1 So why did BYU's top recruit, linebacker Uona Kaveinga, decide to go to USC?

• DICKSON: It's not the cheerleaders, though any red-blooded American male would notice. USC is USC, a team that contends for the national title every year. As well as the Cougars have done the past two years, they can't claim that. Kaveinga obviously had bigger goals than winning the MWC and going to the Las Vegas Bowl. I still hate to see a kid take a program hostage like he did though, reportedly committing to USC a week before signing day but not telling Bronco Mendenhall, the coach he committed to in January.

• FRANCHUK: What goes around comes around for the Cougars in this case. Kaveinga, remember, originally committed to UCLA. So it's interesting that Mendenhall and his staff could expect a kid to honor a verbal pact with BYU, while also allowing him to renege on his word with the Bruins. I've always wondered what Pete Carroll says to kids when he sweeps in last minute for the Trojans. Or does he just tell tales of alum O.J. Simpson and show pictures of certain coeds who wear tight, white sweaters?

2 Who's the top recruit in the Class of 2009?

• DICKSON: There are some really good ones, but BYU will likely lose some of them to BCS schools. Manti Te'o, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound hitting machine from Punahou School in Honolulu, is a five-star recruit on everyone's radar. BYU did sign Te'o's cousin (Shiloah) in the class of 2008, so that might be an advantage. But can Manti Te'o actually look BCS schools in the face and tell them no?

• FRANCHUK: Whenever possible, sign the cousin or brother to get to the kid you really want. Happens all the time. Although, being an only child I can't say I've ever been manipulated that way. It's always interesting to see schools sign a kid or two, and you see later that they were looking for future dividends -- through a family, a school, an area.

3 Will the BYU women's gymnastics team ever beat Utah?

• DICKSON: Don't get me started on gymnastics, a sport almost as rigged as figure skating. Judging in these events is screwed up. Did you hear the story about the Utah gymnast that scored a perfect 10? One of the judges had given the gymnast a 9.5, but changed it when she saw the other judges' scores.

Oh brother.

So my point (and I'm getting to it) is that teams which are ranked higher are given more breaks and benefits by officials than Michael Jordan in his prime. BYU has a long way to go to approach what Utah has done for a number of years, and that's be a national championship contender.

• FRANCHUK: It was fun to cover the gymnastics meet last Friday. I won't lie and act like I knew everything that was going on, but it was interesting to see all of the athleticism, particularly from Utah's Ashley Postell. I had heard of the 15-time all-America, but had never seen her compete and had no idea what she looked like. But within a minute of seeing the team on the sideline, I could tell which one was her. It's very interesting to be a novice but still be able to recognize greatness. Now I know how ladies -- like those in USC sweaters -- must feel when they see yours truly on every Monday's heraldextra.com sports update.

Anyway, real quick on BYU: Coach Brad Cattermole is great to talk to, and he has a good team, but how many coaches at BYU could survive not beating a rival since 1998?

4 The BYU men's basketball team got clobbered when it play UNLV in Vegas last month. What's going to happen on Saturday?

• DICKSON: If you saw the game in Vegas last month, UNLV shot the lights out (especially Curtis Terry) and BYU was still finding its feet on the road. Check this out: Since going 7-of-12 from the field (including 5-of-8 from the 3-point line) and scoring 21 points against BYU, Terry is 13-of-43 from the field (30 percent), 7-of-31 from the 3-point line (23 percent) and averaging just 7.5 points per game.

I think BYU is a better team right now and the Rebels have been shown to be vulnerable on the road (see their loss to Utah last week). I don't see a blowout like last year in Provo, but I think BYU wins by double digits. The crowd will be hot and the game will be hotter.

• FRANCHUK: UNLV won't come close to playing the same style of defense as it did at home. Why, I have no idea. But it won't pressure as much, and definitely won't be as aggressive physically. Some will argue it's because the Rebels get away with more hand-checking at the Thomas & Mack Center. I'd say BYU wins by 10. It's a team that is supremely confident at home and tends to play well when there's some revenge involved.

5 Let's jump ahead to spring football: What's the top story?

• DICKSON: It's sure not the quarterback spot, which has the top two spots already decided. I think it will be interesting to watch running backs Harvey Unga and Fui Vakapuna. If both guys are healthy, that gives BYU a good 1-2 punch at tailback. But can these two players co-exist? Unga had a great freshman season, but if you saw Fui before he got hurt, he was a punishing runner who was nearly impossible to bring down with one man. He still has something to prove after spending most of last season on the shelf. Sometimes in the spring, main cogs don't get a whole lot of work. But I can see this simmering as a good battle to watch.

• FRANCHUK: The top story is, unfortunately, always about anyone that loses their season to injury five months before it really revs up.