Some people wondered why BYU belched and burped a bit in the second half of its game against Western Kentucky on Saturday night. After all, the Cougars scored touchdowns on their first five possessions, leading at the half 35-3, before scoring a mere six points — two field goals — down the stretch.
What kind of showing is that for the ninth-ranked team in the country?
It’s exactly what it should have been.
Answer this question: If you were Kalani Sitake and Zach Wilson and the rest, what would you have done last week while preparing — cough, cough — for the Hilltoppers, who were thousand-point 'dogs?
You would have done exactly what Sitake and Wilson did, no matter what they might have claimed in the aftermath to have done or not done. You would have kept one eye on WKU and one on the Boise State Broncos.
The reason is pure logic.
The Cougars were going to beat Western Kentucky even if they’d been forced to run around backwards, hopping on one foot, singing the lyrics to the Chumbawamba song “Tubthumping.” If that sounds disrespectful … apologies, sometimes the truth does. That game was in the bag before either team took the field, and everyone knew it.
Friday night’s game in Boise is the opposite.
BYU’s entire season hinges on that one … single … game. Hinges is a funny word. In this case it swings hard either way, wide open enough for the Cougars to claim all those previous wins were legitimate despite the level of competition they faced and wide open enough for every one of those victories to be relegated to nothing more than laughable exhibitions.
Either everything is validated, or everything is diminished.
It’s as simple as that. In that way, the pressure is immense on BYU. For as easy as its season has been to this point, which it has been, all of that ease has slid now into Albertsons Stadium, making it even more difficult than it otherwise would be. And otherwise, it already was difficult enough, considering the Cougars have never beaten Boise State there, not in five previous tries. The blue turf has always sent BYU away feeling bluer than blue, sadder than sad.
Part of that is because the Broncos are almost always good. But they’re even better on their home field.
And it’s like that again this season. Boise has already disassembled Utah State and Air Force, taking those victories with the same ease and comfort the Cougars have taken theirs. In that respect, if the Broncos have similar aspirations as BYU, facing a Mountain West schedule that isn’t exactly a grind, they, too, have bags to carry on Friday night.
Essentially, this game is the Show Me Bowl, meant to prove what coaches, players, fans, poll voters, and everyone else needs proved — that the winner is good, potentially great, and the loser is … well, an opportunist positioned by fortuitous scheduling that made them what they are.
That sounds harsher perhaps than it’s meant to be, but … that aforementioned truth can be one bad, unforgiving mother.
Had any of us been Sitake or Wilson or the rest, we would have been justified in departing from the coach’s cardinal rule book, the one that insists on following the most classic of cliches — take it one game at a time.
No.
Not last week. Especially since this week is short. BYU couldn’t practice on Sunday, per its own rules, and by NCAA dictates could not practice on Tuesday because of that little bit of business called Election Day. The NCAA wants its student-athletes to participate in their civic right and duty to help decide who our nation’s next commander in chief will be. Kind of important.
So that means BYU had and has three days to get ready for The Most Significant Game. The Cougars had to be looking ahead last week. Had to. Chuck the coach’s rule book in the Provo or Boise River.
Teams sometimes have off games. They’re made up of young humans who periodically lose their rhythm and their vibe and their way. But there is no such privilege for the Cougars, not this week. Friday night’s game is their season. It is everything … or nothing for them.
That’s a lot to think about, a lot to haul. But because of the lopsidedness of their success against mostly second- and third-tier opponents, there is no forgiveness this time around.
Only glory or groveling.
For the first time in 2020, the margin of victory does not matter. This will not be an evening gown competition in which flowing robes and style points mean more than they should. Boise State, as usual, is ranked and respected enough around the country to make any BYU win a worthy one, especially up there.
Did Sitake and Wilson and the rest take their eye off the ball, allowing it to wander on their way to the top of the hill a week ago? Did they look past the mark, not taking Western Kentucky serious enough?
Only if they were smart.
GORDON MONSON hosts “The Big Show” with Jake Scott weekdays from 2-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone.
