Gordon Monson: BYU football has to break free from mythology or suffer from its consequences

Following the defeat of BYU 30-12 against Utah, evidence of Cougar's football problems is scattered on the ground, like a weather balloon that crashes on ERP terrain, destroyed by lightning.

A delay in the action did not allow the Cougars not to lose another defeat against a quality opponent.

And this quality-opponent agreement is one of BYU's problems. In its independence, the school management has programmed as many high-level teams as possible, including the Utes. This leadership has stated, in so many words, that to be the best, you have to play the best, at least the best against which you can register. Thus, the schedule was accelerated, with some inevitable delays towards the end of the season.

The difficulty with this is that BYU football is not ready to beat the best, not with consistency. The Cougars sometimes hit a leading opponent like Wisconsin, as they did last season. But they lose a lot more than they win against a competition like this one.

The result against Utah is the latest example, the ninth consecutive victory of the Utes on BYU. It was emblematic of what BYU has become – a group of conscientious and hardworking workers who do their best, but who do not have enough talent, no fault of the players themselves. They can not be better than they are. They are just not at the same level.

And yet, they play in a 60,000-seat stadium facing a fan base that wants to believe, because of vague memories of a national championship won 35 years ago, that the team it is capable can somehow perform sports miracles. on whims, wishes and prayers, week after week.

Here is the truth: it can not.

BYU football can only reach this level as it engages the considerable resources needed, with the appropriate structure and qualified leadership, to achieve it. He may also have to reorganize some of his policies.

It's complicated, and maybe impossible.

Noted, Cougars are not part of a P5 league and they do not have the squadron of Brinks trucks that come with that membership. (They have other potential sources of funding.) But they plan – and thus perpetuate a rapidly disintegrating myth – as if they were able to compete and beat this type of competition.

They can, on occasion. But not with any consistency.

They are not the Notre Dame of the West. They could be the third best university team in Utah.

And yet, players are present on the pitch against Utah – and teams of this type, such as Tennessee, USC, and Washington – represent BYU, breaking the mythology of their program, all as directors, sports directors and coaches continue to claim that tons of victories will come through hard work, proper preparation and adequate prayer

There is no shortcut in the sport, no divine intervention, at least not that lasts. Either you commit the necessary resources, you provide the appropriate leadership, you build a plan and a process that will attract the necessary talent, or you lose as much as you earn.

Or you back the expectations. And that's fine too.

You crush your independence in the ionosphere, you stop planning like BYU, you destroy the myth, you join a league in which you can perhaps compete and, sometimes, good years, overcome.

What you do not do is gather fans, meet their expectations, sell the local schedule, and then have kids go out and watch them fight as best as they can, only to get their heads wet, their tongues tasting the bitterness of defeat. Again and again.

Nothing wrong with playing some good teams. But what objective observer did he not regret the BYU players and coaches Thursday night against the much more talented Utes? In this game, Utah looked like the old cartoon character who, while yawning and looking away, held his arm and hand straight up on the forehead of another character, the one with legs and feet circling but that did not reach anything.

This is not the fault of the players, they are not as good as the Utes.

Not sure it's the coaches fault, either.

Not so high. It does not matter who wins the football matches.

Administrators should be careful. The direction of the university should be careful.

If this is not the case, portray and project BYU football for what it really is: a nice little appendix to a religious school that has its standards, its code of honor, its academic requirements, its mission, which does not seriously involve playing college football on a large scale, not at its high level.

Maybe the pumas will get angry one or two this season. They have talented players, talented coaches, but not enough of them to be what they want to be.

To exist in a mirage where the objectives and the reality do not agree should therefore be painful for everyone in the program and for those of the outside who have a fundamental interest. At the current pace, in this strange state of denial and independence, it will be interesting to see how long this generalized interest in rooting continues.

Sooner or later, BYU will have to face what is real.

He will have to make important systemic changes, invest in his program, be lucky with a P5 conference, join a G5 league or reduce his aspirations in football.

Everything is better than sinking into a myth, even if ESPN televises it.

Gordon monson hosts "The Big Show" with Jake Scott on weekdays from 3pm to 7pm. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone.