Let the losing streak continue...

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The streak will continue, BYU fans. And I'm not talking about a good one.

BYU fans are just three short days away from being treated to a drubbing at the hands of the Florida Gators. The reason this will happen, of course, is because a team like Florida is BYU's worst nightmare. I'll illustrate by bringing up painful memories of the football game against Florida State that was played in Provo just a few short months ago.

BYU came into the game fresh off an exciting neutral-site victory over No. 3 Oklahoma and a pasting of Tulane on the road. Florida State lost to Miami in the first game before getting way too much of a test against Jacksonville State, which is a Division I-AA school. The game was in Provo, where the Cougars are incredibly difficult to beat. So what happened?

Florida State put 54 points on a BYU defense that allowed 13 to Oklahoma and 3 to Tulane, games that were NOT IN PROVO. In other words, BYU was completely outgunned; Florida State was 12 for 15 on third down and rushed for an astounding 313 yards. And let me add, from somebody who was just a few rows up from the south endzone, that it looked worse than it actually was. The FSU players looked bigger, faster and stronger than nearly every BYU player, and Bobby Bowden knew it. The legendary coach used his obvious athletic advantage to craft a gameplan BYU had no chance against.

FSU didn't have the better quarterback that day. Their team was not as disciplined, their coaching staff was not as consistent and they had an entire stadium full of rabid fans against them. Their season would be considered a failure and result in the end of the Bobby Bowden era at FSU. But on that day, they had superior athleticism, superior focus and drive, and a game plan executed by a big time coach who had succeded in big time games many times before.

On Thursday, BYU will be playing more than the 10th seed in the NCAA tournament. They will play a school that has won two of the past five national championships. They will play a coach who turned down a job as an NBA head coach just a few short years ago, a coach who took a talented team to back-to-back NCAA titles. And they will play a roster built on top-10 recruiting classes in 2007 and 2008 and a top-20 class in 2009 (a deceiving ranking, because the class included just two players, but both are ranked in the top-50 nationally). So lets review the similarities between the Florida State game and the upcoming tournament game:

Great, proven, winning coach? Check.
Team has underachieved this season? Check.
Team is talented and athletic? Check.
BYU is favored to win? Check.

Florida doesn't want to lose to BYU. They have no intention of losing to BYU. They understand the advantage they have inside with their length and size (with seven players 6'8" or taller) and also with the speed of their guards. And they definitely know that BYU relies entirely too much on jump shooting to win games. BYU only wins if they shoot the lights out or if the game is close or tied with a minute to go, neither of which will happen.

The streak continues.