For BYU, ‘These are some good times’

Pondering BYU’s potential as it takes advantage of another bye week before the stretch run that includes Utah, Kansas, Arizona State and Houston, and might also include the Big 12 championship and College Football Playoff, is a lot to think about.
Enabling such a scenario for discussion months ago would not only seem like a waste of time, but also require the kind of blue goggles that repel reality. After all, the Cougars were coming off a 2-7 debut in the Big 12 and were picked to finish 13th among the 16 teams in 2024.
Adding to the offseason saga was all of the noise coming from the north. Utah, in their initial Big 12 season, was expected to establish residency in the Top 20, win the league and represent the conference in the playoffs.
Part of what draws us to sports is the unpredictability of it all. The lack of a guarantee is why we brace for the worst, while hoping for the best. No one knows this saga more intimately than us Chicago Cubs fans. So, when surprises supplant expectations, it is up to us to pause and relish the moment.
Sitting under the stars at the Bluebird Café concert series at Sundance in July, we watched a songwriter tell his story about the No. 1 country hit he wrote for singer Trace Adkins called “You’re Gonna Miss This.”
Lee Thomas Miller’s wording suggests we can get so fixated on what is up ahead that we miss the great moments that are here right now.
He writes:
“You’re gonna miss this
“You’re gonna want this back
“You’re gonna wish these days hadn’t gone by so fast
“These are some good times
“So take a good look around
“You may not know it now
“But you’re gonna miss this.”
BYU loves being 8-0 and it’s OK for 8-0 to be enough until Nov. 9, when the Cougars line up and go for another win. If 9-0 doesn’t materialize, it will be disappointing, but the possibility doesn’t have to impede the joy that is right now.
Miller’s message is that you can’t control the future, but you can enjoy the moment, and if you catch that song while radio surfing among Utah’s country music stations, turn it up and take it in. It’s a message that resonates in all aspects of life.
BYU is not an underappreciated team. LaVell Edwards Stadium is consistently full, and droves of fans show up wherever the team goes, as was evident in the stadium takeover at UCF on Saturday. But what these Cougars have accomplished already is unlike 95 other BYU teams that came before them.
In the 100 years of Cougar football, only five have started 8-0. Among the legendary quarterbacks Gary Sheide, Jim McMahon, Steve Young, Ty Detmer, John Beck, Max Hall, Steve Sarkisian — they all won a lot of games and a lot of national awards, but none started 8-0. Jake Retzlaff has, and he and his Cougars have done it against a Power Four schedule none of their prized predecessors ever faced.
To borrow a phrase from the songwriter, “These are some good times.”
They are also surprising times.
In a reversal of fortunes, and with just under two weeks before the first BYU-Utah conference game in 14 years, it is BYU (8-0, 5-0) sitting high in the polls (No. 9) and in first place in the Big 12, and the Utes are out of the rankings and one game out of last place (4-4, 1-4).
For a program and fan base that had to survive 12 years as an independent while stretching for ways to remain relevant in and out of the state, this is almost too much. Almost.
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.