The game today was sort of a letdown after BYU annihilated UCLA 59-0.

BYU only beat Wyoming 44-0.

Ok, kidding aside — BYU is going to be in the top ten this time tomorrow and with good reason. To me the most memorable image in the game was Max Hall throwing yet another touchdown pass to Austin Collie and simply turning to walk toward the sideline with an almost “ho-hum” demeanor about him. Seriously, it is getting that way. Throwing touchdown passes is just what Max Hall does. And he seemingly does it at will.

Now having said that, the offense was a bit off kilter this game. In the first quarter Max was not very accurate but he and his team mates really got things rolling in the second quarter. The third quarter started off great but then the offense was forced to punt twice. I’m sure Max and his pals would have liked to get back on track but Coach Mendenhall pretty much had to yank them with route being on and all.

The defense gave up plenty of yards but they seem to have the “bend but don’t break” thing really working for them. Every time the Cowboys got close to scoring the Cougs forced a turnover. In fact the defense scored two touchdowns of their own this week. As a result the first team defense (and the backups starting in the third quarter) notched their second shutout in a row. That is impressive. The combined score of the last two games is BYU 103, opposition 0.

It’s a good time to be a BYU football fan.

… and 59-0 as a final.

BYU steamrolled UCLA today. It was total domination in nearly every aspect of the game. I’d say all the annoying carping about the way the last game ended ought to fade away after today.

It wasn’t a perfect game but it was nearly perfect. It’s a fun time to be a Cougar fan.

This post was an experiment in whether concentrating on the issues in my previous post would enable me to better put forth a discussion of the atonement. Your input and thoughts are greatly appreciated.

First to give context, I recently read a blog post about a “Reductio ad Hitlerum” film put on by BBC regarding the problem of Evil [1]. At the same time, I was listening to the Book of Job on my commute to work, slowly working my way through the Old Testament for the first time. As I dealt with these two items simultaneously, it renewed my interest in the way the church has dealt with the problem of suffering and evil. It is my opinion that the Church uses its particular theological tenants regarding the Atonement and the way things are as our own theodicy, and that this theodicy is strong.

Now perhaps theodicy is the wrong word, some may argue, but here I am taking theodicy to simply mean a defense of God’s goodness and justice in the face of the existence of evil [2]. And again, perhaps atonement is the wrong word, as this can sometimes be construed to mean everything between the act in Gethsemane and the entirety of the Plan of Salvation. [3] For my purposes here I am going to initially begin by framing the problem in the whole of the plan and hopefully drill down to examine the event in Gethsemane in context of that plan.
(more…)

When I was at BYU I used to spend some of my free time between classes hunting for treasures in the BYU library. I made lots of trips to Special Collections since my searches on controversial topics seemed to land me there more often than not. But those trips took time. Frequently, I would just go to the Mormon section (on the forth floor at the time before the HBLL was expanded and it moved downstairs) and look for interesting books to check out. At the time I didn’t have a very clear picture of the larger scholarly community and I assumed if I was going to find interesting things I’d have to dig them up for myself in old books. (more…)

Phew! A non-conference road win… It’s about time.

BYU pulled out a win today over the Washington Huskies by blocking an extra point attempt that would have tied the game as time wound down. Good times, good times…

Just as I was about to kick a hole in my TV in frustration over the atrociously biased Pac 10 refs (who had just swallowed their whistles on a blatant hold — a hold that likely prevented a drive-ending sack no less), just at that moment the refs blew the whistle on UW quarterback Jake Locker when he hurled the ball into the air after scoring a last second touchdown. The penalty meant that with the score at 27-28 the Huskies had to kick the extra point from an extra 15 yards out. In shades of the 2007 Las Vegas Bowl the Cougs promptly blocked the kick and won the game. Good times.

Here are a few things I learned from watching this game: (more…)

Today I went back and read a few old posts, and a few things became apparent.
(more…)

When Nevada backed out of their scheduled season opening game with BYU several months ago BYU was left in a bad spot. They needed to schedule a home game for August 30 with a good opponent. The problem is that most schools are not super anxious to come to Provo to face the Cougs — largely because most schools realize it is hard to beat BYU in Provo these days. So BYU reportedly took the best game it could get. That meant that Division 1AA (FCS) powerhouse Northern Iowa.

In the end BYU took care of the NIU Panthers 41-17. But the game was no thing of beauty for the Cougs on Saturday. BYU actually did have an excellent first half. It was the dominating performance one would expect from a top 20 division 1A (FBS) school over a good school from a lower division with the Cougs leading 27-3 going into the break. But the third quarter was a disaster for BYU. After losing 4 fumbles the Cougars gave up 14 points and scored none in the 3rd and the score heading in to the 4th quarter was 27-17. BYU righted the ship quickly enough and got those 14 points back but the game did show that BYU is has a way to go in its “Quest For Perfection” (the team motto in 2008).

Here are some random thoughts and observations about the game:

(more…)