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Big News Out of BYU??

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This is interesting:

https://twitter.com/DesNewsEborn

Rumor is SDSU and UNLV would work to join BYU in WAC because it's more western. LaTech may go CUSA and TCU may also. MWC might die as result
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The WAC would be pretty sick in basketball if that happened and BYU/ESPN could get a nasty football schedule put together as an Independent as well. I'm really liking this the more I read about the ESPN/BYU relationship that is burgeoning anew.
 
jazzman12 said:
They were talking about this on 1320 today. They mentioned that if BYU went independant, they'd most likely move their other sports to the WAC, and that they'd play an independant football schedule while "mixing in" a good compliment of WAC teams.

To me that just seems bizaar and downright stupid. For the record, I've said on these boards before that BYU would flourish as a football independant, but I take that back if they're going to tie a good portion of their "independant" schedule to the WAC.
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I disagree. I'm not a Ute fan - far from it - so please don't call me a BYU-hater when I say this.

BYU will NEVER get the athletes that other top schools get. Look at the two most succesful independents in the last 20 years: Penn State and Notre Dame. Penn State finally joined a conference. Notre Dame, with all their pomp and tradition hasn't exactly had a ton of success since their last championship in 1988.

The Cougars simply don't have the players to consistently match up against Top-20 teams week in and week out. Not saying it's a bad thing, but BYU is a religious school and their no sex, no drinking policy sure puts the dampers on recruiting.

At least in a conference - and I say this about ANY team - whether it's BYU, USC, Oklahoma, Texas, etc., there are a set number of games against very weak programs. Those are mandated conference games, so the universities don't have to make up excuses for scheduling such poor teams. BYU is much better off staying in the MWC and playing Boise State and TCU. At least there are 3 solid Top-20 teams. Even without Utah, the MWC probably gets an automatic berth when the re-evaluation takes place.

As an independent, BYU would have to schedule no more than 3 top-tier teams and a bunch of patsies to have a chance at going 10-2 every year. The bowl opportunities would be extremely limited, as most are tied to conferences. BYU would SINK as an independent.

What's wrong with being one of the biggest fish in a small pond? Acknowledge BYU has a different mission than public universities and fight for inclusion of the MWC in the BCS (which is already underway). Buit then again, if the Big 12 comes calling, and accepts BYU with the no-Sunday play limitation, then it's a "mute" point anyways.

Edit: of course, I also didn't factor in a TV deal. The MWC conference has been absolutely horrible in that respect. I live in CA and wouldn't mind seeing a game now and then. But I ain't paying $25/per on a PPV basis and I can't even find whatever network has the rights (Versus? the Mountain?). Turrible, absolutely turrible.

I just feel bad for Boise State. They bolted the WAC to join BYU, Utah and TCU in what appeared to be an almost automatic BCS conference within 2 years. Now the new MWC will become the old WAC.
 
My only thought and half caring wonder is how Boise feels about all these rumors, I'd imagine they'd feel pretty annoyed and/or pissed if this comes to pass. Also I just got to thinking if teams from the MWC and WAC start moving it would make more sense to merge of some sorts and make a 12 team conf. with the best of each conference.
 
Glasseater wrote:

As an independent, BYU would have to schedule no more than 3 top-tier teams and a bunch of patsies to have a chance at going 10-2 every year. The bowl opportunities would be extremely limited, as most are tied to conferences. BYU would SINK as an independent.
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I actually agree with you 100%. When I say BYU would thrive as an independant, I mean financially of course. BYU tv is already set up and ready to go. They'd have their own network from day 1, a chance to get some ESPN money and a very enthusiastic fan base.

While they would thrive financially, I don't think that they would thrive on the football field in regards to winning national titles, etc. You're right, they'd have to schedule no more than 3 big time games per year and 8 patsies. Realistically, they would still give the Cougs 10 wins per year which seems to be enough to keep their fans happy. The tricky part is, where would their bowl games come from? Without a conference tie-in, BYU would have trouble finding a decent bowl unless they were BCS-bound, and let's be honest, that's not going to happen for them very often if at all while playing an independant schedule.
 
Duck Rodgers said:
The ESPN connection takes care of the bowl problem.
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Or BYU could start their own bowl. A matchup between the #1 independent in the country vs. the 8th place Pac-12 team. Notre Dame, of course, would be playing in a BCS or other top-tier bowl, so that guarantees BYU a slot. And the Pac-12 team would likely be Utah. So the 6-6 Cougars play the 6-6 Utes. Voila, the rivalry can live on!!!
 
This article just made this a whole lot more interesting for me as a Fresno fan:

While BYU considers leaving the Mountain West, WAC members Fresno State and Nevada were approached by a Mountain West representative Tuesday about an invitation to the league, according to a source.

A source told Schad that Houston and UTEP also have been studied as possible additions to the MWC.

