A question for College Football fans

[BYU 14]

Would you be happy if your favorite team was on pace to win 10+ for the fourth season in a row?

Had beaten your rival 2 of the last three years?

If you had two conference titles in the last 4 years and were going to appear in a bowl game for the 5th straight year?

Or would you be critical of your team and coach weren't perfect?

I don't go on other Teams message boards much, but I only ask because there is a contingent of BYU fans that seem to be the most jaded, whiney, spoiled, glass half empty bunch of clueless fuckers I have ever seen in my life....Or maybe I am just out of touch with the average fan base.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

Would you be happy if your favorite team was on pace to win 10+ for the fourth season in a row?

Had beaten your rival 2 of the last three years?

If you had two conference titles in the last 4 years and were going to appear in a bowl game for the 5th straight year?

Or would you be critical of your team and coach weren't perfect?

I don't go on other Teams message boards much, but I only ask because there is a contingent of BYU fans that seem to be the most jaded, whiney, spoiled, glass half empty bunch of clueless fuckers I have ever seen in my life....Or maybe I am just out of touch with the average fan base.

It's a matter of perspective, probably.

If Wyoming managed to do that, the coach could be elected Governor.

[DeToxRox]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

Would you be happy if your favorite team was on pace to win 10+ for the fourth season in a row?

Had beaten your rival 2 of the last three years?

If you had two conference titles in the last 4 years and were going to appear in a bowl game for the 5th straight year?

Or would you be critical of your team and coach weren't perfect?

I don't go on other Teams message boards much, but I only ask because there is a contingent of BYU fans that seem to be the most jaded, whiney, spoiled, glass half empty bunch of clueless fuckers I have ever seen in my life....Or maybe I am just out of touch with the average fan base.

Depends on your team. If I were a BYU fan, I don't see how you can be upset considering the amazing recruiting class coming in, the great coach you have and the fact you will always be in the conversation as a BCS buster.

If it's a team like Miami, Michigan, Ohio State, etc, and they're not getting over the hump and losing games they shouldn't and that is what keeps them from the top, maybe I can see it, and even then it's hard to justify.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

Would you be happy if your favorite team was on pace to win 10+ for the fourth season in a row?

Had beaten your rival 2 of the last three years?

If you had two conference titles in the last 4 years and were going to appear in a bowl game for the 5th straight year?

Or would you be critical of your team and coach weren't perfect?

From the outside looking in, with no real pro or con rooting interest as far as BYU goes, I'm not sure it's quite as clear as that description makes it sound
& I can probably understand some degree of discontent.

-- That 10 wins seems like an iffy proposition to me, depending upon the bowl opponent. 1-1 or even 0-2 in the final two regular season games isn't a huge stretch to imagine (neither is 2-0, just sayin')
-- The 2 out of 3 rival thing is a positive, although UGA could say the same thing but ask them how willing they are to settle for 2 out of 3.
-- It's the MWC, how much are those titles worth? And that's not me taking a cheap shot, I'm talking about from the perspective of the unhappy fan base, is that really considered a major prize? And given the 4 bowl ties that the conference has according to what I found when Googling, seems like that's kind of lukewarm criteria for success. If you're in the MWC & you're not getting one of those bids then you're probably struggling a bit, the 4th place team in the conference has lost at least 5 games 3 of the past 4 seasons.

But I suspect the most relevant thing to any discontent at the moment is the realization that the team is in danger of slipping to a clear 3rd place in their own conference for the second straight year & that probably rankles after winning b2b titles in 06 & 07. It can also be a sign of legitimate concern that you're going backwards instead of forwards. If you're being passed by other programs, it's hard to be content. Again, take a look at the heat coming on Mark Richt as an example of what I mean, a lot of it is focused not on whether his teams are getting worse but rather whether they're being passed like they're sitting still by other programs.

[molson]

I think in general, fans are overly negative and expect too much from their teams. It's a relatively new phenomenon, I think.

[sooner333]

I think it's a message board phenomenon for the most part. Of course, being in a down year in Oklahoma, you hear a lot of pessimism around town and definitely at school. But, it's never as bad or pervasive as on a message board.

[BYU 14]

You make some good points Jon and yeah the MWC is not an overly prestigious title, since they are a non BCS conference, but it still grades out better or as good as half the BCS conferences, if you look at rankings and accomplishments. I will grant that the drop off from the big three (BYU, TCU and Utah) to the rest of the league is huge, with only Air Force posing any type of threat.

I guess one reason this is mystifying to me is that the program has never had 4 consectutive 10 seasons (Lavell never did it) and it has the best recruiting class in it's history on tap for 2010, signs to me that the program is definitely not in decline.

In addition a lot of this has been accomplished with serious voids in the secondary, which is just barely beginning to resemble a D1 unit again. Crowton but pretty much left the program gutted due to recruiting mistakes and honor code scandals that caused the team to lose 5 DB's over the two year span before Mendenhall took over. Hell as recent as 2007 three former walkons were starting in the secondary.

I guess it just bothers me that people forget the three straight losing seasons over Crowton and the fact that Mendenhall is 46-15 since becoming head coach, which includes his initial season record of 6-6.

