"Dennis Pitta is the nation's top returning tight end," says ESPN's Graham Watson who is a little partial to the MWC. She has covered the conference for a couple years now and loves pointing out how superior the MWC is to other non-BCS conferences, which it completely true.With the season opener only 9 days away, BYU is almost getting to game-week preparation. I'm sure they have been watching OU film since the minute they found out the Sooners were on their schedule, but now the day has almost come.
With most of the key offensive and defensive postitions set on the depth chart, there are still a couple of roster spots that are undecided at the moment.
1- Shaun Doman and Terrence Hooks are battling it out for the starting "Buck" linebacker spot. Hooks has recently returned from an injury and with the way he has been playing, has caused some confusion as to who should be the starter.
2- The Field cornerback position is still wide open as Bronco Mendenhall has said. There is nobody that stands out right now as the #1 guy (is BYU ever going to have a good standout d-back again?)
If those are the only 2 question marks that they have for now, that makes me a happy guy. At least we aren't in the position that Utah is where they don't even know who their starting QB is going to be. That's scary.
I was reading Sports Illustrated at my doctor's office yesterday and peeked at the Heisman Race section. The first thing that was mentioned was that if BYU Senior QB Max Hall plays well against Oklahoma and BYU pulls off an upset, he will go from a dark horse in the Heisman race to favorite to win it overnight! Maybe a little bit extreme, but hey there's a shot right?
With Max as a possible Heisman candidate and Pitta, Unga, Tonga, Jacobsen, Chambers (still a ? in my mind), and George playing as though they actually want a BCS game this year, I think we have a shot at it. The biggest question to me is our defense. Come on D, prove me wrong!
Pitta was one of the keys of BYU's explosive offense last season. He was the second leading receiver for the Cougars with 83 receptions, 1083 yards, 6 TD's. Hey Dennis, how bout you try and break Austin Collie's record and make it 12 consecutive games with 100+ receiving yards per game?
The 6-2 230lb Senior linebacker should be the anchor for a Ute defense that should be decent after losing some key players to the NFL. With a total of 73 tackles last year and 8 of those for a loss, he should be increasing those stats this upcoming season since Paul Kruger won't be there to steal his TFL.
After the second half of last season, I lost my hope in Max Hall. Since it has been over 9 months since I have watched him play, those feelings of hopelessness have gone, and I have a renewed sense of hope. Max Hall is one of the best QB's in the country. When he is composed and has time to throw, there is nothing that can be done to stop him. Now don't tell this to any team that BYU will play this year, but the secret to stopping him is getting pressure on him and knocking him down. If this happens, he loses his composure and he turns the ball over 6 times in one game (November 22, 2008 in SLC). Good luck Max. Let's end the year better than we ended last year! 
