BYU Football going independent


Hemidakota
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BYU going independent is a great move in my opinion. When the news first broke, I kept coming up with scenarios about how easy this would be for the Cougars to break into the Top 25 and be a contender each and every year. The current deal that I heard about asks BYU to finish in the Top 15 twice within three years after going independent. If that feat could be accomplished, then BYU will gain the same status that Notre Dame has, finish in the top 8 and you will play in a BCS bowl game.

The deal with ESPN allows for any home game of BYU to show up on ESPN or any affliation (ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Classic, ABC, Disney...kidding) within the next 8 years. With BYU and Utah looking to continue their rivalry, this is a great way to showcase one of the most underrated rivalry games in the country. Every other year, this game could be broadcasted on ESPN from Provo. Better yet, if they held this before a conference weekend, the stadium would be a mad house.

The rest of their games will most likely be broadcasted on BYU network, which broadcasts to a great deal of the country. The best part I love about this all is getting that same bid Notre Dame got. Consider that BYU could lose two games and still be offered into one of the big games. To me that seems like a one up on Utah. Utah could go all season long with one loss and not make one the Rose Bowl because a team like Oregon, USC, or Stanford swept the PAC-10. Yet the road laid ahead is a hard one.

Finally with them scheduling big time schools shows that they have the courage to go out and face the big name schools. Texas and Notre Dame won't be easy tasks but in the end, if BYU beats both of them in the same year plus a few smaller schools like Utah State gets them up their in the polls. When they decide the polls, they don't look at a school indiviually. Notre Dame is the only one they look that way, and that is due to lack of conference. If you beat Colorado you just beat a Big 12 school (or a PAC-12 school in two years) and that is saying you beat a team from a qualifying conference.

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Ruck:

Do you really think BYU is going to be playing the same caliber of teams that Utah will in the PAC 10 or soon to be called Pac 12?

Beyond Notre Dame – which I do not think is a very good football team anymore, they were good in the 1980s, but they have been awful at best recently – is BYU really going to play big time teams? I just read that they will play Central Florida and a group of WAC teams. I really think BYU is trying to gain national credibility in a very non-integrity way – play maybe one or two good teams and hoping to get in to BCS bowl games with two losses. In the PAC 12, Utah will be playing teams like UCLA, USC, Oregon, etc. on a regular basis. I think BYU is a good school for academic pursuits but trying to get into the BCS not playing in a strong conference or a group of really strong teams seems not really care about integrity.

And what about their other sports – in BYU basketball (both men’s and women’s) really going to improve playing in the WCC?

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John:

I am sorry I missed the Texas game. Yes, now they have one really good to great team to play. Do you know the details about Texas? Is it a two game series home and home? Nontre Dame is no longer a good team -- they have not been ranked in the top 25 for -- I think -- a couple of years. For the past few years and currently, TCU, Boise St., Utah and BYU are all MUCH better than Notre Dame.

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Yeah but in the end, beating somebody like Notre Dame is a big deal just because of the name. Plus things are looking upward for them since the addition of Brian Kelly.

Texas series is a home and home series. They already agreed to one game before this announcement being played in 2011. The 2013 game will be played in Provo and the 2014 game in Austin.

Last time Notre Dame was ranked was last year. They started the year ranked #23. Went ranked as high as #18 but by the end of the year they weren't ranked.

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Joe Doe:

I am both a Utah and BYU fan -- although when they play eachother I root for Utah (a school I attended for seven years). However, I am disappointed that Utah left the mountain west and that BYU followed suit by leaving the moutain west. I was hoping that the mountain west would stick together and showcase that there are non-bcs leagues that can be in the top 5 consistantly year after year. With Utah, BYU and TCU -- the mountian west could have really debunked the BCS system. Likewise, I was hoping Boise State would have stated in the WAC to also underscore this point.

I am disappointed in both the University of Utah and BYU for not staying in the mountain west.