I think it may have always been this way in sports, but I suppose message boards make it all the more apparent and just like in most other arenas it is the vocal minority that probably make it seem worse than it is, since the fans that are happy with things generally don't post as much as the armchair coaches.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

I guess one reason this is mystifying to me is that the program has never had 4 consectutive 10 seasons (Lavell never did it)

Then again, after his first two seasons in 72-73 Lavell never finished worse than 2nd in the conference for two straight years either.

Don't get me wrong, I don't see any big problem with Mendenhall & I'd say it's extremely premature for anyone to be calling for his head or anything like that. But the emergence of TCU this season combined with the success of Utah, there's probably somewhat legitimate concern about being relegated to "the best of the rest" status & I can see where that wouldn't sit well with some folks.

[rowech]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

Would you be happy if your favorite team was on pace to win 10+ for the fourth season in a row?

Had beaten your rival 2 of the last three years?

If you had two conference titles in the last 4 years and were going to appear in a bowl game for the 5th straight year?

Or would you be critical of your team and coach weren't perfect?

I don't go on other Teams message boards much, but I only ask because there is a contingent of BYU fans that seem to be the most jaded, whiney, spoiled, glass half empty bunch of clueless fuckers I have ever seen in my life....Or maybe I am just out of touch with the average fan base.

I'm not an OSU fan but live in Ohio. Look at one of their message boards sometime. They've been to three title games, winning one. Won I think 6 Big Ten title games now. Been to a bowl game every year, including I believe 5 BCS bowls, crushed their rival, and they're still not happy.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by rowech

I'm not an OSU fan but live in Ohio. Look at one of their message boards sometime. They've been to three title games, winning one. Won I think 6 Big Ten title games now. Been to a bowl game every year, including I believe 5 BCS bowls, crushed their rival, and they're still not happy.

I went and checked it out, about the same as BYU LOL.

Heading into this season Oklahoma, USC, Texas, Ohio State, Boise State and BYU were the only teams in the country that stood to have double digit win seasons 4 (or more) seasons running if they won 10 games this year. I guess the moral is the more you win the more they whine.

[sooner333]

Let's be honest though, it's a lot easier to win 10 games now than it used to be. Longer schedules, FAR more Bowl games. If you're a decent team, you'll play 13 games per season. If you're talking about OU and Texas on your list, you're looking at possibly 14 games (although Texas hasn't in that time-frame since OU has won three consecutive conference-championship games.)

[molson]

Originally Posted by sooner333

Let's be honest though, it's a lot easier to win 10 games now than it used to be. Longer schedules, FAR more Bowl games. If you're a decent team, you'll play 13 games per season. If you're talking about OU and Texas on your list, you're looking at possibly 14 games (although Texas hasn't in that time-frame since OU has won three consecutive conference-championship games.)

That's true, but the same reasons make it harder to go undefeated - which is the only thing many college football fans of the major programs would consider a successful season.

[panerd]

Have to agree with the message boards being a zone of a bunch of morons. Take Mizzou: After the Baylor loss they wanted to start a new coach search to replace Pinkel (even though the past 2 years may have been the best in the history of the program), after the K-State win last weekend they think Denario Alexander should be the first pick in the NFL draft, lose to Iowa State this weekend and they will be back to firing Pinkel.

[RainMaker]

I think I'd be happy. Unless you are one of the handful of teams allowed to play for the pretend championship, being highly competitive in a year in, year out basis is great. I'd much rather have a consistent winner I know I can stand behind every year than a team that has a chance to win only 4-5 games a season.

It's risk/reward for me. What is the reward in bringing in another coach? An extra win every season still means you go to a bowl no one will care about. You are not allowed to play for the NC so I'd be happy with where the program is currently at.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by sooner333

Let's be honest though, it's a lot easier to win 10 games now than it used to be. Longer schedules, FAR more Bowl games. If you're a decent team, you'll play 13 games per season. If you're talking about OU and Texas on your list, you're looking at possibly 14 games (although Texas hasn't in that time-frame since OU has won three consecutive conference-championship games.)

Longer schedules do make it easier, but conversely scholarship limits, improved training opportunities for HS athletes, more exposure and better HS coaching have led to bigger talent base, a wider distribution of that talent which equals more parity. Even top teams are a few key injuries or heavy graduation losses away from going from a 10+ game winner to an 8-9 game winner. USC and Oklahoma are two examples of powerhouses that have struggled (by their standards) because of these issues. I think it that fact that only 6 D1 teams had the chance to do this bears this out.

[Mustang]

I follow the Badgers so, I'm familiar with a team in the 8-9 year win range, but not really playing for anything mentality. It gets rather tiresome and I have a hard time really getting emotionally tied up with watching games because it seems like the Badgers beat their share of cupcakes on the schedule, lose games to the contending teams and finish in 4th place and make their yearly trek to Florida for some Outback bowl appearance.

Huzzah.. Huzzah.

I'd rather have 1 BCS appearance every 4 years and have the other 3 be losing seasons rather than 4 straight years of 8 wins and some Cock Gobbler bowl appearance.