Tuesday Tidbits, 2010 Week Nine

World Series
I am pumped for this World Series matchup.  Giants and Rangers: two underdogs, two longshots, two great TEAMS.  All of the games are on Fox, so you do not need cable for viewing.  It starts Wednesday night.  The schedule for the next week is, as follows: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.  All three weeknight games are at 5:30pm Mountain time.  Saturday is a 4:30pm Mountain start.  Sunday is at 6pm.  Game One: Cliff Lee vs. Tim Lincecum.  Money matchup!  I encourage all sports fans, even the casual sports fan, to watch!  You will not regret it.

Crossing the 50
BYU had 7 possessions on the right side the 50 and ended up with 25 points.  This ratio is improving, but against a defense as bad as Wyoming's, I would have thought 35 points was more feasible for 7 trips into Wyoming territory.

Strength of Schedule
BYU's strength of schedule, according to Jeff Sagarin, is now number 11.  My very educated guess is that BYU's stay in the top 10 is now finished.  It was a bumpy ride through a tough schedule in a rebuilding year, but the end is finally near.  The easy games have finally arrived.  The "building" part can finally begin.  They will need to get working on that building quickly, the first three games next season are daunting: at Oregon State, at Texas, and Utah at home.

18 Attempts, 81 yards
The BYU offense hits a new low.  Jake Heaps' 18 attempts and 81 yards are both lows in the Bronco Mendenhall era.  In fact, they are both 30-year lows.  The last time BYU hit either of those two numbers was in the 1970's, before my older sister who now has 5 kids was born!  I would like to see more passing in the middle of the field, maybe some slants from interior receivers about 8-10 yards down the field.  Heaps can throw that ball and the WRs/TEs might even be able to do something after the catch, if they don't drop it.

BCS Update
Well, we now have the 2nd week of the BCS standings.  We have realistically cut the list of National Championship contenders down to 10 teams.  Auburn, Oregon, Boise State, TCU, Michigan State, Missouri, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin.  LSU has a very outside chance and Utah has one even further on the outside beyond that.  Ohio State and Nebraska are out at this point.

I do not buy into the fact that TCU will pass Boise State in the BCS standings at the end of the season if both teams win out.  TCU has four games left: UNLV (1-6), Utah (7-0), SDSU (5-2), and New Mexico (0-7).  Boise State has six games left: Louisiana Tech (3-4), Hawaii (6-2), Idaho (4-3), Fresno State (5-2), Nevada (6-1), and Utah State (2-5).  Boise State's final stretch is actually stronger than TCU's.  Boise State's average opponent is rated 64, by Jeff Sagarin.  TCU's is 99.  Different computers will have slightly different ratings, but either way, TCU plays two of the worst teams in the FBS, while playing only one top 10 team.  Boise State may not play a top 10 team, but it also isn't playing any bottom 10 teams, where TCU plays two such teams.  Plus Boise State will play one game after TCU is done, which is always a good thing, no matter how bad the opponent.

Utah's strength of schedule probably won't be better than Boise State's by the end of the season, plus they have the additional problem of starting so low in the preseason rankings.  If the Utes win out, they need everyone ahead of them to lose, plus the 3 teams behind them to lose in order to get into the top 2.  12-0, with a preseason ranking in the 20's and one win against an opponent that will show up in the final BCS standings (at home, at that), isn't going to sneak its way into the top 2.  Certainly it won't put them ahead of Boise State.
LSU is in the same boat: they could go on to beat Alabama and win at Arkansas, plus beat South Carolina in the SEC Title game (assuming Auburn loses TWO conference games between now and then) and not even crack the top 5.