Greetings from Dallas

It’s been a long day. After a layover in Memphis, we finally arrived in Dallas this afternoon and checked into the hotel in Irving. It’s also the BYU team hotel — the same one the Cougars stayed in last year before the 32-7 loss to TCU.

Dick and I came across many BYU fans at the airport, on the flight, on the rental car shuttle, at the hotel (by the way, we’ve seen Oklahoma fans here at the hotel, too).

We happened to arrive at the hotel at the same time as the three BYU team buses did. The Cougars, dressed up in shirts and ties, went straight to Cowboys Stadium after landing to soak in the atmosphere there. Coach Bronco Mendenhall didn’t want his players’ first experience at the stadium — which, from what I hear, is as amazing and extravagant as has been advertised — to be on game day.

As usual, the team will hold its traditional pre-game fireside tonight in Carrollton, Tex. at the Carrollton Stake Center. There will be a live simulcast of the fireside at the Richardson Texas Stake Center; the Coppell Texas Chapel; the Norman Oklahoma Stake Center; and the Moore Oklahoma Stake Center.

Of course, Manase Tonga is looking forward to playing again. He was part of the 2006 and 2007 BYU teams that won 11 games and captured Mountain West Conference championships. Then, last season, he was ruled academically ineligible and had to sit out.
I asked Tonga this week to compare the 2009 Cougar offense to the 2007 version. “The guys were young then,” he said. “They’re a lot more confident. Now, they’ve been through it all.” And the defense? “Defensively, this is the best defense I’ve seen here since 2006. Our defense flies around and gets after it.”

I’ve heard people talk about the gap between BYU and Oklahoma, pointing to last year’s results. They point out that BYU lost by 25 points to TCU, which lost by 25 points to Oklahoma. They come to the conclusion that Oklahoma must be 50 points better than the Cougars. Then point out that BYU beat Washington in Seattle by one point, 28-27, while the Sooners blasted that same Huskies team a week later, at that same Husky Stadium, 55-14.

Does any of that really mean anything?
What are your picks for tomorrow’s game? Will it be a blowout? Will BYU keep it close? Or does BYU pull one of the greatest upsets in school history?

All we know right now is, this is a new season. A different season. A year after being proclaimed the BCS-busters, they start the season as underdogs. They seem to like that role. The Cougars have had kind of a quiet confidence during fall camp. Without saying anything outrageous, they believe they can win this game Saturday night.
It won’t be long before we find out if they can.