Rise and Pout - It's been a rough week for die-hard BYU fans like me
Some candid thoughts from a Cougars fan who lives and dies a little too much with BYU sports.
I’m just going to air some of my dirty laundry: I wish I was a better BYU fan.
The way I’m wired is when BYU wins I feel more “relief” than “joy”. When the Cougars lose I feel far more frustration and disappointment than I should.
I truly envy people who can watch Kalani Sitake’s squad lose 27-24 at home to ECU and say things like, “Well that was a close, exciting game right up to the end! Too bad we lost. Time to finish my Halloween costume!”
That’s a healthy way to look at college sports.
Me? I didn’t even watch the ECU game. I just knew the Cougs would lose to what should be an inferior program and tuning in would just make me miserable. I made the right decision.
I really wish I could digest BYU losses in a healthier way. I’m an otherwise stable, happy, middle-aged man who can effectively handle the challenges and trials of life. But despite years of intentional effort to try to improve, I still get far too frustrated when BYU football and basketball disappoint. It's probably my biggest character flaw. I wish I could just nonchalantly move on when the Cougars don’t have Top 25 teams or lose to less prestigious programs, but for some reason I can’t. The problem lies with me, not with BYU athletics.
Now that you know how I’m wired (and wish I wasn’t), I’m just going to share my pessimistic feelings here. I’m not asking for validation or rebuttals. This is just how I feel today. I’ve already disclosed that I’m far too prone to being negative when things are rough for BYU, so this hasn’t been a good week. Here we go:
December 2nd - Jacob Conover announces he will enter the transfer portal. While Conover hasn’t appeared to earn the trust of BYU’s coaching staff, it’s rare for the Cougs to land four-star talents with offers from schools like Alabama. If Jaren Hall declares for the NFL draft, the Cougs don’t appear to have a quarterback on the roster who can lead them to wins against Big 12 competition.
December 2nd - Utah wins the Pac-12 championship. As a die-hard BYU fan I actively root against the Utes in every sport. It’s my solemn duty. Watching BYU falter at the same time Utah succeeds is just galling.
December 3rd - BYU basketball loses to South Dakota. We’re not even to conference play yet and it’s already clear this team doesn’t have what it takes to compete near the top of the WCC or make the NCAA Tournament.
December 3rd - Campbell Barrington, a former Freshman All-American offensive lineman, enters the transfer portal. He was a likely starter next year. Two days later linebacker Tate Romney, another potential starter in 2023, also announced he’s leaving the program.
December 6th - In the biggest recent blow to BYU football, Logan Fano enters the transfer portal. The highly-touted four-star recruit was one of BYU’s biggest signings in recent years. He appears to have the top-level talent to help resurrect a toothless pass rush as BYU enters the Big 12. To make the situation as bad as possible, Fano signed with Utah. That’s a double gut punch.
December 7th - BYU basketball suffers a humiliating 15-point loss to Utah Valley. Folks, it’s going to be a long, long year for Mark Pope’s squad. We’ve barely just had the First Presidency’s Christmas Devotional and I’m already starting to check out on BYU hoops.
Yes, in the middle of this deflating week, BYU football named Jay Hill as the team’s new defensive coordinator. But going back to my “feeling relief instead of joy” when things go well, my view is BYU should be able to hire a top-tier defensive coordinator. After all, they’re a Big 12 program offering a $1 million salary, for crying out loud! The expectation should have been landing someone like Hill. Anything less would have been a disaster.
Now, despite today’s doom and gloom, I might feel better in a couple of weeks. Perhaps on December 17th BYU beats SMU in the New Mexico Bowl on national television to end the year on a four-game winning streak. Maybe after the game Jaren Hall announces he’ll return for another year in Provo.
BYU’s basketball team plays at Utah on December 17th and perhaps they will continue their recent dominance over the Utes, despite how bad they’ve looked thus far. The Cougars have owned the Utes in basketball in recent years so they know the formula to defeating their in-state rivals.
As far as the transfer portal goes, it swings both ways. Right now for BYU it’s only swinging out. Maybe the Cougs can land a couple of four-star players or other plug-and-play starters through the portal and the early signing period later this month.
I don’t enjoy these feelings of “rise and pout”.
Let’s hope BYU football and basketball can turn things around in December and give us some much-needed reasons to shout for joy.