1. BYU was never a national power for any extended period of time. We won a national title. We had another top 5 finish twenty years later. We had a bunch of very good seasons, but not national power caliber. During the Lavell Edwards era 21 schools had more top 5 finishes than BYU while Houston and SMU had as many. Twenty five schools had more top 10 finishes during that time frame while North Carolina had as many. Twenty nine schools had better a better winning pct. than BYU vs. the final top 20 during the Lavell Edwards era. BYU's 8 wins against such competition was only 1 more than Utah's 7. Suggesting Bronco took over a national power going through a few rough seasons is not accurate.

From 1965-1971, BYU's record was 36-36. They won 1 conference title and had zero bowl wins. They had a 3-4 record vs. Utah in that span. From 1998-2004 BYU's record was 49-38 .563 win pct. They won 1 conference title and had zero bowl wins. They had a 3-4 record vs. Utah.

There is no comparison of schedules between Lavell's first 10 and Bronco's first 10. What was true back then as it is today is that certain conferences were tougher than others. For example, from 1972-1981 the WAC was a collective 44-97-2 against teams from the Big 10, Pac, SEC, ACC, SWC and Big 8 (let's call these the major conferences at the time). Meanwhile the MWC was 63-99 vs. the Pac, Big 12, SEC, ACC and Big 10 from 2001-2010. The major conferences still had an advantage, but the gap was closer in Bronco's era than it was in Lavell's first 10 years.

22% of Lavell's games in his first 10 years were against major conference teams and nonmajor teams that finished ranked in the top 20. His record was 10-16 against such competition a .384 win pct. 37% of Bronco's games have been against such competition and his record is 20-28 .416 win pct.

2. The WAC had an auto tie in with the Fiesta Bowl for most of the '70s. No question getting to a bowl game was more impressive during Lavell's first 10 years even though there were 16 bowl games by 1981. If we were comparing bowl opponents Lavell's were tougher overall and the SMU win would be the best during this era. Bronco's win over Oregon St. compares favorably with the Washington St. win.

3. Rivalries are huge and 3-6 isn't good enough. Period. From 1972-1981 Utah won a total of 48 games. From 2005-2013 Utah won a total of 75 games. Lavell only played a Utah team that finished ranked once (1994) and lost. Bronco had played 3 Ute teams that finished ranked and beat one. Also worth noting, Lavell's record vs. Utah St. in his first 10 years was 6-4. Bronco's is 6-2.

4. I don't get the point here. Bronco hasn't been outside the final major polls for 5 straight years, yet. We were ranked in the Coaches' poll in 2011.