Ordinarily I would think that remark is ill-advised. The circumstances this year are unique.
– the entire BYU ecosystem has been psyched up for this since November.
– they let the rhetoric on their media day be centric to this game.
– this year we won’t be sandwiched between the hangover over winning the PAC South and looking forward to the PAC championship game. We were embarassed by how we played last year. That crappy effort won’t happen again.
– this game has become a massive gorilla on their backs, to the point of being a psychological hangup, certainly among the fans, with enormous pressure on the coaches.
– after the adrenaline wears off, if their scheme isn’t paying off – and considering the turnover situation doesn’t slant things – the doubts/fears will start to creep in.
– when scheme, motivation and coaching are equal, and turnovers or other factors aren’t tilting things one way or another, talent starts to manifest itself.
– there’s a talent differential. Everyone knows it.
I think that remark is a calculated move by KW to move them out of their clearest thinking. That Meyer was just here makes me think this may be some informed high level psychological manipulation.