Patrick Kinahan: Thank goodness for BYU trying to play football

SALT LAKE CITY — That time of year has arrived, when optimism abounds as the college football season gets under way.

In less than one week, BYU will travel to Annapolis, Maryland, to play Navy before a national television audience in prime time on Labor Day night. It is the first of eight games currently scheduled in what should be a good season for the Cougars.

But more on BYU in a bit. First, it’s time to rant.

For those teams and fans of several conferences, the anticipation of success is not there no matter the amount of talent on given rosters. Obviously, speaking for all college football junkies, we feel your pain.

On the brink of college football beginning in earnest, stadiums in the Pac-12, Mountain West and Big Ten will sit empty. While several other conferences, along with some independent programs, are planning to play, the aforementioned conferences announced last month the coronavirus has forced them to delay all fall sports until possibly next year.

In mind-boggling fashion, considering the timeline was nearly two months before the expected first games, the Big Ten bowed out and then the Pac-12 and Mountain West followed. Meanwhile, the three other conferences that comprise the Power Five — Big 12, ACC and SEC — are full steam ahead, even as the games will be played with a limited amount or no fans in attendance.

Taking it a step further in the bizarre, journalists from many national and regional outlets used their platforms to applaud these conferences for deciding to not play, or to unabashedly push for play to resume regardless of the pandemic.

Since its announcement, the Big Ten broached the possibility of playing some sort of winter/spring combination using indoor facilities. Then came reports about starting the season shortly after Thanksgiving and now possibly in October.

Zach Wilson named starting quarterback for BYU's opener at Navy

Junior signal caller Zach Wilson has won the job, the Cougars announced in releasing the first two-deep depth chart of the 2020 season Monday.

It’s anybody’s guess why November, as opposed to earlier in the calendar, could be viewed as the magic month. Seemingly, it makes more sense to follow the likes of the other colleges, along with the NFL and some high schools across the country, to at least try to play until health and safety reasons dictate otherwise.

While playing in the spring sounds good, many believe it is not practical for a variety of reasons. Speaking to reporters last week, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham gave the possibility a 50/50 chance of happening, noting the difficulty of squeezing two seasons into the same calendar year.

Thank goodness for BYU willing to give it the college try. Now that the other five college programs in the state are sitting out, the Cougars take center stage this season — a spot they have not enjoyed consistently for 30 years.

As presently constituted, with athletic director Tom Holmoe pledging to add more if they become available, BYU is scheduled to play eight games stretching to Nov. 21. Out of necessity as conferences dropped out, the once-formidable schedule has been revamped to include no Power Five opponents.

The flip side is BYU, even without injured tight end Matt Bushman, should put together its best winning percentage since Kalani Sitake guided Bronco Mendenhall-recruited players to a 9-4 record in his first season as coach in 2016. Outside of next week’s opener and possibly Houston on Oct. 16, the Cougars likely will be favored to win the other seven games.

With the best roster since Sitake’s first season, BYU unfortunately won’t be tested as originally planned against the three Pac-12 teams (Utah, Arizona State, Stanford), two from the Big Ten (Michigan State, Minnesota) and three MWC teams (Utah State, Boise State, San Diego State). But now there’s no excuse not to stack the win column.

After two seasons of mediocre 7-6 records, expect the Cougars to dominate much of the inferior competition. The pick here is 7-1.

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