Those teams of the early/mid 80's put a lot of guys in the NFL. They were for real. I'll agree that we haven't had many truly great teams since, and that we've not done much since 2009 (I'd include 2010, but whatever - I just think 10 wins is a benchmark).

What I mostly agree with is the fact that, despite being mired in an awful losing steak, and despite showing defensive weakness we've not seen in a number of years, BYU is poised to take the next step in program development. I don't know what Bronco's ceiling is as a head coach, but it's higher than what we're seeing now. We know this because he's had much better teams before. We do have some very promising younger players that, given more time in the film/weight room, more time grazing at the training table, and most importantly more game and practice reps, ought to blossom into darn good players. Let's use Langi as an example. He jumps out as having elite potential at LB. But, he's just off his mission, and has only played a handful of snaps at the position. He's not a real good MLB right now, but he may well develop into the stud we need to man the middle. I think it happens sooner, rather than later. Another example is Warner. Great talent, but completely green. Just a freshman - not strong or experienced enough to either hold the edge in the run game or put consistent pressure on the QB in the passing game. But it will come. He'll get stronger. He'll learn technique. He'll gain experience. And he'll be KVN redux, or at least a very good college OLB. I could go on talking about young players, or players just off missions.

My point is not to say that it's OK to be losing because we are a young team, because it's not OK, at all. My only purpose in raising the youth issue is to remind ourselves that we have seen what appears to be nice recruiting gains recently, and those gains ought to start showing up on the field before long. Until then, coaches are just going to have to figure out how to better use the players as-is, and how to start putting W's back on the board.

What really drives my optimism is that we've seen Bronco put very good defenses on the field pretty consistently, so I'm confident he'll get there again, no matter who wears the "DC" title. And, we know what kinds of offenses Anae has generally been able to build at BYU. I know neither coach is without faults, but they are solid (or in Bronco's case, elite) coordinators, and it's just not a big stretch to imagine a season, coming soon, when we are finally able to field both a strong defense and a strong offense. All we needed during the 2011-2013 stretch was any kind of a solid offense (didn't even need to be spectacular, just solid), and we'd be looking at several more 10 win seasons and top25 rankings. Maybe even better than that. But, that didn't happen. We had a deficit at QB, and for a couple of those seasons we had a very inexperienced, in-over-his-head OC. QB issues ought to be fixed at this point, with Taysom presumably coming back and Mangum to back him up, along with Hosick and whoever, and Mangum appears to be the real deal. That won't be known for sure until he proves it on the field, but he sure tore up spring scrimmage when he participated. Anyway, hopefully our QB woes are behind us.