However, if a WAC school decides to go to the MWC, it will come at the expense of a costly buyout.

Once Boise State left, the remaining WAC members -- Fresno State, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State, Hawaii, Idahos, Nevada and Utah State -- signed a $5 million buyout agreement that would be assessed to any member that left the conference within the next five years. The schools took that move to keep other members from following the Broncos to the Mountain West.
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https://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5473151

At first, I was stunned when I read this. I thought Fresno has been practically begging for the chance to join the MWC ever since it was created. Why would they sign that buyout agreement? They obviously saw this BYU situation coming. Apparently the WAC is whole lot more stable than the MWC all of sudden. Looks like the MWC is getting desperate. Pretty unbelievable turn of events. I thought for a minute Boise might be the ones getting screwed in this whole situation amazingly, until I read this:

Boise State, according to reports in Idaho, has a no-penalty clause that would allow it to back out of joining the Mountain West. This would leave the WAC with nine football schools while bumping the league up to 10 schools for other sports.
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Furthermore, if the WAC decided it wanted to expand to 12 teams, a USU source said, there are a few MWC teams that would be happy to join BYU in a move back to the WAC, with the Mountain West a suddenly unstable conference.

If more than BYU and Boise State were to make a move to the WAC, the Mountain West might be crippled in many ways and be forced to seek schools from Conference USA to fill the unexpected empty spots around the conference table.
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https://www.deseretnews.com/article...ge-of-WAC-where-Boise-State-might-return.html

This could spell the death of the MWC. No Boise, no BYU, no Utah. No recovering from that.

And the WAC becomes probably the best mid-major basketball conference in the country....
 
Yep, was just about to point this out. Boise has the option of returning to the WAC if MWC teams leave.
 
I thought Boise was stupid for leaving the WAC in the first place. They were leaving 8 or 9 games on ESPN (on nights where they were the only game on) to go play on the mountain. It will be interesting to see what they do now. As an Aggie fan, I would love to bring back UNLV and perhaps another school or two to the WAC. Who knows what will happen, but it doesn't look good for the mwc.
 
I am thoroughly enjoying the implosion of BYU athletics now that their security blanky has bolted for the pac10. This is turning out to be a truly delightful summer!

Utah to the Pac10, and BYU to the WAC. BEST SUMMER EVAR!!!
 
calijazz said:
This article just made this a whole lot more interesting for me as a Fresno fan:


I thought for a minute Boise might be the ones getting screwed in this whole situation amazingly, until I read this:


This could spell the death of the MWC. No Boise, no BYU, no Utah. No recovering from that.

And the WAC becomes probably the best mid-major basketball conference in the country....
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Thanks for the info. Now the light goes on. Boise State probably WOULD rescind the offer to join the MWC. No Utah and no BYU, what's the point? So their biggest rival would be TCU? Don't think so.

I think what BYU has seen is the exact same thing that happened with the old WAC. Everyone was getting rich(er) at the expense of BYU (and then Utah as the Utes became a force in football). BYU and Utah tired of splitting the spoils 16 ways in the old WAC and thought life would be sweeter in a new conference. But the MWC commissioner negotiated absolutely horrible television deals. Versus? the Mountain? You've got to be kidding!!!

Going independent in football is a big risk. But I guess 100% of any bowl bid is at least as much as 10% of the combined revenue from the Las Vegas, Poinsettia, New Mexico, Armed Forces and Humanitarian bowls - and the ESPN contract will throw a lot of money and exposure at BYU, which they won't have to share.
 
Like I said I honestly could care less about this now with the U being in the PAC12 except for one thing..... now this is all I get to hear on the radio and local sports. Yes I'm thinking selfishly but I was enjoying the thought of getting to hear about the U on the radio instead of the Favre like coverage this will be getting for awhile now, guess I'll have time to digest this and talk it over with the Y fans/friends I know.

Guess it is interesting that Boise St. can back out of their move with no penalty so that does change my previous thoughts/post and while I thought it'd be cool to have the MWC be the ones creating the mega mid major conference, it will be better to see if the MWC/Craig Thompson just dies for making us fans put up with the poor TV deal. The idea of the MWC channel had promise just never materialized and that falls I guess mostly on the MWC commissioner Thompson.
 
Great move.

the only way they screw this up is if they really make a dump out of the schedule.

Otherwise, they'll earn much more money, will provide their fans some entertainment (hopefully their own broadcast will be in HD. I hated the Mountain), and will hopefully be a springboard to joining the Big 12. I don't see this changing the ease of getting into a BCS bowl game. I doubt that they'll give BYU a Notre Dame like exception. Nor should they. But I do think it helps BYU get into the Big 12, which is the next step.
 
Now that the Mountain West Conference has retaliated by inviting Nevada and Fresno State to join this is turning ugly. That would only leave 6 football teams in the WAC and yet 8 teams is required to be a football conference.
 
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