Columnist Dean Juipe: BYU schedule a little too formidable

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2003 | 9:27 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

Sadistic and demented schedules pop up on the college football radar screen every now and then, such as the one San Jose State played a year ago and the one Troy State endured in 2001.

San Jose's was brutal and required not just a road map but an Atlas as the Spartans crisscrossed the country in mercenary style. Enticed strictly by the money it received for playing away from home, San Jose opened with four consecutive road games -- including tough outings at Washington, Stanford and Illinois -- and was cast as the visitor five other times, including a game in the second half of the season at eventual national champion Ohio State.

The Spartans -- denied the frequent-flyer upgrades they deserved -- earned whatever pittance they received for coming to the aid of their school's general fund.

So did Troy State in 2001 as it moved to Division I with a bang, agreeing to kamikaze games at Nebraska, Miami and Maryland. And the Trojans did it without complaint, not even getting a campus library named after them.

Old habits dying hard, San Jose and Troy State are still scheduling over their heads and beyond their abilities, as shown by the Spartans getting blown out by a 65-3 score at Florida last Saturday and the Trojans playing at Nebraska and Virginia in October.

But this season's toughest schedule belongs to Brigham Young.

The Cougars are on a mission and it has nothing to do with satisfying a religious tenet. They're booked for a series of demanding games that will leave their typical player feeling as if his 25-year-old body is but a collection of sore muscles and a warehouse for fatigue.

He'll be wishing he was 19 and back caring for the natives in Somalia rather than feeling as if he's 40 and a physical wreck.

And here's a flash for perspective's sake: Don't be misled by those preseason stories that dwell on a team's strength of schedule while subliminally accentuating strength of conference. They do little more than show that teams from the big conferences are mandated to play like-minded opponents.

The true test of the toughest schedule in college football is to look for a team from a mid-level conference that has decided to play its optional nonconference games against the elite. That team this year is BYU, which statistically is playing only the 75th toughest schedule while realistically having it feel as if it's No. 1.

The Cougars have done this before and frequently face high-voltage opponents as a means of placating their administration's and fans' desire to build on their national reputation. Teams such as Syracuse, Florida State, Virginia, Washington, Alabama and Arizona State have shown up on their schedules in the past five years.

But this year's schedule is the equivalent of volunteering for a second visit to the dentist after he says he'll settle for seeing you again in six months. It's like signing up for unnecessary surgery, just to give the doctors a trial run.

The trek began last Thursday with the Cougars looking very good in getting past Georgia Tech 24-13 in a game in which they were 3 1/2-point favorites against a team expecting to add to its run of six consecutive winning seasons and six consecutive bowl appearances.

Nice victory that it was, it has already been forgotten now that a game with a suddenly imposing Southern Cal team in Los Angeles is the immediate concern. The Trojans ambushed No. 6 Auburn 23-0 last Saturday, have vaulted to No. 4 in this week's AP poll and are getting serious, if somewhat premature, consideration as a national championship contender.

They're favored by 21 over BYU in a game in which the bookmakers see the Cougars as mere Mountain West whipping boys for their more sophisticated West Coast rivals.

If only BYU had a Wofford, a Weber State, or a Samford to interrupt their schedule, as MWC colleagues Air Force, Colorado State and San Diego State, respectively, enjoy and as virtually all major-college bullies employ.

But the grueling schedule will continue for the Cougars without so much as a week off until November. Following this week's game and the anticipated carnage at USC, is a conference opener at New Mexico that could go either way, followed by a nonconference game with Stanford of the Pac-10 before consecutive league games with Air Force, SDSU and CSU that will make the first half of the season a rip-roaring, rollicking whirlwind of either ecstasy or debris.

But wait, there's more. Games with Wyoming and UNLV follow, and then one with defending WAC champion Boise State that runs the risk of being overlooked in the shuffle.

As if that's not enough, following its bye week Brigham Young will play at Notre Dame and confront all the trappings of a game at South Bend -- Touchdown Jesus will surely take an interest in this one -- before closing its season with archrival Utah.

No way the Cougars, who are coming off their first losing season in 29 years, come out of this unscathed. They may not be sacrificial lambs, but there's a price to be paid for playing such an adventurous schedule and they'll soon be paying it.

The decent and god-fearing guys who make up the team may as well consider it a tithe.