Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
This past weekend was very bittersweet for both Utah and BYU fans. The Utes finally won a Pac-12 game and they did it in grand style, beating Cal 49-27. Granted, Jeff Tedford has lost his team and the Bears are in complete disarray, but a three-touchdown win over a Pac-12 team is nonetheless a positive.
Meanwhile, the Cougars got back on track with a dominating 41-17 win over Georgia Tech. Granted, Georgia Tech has also fallen apart with a terrible defense and an offense that BYU matches up with very well, but a win over a BCS team is a positive.
However, the impressive wins were tainted with a common phrase running through the minds of both Ute and Cougar fans — "what might have been."
For Ute fans, the 22-point win came when their team finally put it all together. In the Utah State loss the offense was self-destructive. In the USC loss the defense fell apart without the ability to get pressure on quarterback Matt Barkley. In the UCLA loss, the play calling doomed the Utes as well as a few key plays that went the Bruins’ way. In the Oregon State loss, the Utes dominated in every aspect of the game but the scoreboard.
In all reality, there is only one game that the Utes could not have won — Arizona State. On Saturday the Utes put everything together for the first time in 2012. The offense was clicking. The defense was getting pressure on the quarterback. And the special teams were out of this world thanks to Reggie Dunn.
That performance makes Ute fans wonder just how much talent there is on this team. Everyone inside the game of football knows how talented Utah is. A week hasn’t gone by when opposing coaches have talked about either the speed of the receiving corps, the physicality and dominance of the defensive line or the vision and burst of both running backs.
That talent and ability hasn’t translated into many wins yet, mostly because of the inexperience at quarterback — or the lack of talent at that position. However, Ute fans are beginning to see that potential as Travis Wilson begins to come into his own. If only that had happened sooner. If only…
For the Cougars, the season is over. Georgia Tech is likely the last relevant team BYU will play this season. BYU will probably finish the season with five consecutive wins and hopes going into next season could once again be sky high.
As BYU’s WAC season begins, though, Cougar fans are forced to look back at the four frustrating losses that cost them their season. As great as it was for BYU fans to see the offense finally moving the ball like it did in the days of John Beck or Max Hall or Ty Detmer or Robbie Bosco, it was equally as frustrating.
What if Brandon Doman had called for the victory formation instead of a quarterback draw at the end of the Utah State game? What if Riley Nelson had not recklessly taken on a linebacker in the Weber State game and gotten himself hurt? What if Bronco Mendenhall had kicked the extra point at the end of the Boise State game and the Cougars had won in overtime? What if Nelson had taken care of the ball better against the Utes? What if the left upright at Rice-Eccles Stadium hadn’t gotten in the way of that field goal? What if the defense had held on just one more time against Notre Dame? What if…
Like the Utes, there was really only one game on the schedule that BYU could not have won. For the Cougars, it was Oregon State, though they were tied going into the fourth quarter of that contest.
Meanwhile, the team that BYU outplayed a week ago demolished a top-10 Oklahoma team. With that win, Notre Dame somewhat surprisingly established itself as one of the top-tier teams in the nation — one of four undefeated teams left that could play in the national championship game.
With the way BYU outplayed the Irish (now ranked third in the country), BYU fans have to be wondering just how good their team is.
So while the Utes still have a shot at a bowl game if they play as well as they did Saturday, their fans must be wondering about what could have been if they could have lived up to the preseason hype that believed they would play for the Pac-12 South Division title.
And while the Cougars can still look forward to a nice, warm trip to San Diego for the Poinsettia Bowl, BYU fans will have a hard time sitting through FCS games without wondering if they could have been playing for their first BCS bowl game in school history.
It was simply a woulda, shoulda, coulda weekend along the Wasatch front.
For more opinions from Trevor, including bowl projections and power rankings, visit BYUtahInsiders.com.
Trevor Amicone is the founder of byutahinsiders.com, which covers BYU, Utah and national college football with weekly polls, bowl projections, opinions and analysis. Follow its brand new Twitter page at @BYUtahInsiders and Trevor's @TrevorAmicone.