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I'm not sure I understand your thinking. What do you think the MWC realistically could have offered either Utah or BYU to stay? Although you say you blame both schools for this, you seem to hold more anger at BYU for choosing to go independent. What did you expect them to do once the only reason for them to stay in the MWC disappeared?

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John:

I am an old fasion traditionalist and romantic in many ways. Both programs are doing well and I was hoping that tradition, loyalty, and showcasing the holes in the BCS would be greater values that money and status. I do hold BYU to a higher level of conduct because its is owned by the church. But I also realize that most people will follow free market values over such values as loyalty or tradtion. I really wanted a smaller conference to outshine the old boys club of football. In the end though, I hope both Utah and BYU can shine.

Going back to what Ruck and I have been discussing, the Salt Lake Tribute had an article today outlinig next years schedule for BYU. Although BYU might stil pick up one or even two games -- here is the schedule: Hawaii, Utah, Oregon State, Texas, Central Florida, Utah State, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State and Idaho.

Texas is a big time program. Utah and Oregon State are solid PAC 10 games.,. The rest is really a joke -- although I am glad they will be playing Utah State as part of a Utah rirvalry.

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BYU and Utah leaving are good moves. I have always felt that the Mountain West should of been split up. TCU should be in the Big 12 along with Colorado State. Air Force should be independent. BYU and Utah should be in the Pac and the rest in the WAC. Boise should also be in the Pac. Basically have these major super conferences and the WAC as little beat up schools you play within the first three weeks. Looking at the schedule though:

Utah- No real reason to say more.

Oregon State- Pac 10 opponent. Win gives us a big name to add to it.

Texas- Big 12 opponent. Like Oregon State, win would be huge. I have a feeling the reason Texas wants a shot at us is because of the how we have shown that we can hang with the bigger schools and take them down if needed (Oklahoma)

Central Florida- A smaller school we should be able to beat but can be dangerous. I mean last year they were down 20-7 with 8 minutes left on Marshall and rallied to beat them. One win away from playing in the C-USA Championship game, who they would have to played a ranked Houston which they defeated once that year.

Utah State- Utah State has the chance to be dangerous after all the teams settle in their leagues. This is a team that proven in their first week that they can hang with Oklahoma and almost beat them. They really are starting to come around.

Hawaii

Louisiana Tech

New Mexico State,

San Jose State

Idaho

-Yeah they are all pushovers, but in the end they had committments to play some WAC schools. Good luck trying to schedule Oregon in the middle of their conference play or any team like that. Usually once conference play hits, they worry about conference. The teams will get better with time, just have to allow it to come.

You really can't decide if its a good decision or not until you see the end results.

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Yes, the opponents are not so tough the first couple years, but football schedules are made 4, 5, and more years out. There simply were not very many teams who could break previous commitments and schedule BYU to play them for a while. It will get better.

Besides that, you need pushover teams to play a few times a year anyway. There are reasons why Utah State plays at least one or two big name schools, the main one being that those schools need to play 'easy' games to work out the kinks in their system and sort out problems while still getting a win that counts toward bowl eligibility. When Utah State starts beating those teams, you will see those teams taking them off their schedules. BYU had that problem for a while when they became a team on the rise. Big names didn't want to play them because they didn't want to lose to a perceived lower-echelon team. Now that they have proven themselves over the years, it has become easier to get people to answer the phones at those schools, even though it probably is still a problem in some places.

Sometimes they want to play you, but only at their house. They know they have a better chance of beating you if they always play you at home. They don't want to be embarrassed by losing to a perceived lower team at their place. Once you elevate your perceived level to be close to par with them, then they don't mind so much the possibility of losing to you once in a while, because it won't kill them in the polls. BYU is reaching that level where the big teams don't mind so much the possibility of losing to them, because BYU is respected and perceived to be rising to their level.

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You have to expect in a few years that they will be reguarly playing Navy and Army, due to all of them being independent. Also BYU will have to play some of the lower guys just to round out a schedule. You can't go out every week and play a top 25 team or else your just asking for trouble.

