BYU re-writes the script

What was that? Only a week ago The Wimple was predicting:

TCU has the MWC's best chances of running the table... So what's the prognosis for BYU? The Wimple is tempted to downgrade the high expectations given them after spring; instability on the o-line is not a trifling weakness. But after a loss to OU, BYU remains as good, or better, than every remaining team on its schedule.

And then BYU goes out there and kicks Oklahoma's butt. No, the score doesn't make it look like that's what happened, but considering the youth on BYU's o-line, and the supposed strength of OU's defense, one must conclude that BYU simply outperformed Oklahoma in the trenches. That's what butt-kicking is all about.

Consider now the rest of The Wimple's pre-season prediction for BYU:

Getting Florida State, Colorado State, TCU, Air Force, and Utah at home has to be the best-breaking difficult schedule in the nation. BYU is the reasonable choice to win every one of those games-- even if only by a hair's breadth.

Suddenly the road ahead for BYU looks lovely, and the Cougars aren't starting down it as a recovery project from a Dallas bruising.

Is there a cloud in this sky? Yes: the season is 12 games long, and biffing an easy game takes away all the progress and poll capital you earn by winning the hard one. Witness: the last MWC team to beat OU in its home opener. TCU did just that in 2005, and then laid its biggest egg since 2000; the Frogs lost at SMU the following week. They didn't return to the polls for a month, but finished 14th, and would have auto-bid into the BCS under the present rules. Alas, those rules didn't take effect until the following year, giving us Boise State and Oklahoma in the best Fiesta Bowl since Penn State and Miami. (why is OU always lurking in non-cartel's BCS runs?)