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BYU Football: How much better are the Cougars in 2018 than 2017?

By Adam Gibby

PROVO, UT - OCTOBER 3: A dejected Brigham Young Cougars bench watches the clock tick down on their unbeaten season, as they lost to the Utah State Aggies 35-20 at LaVell Edwards Stadium on October 3, 2014 in Provo, Utah. (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images )
PROVO, UT - OCTOBER 3: A dejected Brigham Young Cougars bench watches the clock tick down on their unbeaten season, as they lost to the Utah State Aggies 35-20 at LaVell Edwards Stadium on October 3, 2014 in Provo, Utah. (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr/Getty Images ) /
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TUCSON, AZ – SEPTEMBER 01: Running back Squally Canada #22 of the Brigham Young Cougars scores on a one yard rushing touchdown against the Arizona Wildcats during the first half of the college football game at Arizona Stadium on September 1, 2018 in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
TUCSON, AZ – SEPTEMBER 01: Running back Squally Canada #22 of the Brigham Young Cougars scores on a one yard rushing touchdown against the Arizona Wildcats during the first half of the college football game at Arizona Stadium on September 1, 2018 in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

It took ten games, but it finally seems like there’s agreement among BYU Football fans that this year’s team is better than last. The only question is how much?

If you like rollercoaster seasons, this season has been the greatest season in BYU history.

If you are a normal fan though, this season has been quite the opposite. BYU Football started with a high of beating Arizona and Heisman hopeful Kahlil Tate, then followed that up by losing to what we thought would be a terrible California team.

After that, BYU went to Madison, Wisconsin and beat a Top 10 team. A few weeks later and BYU is losing to Utah State and Northern Illinois. And now we are here, a few days after beating UMass and less than two weeks away from the Holy War.

During the highs of the season, Cougar fans have had flashbacks of the late 2000’s when BYU was winning 10+ games a season. During the lows, many have compared this year’s team to last year’s 4-9 disaster.

Until Saturday’s victory against UMass, it was hard to say for certain that the Cougars were better this year than last.

Now there’s enough evidence to confidently say they are a better team.

Wins/Losses

As of right now, BYU has wins over Arizona, Wisconsin, Hawaii, McNeese State and UMass. It’s very  likely that three of these teams will be going to a bowl game this year, not to mention that McNeese State is also ranked No. 21 in the FCS right now. Last season, BYU’s best win was against UNLV, who finished 5-7. Their other opponents had a combined record of 5-33.

Ouch.

This year, the Cougars’ losses come to California, Utah State, Northern Illinois, Boise State and Washington. All five of these teams are already bowl eligible and three of them are currently in the AP Top 25, not including Wisconsin who has spent most of the season there. Last year’s losses included bad losses to East Carolina (3-9), UMass (4-8), and Utah State (6-7). Then there were the blowouts to Wisconsin and LSU.

Long story short, this season, so far, the Cougars haven’t had any bad losses and they’ve had some good wins, something that they didn’t have any of last year.

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