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After City Creek is finally finished, putting a retractable dome over the BYU stadium would also be an excellent idea.

Here is a suggested idyllic conference schedule for BYU

Utah

Utah State

USC

Notre Dame

Alabama

Oklahoma

Ohio State

Michigan

LSU

Arizona State

Florida

Boise State

Hawaii

Edited by john doe
Pleae stop proving that Max Hall was right
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Is this an ideal move? No, BYU wanted into either the PAC 10 or the Big 12. They didn't get either. The PAC 10 -- PAC 12 now -- has had more than ample opportunity to invite BYU. The truth of the matter is quite simple: There is a coalition of anti-religion sentiment in several of the PAC 12's bay area schools. Those schools, Berkley being foremost, will absolutely pitch a fit at any suggestion of inviting any religious school to the PAC 12. BYU they hold as especially unsavory. That is why BYU is not in the PAC 10/12 today and that is why they never will be.

Notre Dame's exposure to the world is too good for them to stay bad indefinitely. And that is what this move is all about. The MTN network might be great stuff to some programs, but for BYU and Utah it's like throwing a blanket over them to hide them. The MTN is not available nationwide, only in the Inter-mountain West. The contract with the MTN kept BYU off of ESPN, off of BYU-TV and out of the national spotlight. When a top football player is looking for a University to play at, one of his biggest considerations is exposure to NFL scouts. With this move, BYU will be on ESPN for six games in a year. Notre Dame has praised that move and offered up a 6 games series in 6 years. That automatically puts one game per year on NBC. Games with Texas will be nationally televised. Games with Utah won't end and that too will be nationally televised. This move makes BYU more visible to NFL scouts and therefore draws better players. And the big four networks can court showing BYU games if they like. Ultimately, this move becomes either a brilliant move or a terrible move in the long run based 100% on how well BYU plays.

To greatly simplify things: I'm a BYU fan and I live in the Chicago-land area. I have no means to watch any BYU games except the few that are on ESPN and such. This move puts games on BYU-TV which I already get. So whether it's live or on replay, I go from missing all but one or two games all season to being able to watch every single game all year! So yeah, I'm all in favor of it!

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After City Creek is finally finished, putting a retractable dome over the BYU stadium would also be an excellent idea.

Here is a suggested idyllic conference schedule for BYU

Utah- 2009 Sugar Bowl

Utah State

USC- 2009 Rose Bowl

Notre Dame- 2007 Sugar Bowl

Alabama- 2010 BCS Championship Game

Oklahoma- 2009 BCS Championship Game

Ohio State- 2010 Rose Bowl

Michigan- 2007 Rose Bowl

LSU- 2008 BCS CHampionship Game

Arizona State

Florida- 2010 Sugar Bowl

Boise State- 2010 Fiesta Bowl

Hawaii- 2008 Sugar Bowl

Wow...talk about bringing it on heavy. Outside of Utah State and Arizona State, you realize all those teams have played in a BCS Bowl game within the last three years. Next to each name, I put the last time that team played in a BCS Bowl game. Keep in mind, I honestly don't think last years Alabama or even the 2005 or 2006 USC could of taken on this task and came out looking decent.

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Faded:

I am not suggesting there is not an anti-Mormon or anti-religion feel among some California schools, like Berkley. However, PAC 10 schools have to be research division I universities (via the Carnegie rating system). The University of Colorado and the U of U are clearly division I research universities – BYU is not even close. Like all universities, BYU has some excellent programs and some not-so good programs. Overall, you can get a good education from BYU and I want my kids to go there for the environment and for dating purposes also, beyond education. But I believe BYU was overlooked by the PAC 10 because BYU is not a division I research rated school. BYU is a good school, but is not the top of the class when it comes to research aspirations, and thus could not meet the eligibility criteria of being a PAC 10 program.

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