It used to be that saying a team tried real hard was a pathetic admission of its sad-and-sorry status, a kind of good-job-good-effort patronization.
I’m not so sure anymore.
In a local college football season that has dropped to subterranean levels in recent weeks — BYU having lost seven straight games, and not just to quality opponents, and Utah having lost three straight, two heartbreakers and a sloppy drubbing on its home field at the hands of an underdog — it’s beginning to look as though these guys trying real hard would be a major step forward.
Kyle Whittingham and Kalani Sitake said what they had to say in the aftermath: They must get better, with heavy emphasis that the “they” includes themselves, as coaches, and their assistants.
That’s what good coaches always do when their teams are losing with games yet to play. They count on underachievement as a reliable, correctable bit of optimism for the weeks ahead. They must and will improve, because they can. What are the options, really? Shouting that they did a lousy job recruiting, that their players are inept, that their fates are sealed, that their teams really aren’t the equal of the outfits that are beating them?
Harrumph. That will not do.
Instead, they promise improvement by way of hard work and re-dedication to the cause of winning. As Whittingham said it, “That’s our job.”
He’s right.
A coach’s No. 1 priority is to make his players the best they can be, make his team the best it can be, whatever that means.
There will always be mistakes, individual and collective. Holding them to a minimum is important.
The Utes had four turnovers against Arizona State, a number that most coaches, including Whittingham, find downright hateful. They surrendered more than 200 rushing yards, another mark that bugged Whittingham.
BYU could not solve one of the worst defenses in college football, managing just seven second-half points. The Cougars punted 10 times and ran out of downs on four other possessions.
Every other East Carolina opponent this season had put at least 31 points on the Pirates: James Madison scored 34, West Virginia 56, Virginia Tech 64, UConn 38, South Florida 61, Temple 34, Central Florida 63.
BYU got 17.
So, with the Cougars 1-7 overall and Utah 1-3 in conference, it’s time for a mind adjustment, time to stop laughing at trying real hard and start embracing the concept. If BYU and the Utes gave maximum effort in every remaining game, nobody’s sure exactly where that would take either of them, and nobody’s suggesting handing out Otter Pops afterward.
But the results would exceed what’s been on display.
The reward wouldn’t land Utah a prestigious bowl invitation or BYU any decent postseason invite. The Utes can aim for a middle-tier postseason game. The Cougars are done-for in that regard. But it would give both teams something hardly ever talked about that is of equal importance on a human scale, if not on a competitive one.
Self-respect.
That is something that’s lurching badly in Provo these days. It’s obvious that BYU coaches, especially on the offensive side, have mismatched their schemes with their talent. That’s on them. They should have recognized the deficiency and accounted for it. That has not happened.
If the measure of good coaches is getting the best out of their players, and it is, the Cougars’ staff, especially offensive coordinator Ty Detmer, has failed the test. Though BYU’s players are not blameless, they are better than they’ve played. Maybe not by much, but by some.
It’s that some that the combination of coaches and players must make up.
To a lesser degree, the same is true for the Utes. They are better than they’ve played, particularly against ASU on Saturday.
Sometimes, the expectations of outsiders does not match the reality of the acumen and talent of teams. We all overdo it, from time to time. They really cannot be better than they actually are. But they can be, at least, what they are.
Where does it go from here?
It goes to this: boosted effort.
Knock that smirk off your face.
If BYU tries real hard, with better work, better focus, better mentoring, that will be a kind of impressive that might be laughed at by sports pundits and sophisticates, but that in life’s bigger picture blows past schoolboy wins and losses. It’s a sign that these people are capable of staring at themselves, facing down adversity, and moving forward.
The same is true for the Utes, except that they have considerably more competitive reward in the balance, too.
Spare all of them the Otter Pops.
GORDON MONSON hosts “The Big Show” with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone.