Brief thoughts on BYU @ CSU

As happy as I was with the outcome of the UNLV game last week, that feeling is tempered quite a bit by the knowledge that the Rebels are a bad football team. Really bad. Heaps found open guys on a consistent basis? UNLV corners and safeties. DiLuigi, Kariya and Quezada ran all day? UNLV defensive line and linebackers. Defense shut the Rebels down for almost the entire game? The UNLV quarterback couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.

So today's game is a bit more interesting; while CSU isn't a world-beater, the Rams are better than what the Cougars faced last Saturday. Okay, 3-7 isn't exactly scary, but Utah State's 3-6 isn't either, and look what happened last month.

CSU's quarterback, Pete Thomas, has completed 66% of his passes for 2200 yards and 10 touchdowns on the season. He's also thrown 10 picks, so he's not Heisman material, but it worries me he's good enough to take advantage of a shaky Cougar pass defense today.

The Rams have two running backs averaging over 4.5 yards a carry, but BYU's rush defense has been amazing since Hill was fired, so giving up huge chunks of yards on the ground is not a concern, in my opinion.

In short, this is a true test of where the Cougars are as a team. If they struggle against the Rams, I expect losses against Utah and Clemson to end the season, making BYU barely bowl eligible. Or, heaven forbid, they lose to CSU today, we'll see five wins at the end of the season, and BYU won't go to a bowl for the first time since 2004.