENJOY the BYU-Ute smack talk. That is part of the fun of this rivalry. Very few have bad intentions - it is just in fun. So if you find yourself truly offended you should just chill and recognize it is all part of this great rivalry we enjoy with a very solid, quality Utes program. Go Cougs BCS, Go Utes Vegas

are now saying that N. Iowa is a tougher game than you think! Give me a break! They are freakin No. Iowa. Go play with the big dogs cowards.

BYU 38 NIU 17
BYU 42 UW 31
BYU 27 UCLA 17
BYU 48 Wyo 21
BYU 52 USU 13
BYU 32 UNM 3 (point where our defense becomes

dominant)
BYU 16 TCU 13 (a last second victory over TCU

instead of Utah will be a fun twist)
BYU 37 UNLV 17
BYU 21 CSU 6
BYU 42 SDSU 0
BYU 51 AF 10
BYU 43 UTAH 27
BYU 38 T Tech 31
Our defense should do just fine, and if it does struggle a few games, our offense will bail it out.

wow ridin byu so hard predictin an undefeated season ya right.

You Zoobies got to be kidding me if you think you will gain respect and break into the BCS by playing Northern Iowa? You will never gain the respect of the nations best like the 2005 Fiesta Bowl champs UTES. Don't give me the 84 national chumps deal, the
BCS was made because of BYU claiming a trophy just because they went undefeated with a weak schedule.

I love how the yewt fans knock us for playing N. Iowa when they play Weber State! At least knock us for playing Utah State if anyone. N. Iowa would kill Weber St.

What's BYU's record against Pac-10 schools (over any time frame you choose)?

Typically, you would expect better recruiting if a team joins a BCS conference. I'm not sure it would happen with BYU. It depends on how many great athletes think they would like to live BYU's honor code. I would guess it's not many, and Bronco doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who's going to look the other way much.

There is a very good chance that Bronco will be translated before the season ends. He's that perfect.

Yeah and the season that Utah made it to the BCS was oh so tough. So if we aren't playing anyone difficult on our schedule this year, that says a lot about the last game of the regular season. Keep talking trash, you're just making yourself look bad.

Ute fans hate us because we are BYU and like wise they are Utah. This word battle between us during the off season is always the same, down and dirty. We both have teams that are contenders this year. The thing that is neat about it is we are both from the state of Utah which is good for both of schools. BYU has two conference championships, and is 2 and 0 again'st the utes the last two seasons. Both schools have tough teams to play and it won't be easy for either school. Utah has some good talent and will be a tough foe for anyone. The game at Michigan will gauge thier season success to to be able to take the top spot from the cougars. BYU will have it's hands full at Washington which is a very hard place to play even though the Huskies have been down of late. The last time Byu played thier it was 1996. We lost 1 game that year we were 14 and 1. Guess who it was? The Huskies. They recruited well this year so we better bring are A game. The UTES and Cougars will have thier hands full.

Get a life BYU fans, they will never want BYU in the bigger and better conferences because of BYU beating good teams consistently, mostly because BYU CAN'T beat the good teams consistently...

Losing to UCLA and then barely beating them when they are down and out in a bowl game last year was not impressive to anybody...get over it...also, beating Washington and UCLA this year will not be impressive to anybody...

The only chance Utah or BYU has to get in a bigger and better conference is if a conference wishes to grow in number of teams, or by some chance they wish to dump a couple teams that are dragging the conference down consistently...both will most likely not happen, because that means less opportunities for the big schools to dominate and make the BCS games...

I'll bet BYU's defense will mature much more quickly than Ute or Cougar fans.

BYU will be at best 1 and 3 to start the season. Probably 0 and 3. Washington will be prepared and will win by 2 to 3 touchdowns. UCLA and Neuheisel will not waste this opportunity to destroy the ZOO. Their whole season is BYU this year. UCLA by 2 touchdowns. Get real. No BCS, NO conference championship. And no I am not a UTE fan unless they are playing in the BCS.

Watch Northern Iowa hightlights and you'll soon see why that may be one of the toughest games BYU will play this season. The Panthers are FAST! They score quickly and they score often (Can you spell TULSA?). This game has the potential of being a season wrecker.

I don't anticipate Bronco allowing a let down. That being said BYU is never good enough to not take anyone seriously. I like what I'm hearing about the secondary. We have Tafuna, Fowler, Rich, and Pendleton at the safeties, Pittman, Scott, Howard, and Bradley at the corners. There is going to be a learning curve, so hopefully the front 7 can wreak enough havoc early to allow our corners to time they need to adjust.

You have nobody but a empty defense!!!!!

I can't see BYU ever going underfeated. What with the bad defense and all they will have this year. No experience means not a good team and what not.

Bronco had his lucky years and now its Kyles turn to show the TDSs just how good the Utes are and what not. Cougs will finsh 5-7 with a big los to the champion Utes.

I was taught it isn't whether you win or lose, it is how you play the game....lol