At the risk of sounding trite and simplistic and cliched, here's what today's Disneyland Pigskin Classic game between No. 19 BYU and No. 1 Florida State could boil down to: Which team is ready to play.
That has to be the key, because it's the one common thread that ran through comments by players and coaches at Wednesday's press conference."We'll have to be ready to play," Florida State coach Bobby Bowden declared.
"We are ready to play," BYU linebacker Rocky Biegel assured.
Now, it would be easy to shrug off such comments as typical lightweight jock talk, except for one thing: BYU's players by now should understand what it means to be "ready to play." They may not be expressing the idea eloquently, but the comparisons they are drawing between not being ready to play and being ready to play show they may have learned something last season.
They recognize, for instance, that they were ready to play when they beat No. 1-ranked Miami, and they weren't ready to play when they got drubbed by Hawaii and Texas A&M.
"I don't think anybody in the nation would have beat Texas A&M that night; they were on fire (i.e., ready to play)," Biegel said. "But we weren't ready to play. We didn't have our heads in the right place."
"After we won the WAC last year, we got complacent (i.e., not ready to play)," said cornerback Tony Crutchfield. "We didn't play well against Utah or Utah State, either.
"We know we're going to have to come out pumped-up," Crutchfield continued. "It will take a Miami-type effort to beat Florida State."
OK, it's been established that BYU's players know what it means to be ready to play, but are they really ready? Before the Hawaii game last year, the players said they wanted to avenge themselves for the previous season's Island humiliation, and they still talked of an outside shot at a national championship, and they wanted to make a good showing on the day quarterback Ty Detmer won the Heisman Trophy, with the eyes of the nation upon them - seemingly enough motivation for several games - and still, they weren't ready.
Against Texas A&M, the Cougs wanted to prove to everyone that they were a good football team after the Hawaii humiliation, and still they weren't ready.
So is BYU ready this time? The crystal ball says . . . maybe. Anyway, there are some indications that they might be.
For instance, they seem to be relishing the role of big-time underdog, and the last time they had a chance to do that they knocked off another team from Florida that was ranked No. 1.
"We like being the underdogs for a change," said Biegel. "All the pressure is on Florida State."
"Hopefully, we can fool all the critics," Crutchfield said. "We'd like to silence them."
For another thing, everyone says quarterback Ty Detmer looks better than ever.
"Ty seems to be a little more focused this year," Biegel said. "He's got the eye of the tiger."
Add then the ultimate compliment: "He's ready to play."
As evidence, Biegel related how he took a shot at Detmer in practice, even though the rangy quarterback was wearing a do-not-touch red jersey.
"I pounced on him pretty good, and he called me out again," Biegel said, smiling. "He said, 'That's not enough, Biegel. You've got to bring more than that'."
Florida State, meanwhile, seems to be more concerned with what BYU "might" be doing than with being ready to play themselves.
Bowden expressed concern that Y. coach LaVell Edwards may have spent the offseason beefing up his running attack in preparation for this game, and FSU quarterback Casey Weldon said he didn't like the idea of seven new starters in the BYU defense.
"With that many new guys, you wonder if they might put in something new," Weldon said. "It scares you."
Biegel said the Cougars hadn't planned any major surprises, and added that he hoped the Seminoles spent their film time watching the Texas A&M debacle, seeing the Cougars at their worst.
Bowden, however, was too smart for that. He showed his troops the Texas A&M game, and a few others, but it was the Miami game they saw most, which makes sense, if your goal is to instill a sense of respect in a team. The Seminoles, you see, have lost to Miami in five of the last six seasons.
"We concentrated mainly on the Miami game to see how good BYU can play when they really want to be there," Weldon said. "They (the Cougars) were tough in that game; they got after them on every play. Miami wasn't ready to play, and BYU was ready to kill some people."
The Cougars may not have to resort to murder, but it's obvious they will need more than midseason-WAC-game intensity to beat the Seminoles. This FSU team seems to have talent everywhere, which is, after all, why they are ranked No. 1.
Still, like any team, Florida State is beatable. It will probably take a team that is ready to play to do it, and it may have to be on a day when the Seminoles aren't ready to play, but that does happen.
Anyway you look at it, BYU fans have to hope that when the Cougars take the field today, they're the beasts of last September, and not the patsies of December.
"We might lose to BYU," Bowden said. "That wouldn't surprise me, because I think they can be pretty good. But they're going to have to be better."
In other words, they better be ready.