When BYU Football entered the Big 12 nearly a year ago, the plan and goal was to have the football team finish with a winning record and to begin to see more players drafted in the NFL Draft. Up to this point, things haven’t gone as planned.
The Cougars finished with a 5-7 record, including a 2-7 record in the Big 12, and this past weekend, the Cougars only had one player, Kingsley Suamataia, picked up in the NFL Draft. Both of these numbers are very underwhelming, and while no fan will say they regret BYU going into the Big 12, they are begining to realize how much more difficult it is to compete at the P4 level.
But was year one in the Big 12 a fail? Let’s dive in.
Missing a Bowl Game Was Tough For BYU
BYU Football started the season 3-0 and 4-1 overall, making BYU football fans confident that the Cougars would make it to a bowl game and potentially finish in the league’s top half. Obviously, that didn’t happen, and by the end of the season, it felt like the Cougars were in complete disarray, unable to finish games and lacking depth.
It’s impossible to look at the season and say it was a success; however, it wasn’t a complete failure. The Cougars were, for the most part, competitive in the Big 12. Of their seven losses, four of their games were still competitive in the fourth quarter. Additionally, with this year’s recruiting, BYU is actually holding up quite well.
According to 247 Sports, BYU Football currently has the 5th highest-rated recruiting cycle in the Big 12 when looking at just high school recruits. Overall, when considering transfers, that number drops to 13th in the league, with a score of 210, but the three teams ahead of them are between 210-212.
NFL Draft Was Disappointing, Nothing to Worry About
BYU Football was, in some ways, very unlucky to only have one draft pick. According to Mel Kiper’s NFL Draft Big Board, BYU was close to having two other players drafted, and a third was not too far behind. Ryan Rhekow was considered to be the best punter who was not drafted, and Kedon Slovis was the highest-rated quarterback remaining. Additionally, Isaac Rex was ranked seventh for tight ends.
Still, close doesn’t count for anything, ultimately. The narrative will be that BYU only had one draft pick in their first year in the Big 12, and that is the end of that.
But for BYU fans, this year’s draft isn’t anything to really worry about. Multiple players, including the three just mentioned, were quickly picked up by teams with UDFA deals. Considering that nearly three players were drafted and that BYU is coming off a 5-7 season, the overall results are actually acceptable.
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1 Comment
Failure.
What is success for BYU football? In my opinion, it is this:
To be a mediocre P5 program. This means beating half of the P5 level opponents (this includes ranked G5 opponents or G5 division or conference champions) and all of their weaker G5 and FCS foes.
BYU beat their weaker 2 foes, but they went 3-7 against P5 foes.
Failure. That doesn’t mean that there weren’t promising aspects but as a whole, it was a failure.