expectations" for BYU by pundits(and even fans), and the QB battle, is the fact that there were very few big / key injuries to the two deep in fall camp. Really sad for OL Joe Brown, and hope he does well in recovery. And then there was the somewhat shocking medical retirement of Ben Bywater. But apart from that, I can't recall a season in recent memory where there were no really huge / key injuries to the two deep, and even the 3 deep during fall camp.
Hope I don't jinx us, but maybe there's something being done differently - who knows? Although the S&C stuff often gets the blame, I'm not so sure, as so much of it just seems to be bad luck at just the wrong time, like Taysom's injuries. Or, maybe the S&C stuff or something else is paying off. We'll possibly as the season progresses. But teams who loose few of their two deep to injuries, and win the TO battle, very often exceed expectations in those years.