Multiple reports are suggesting that the BYU football program might be ready to take a Notre Dame approach to getting their shot at a BCS berth.
Late yesterday evening, Colorado State University's football department tweeted the following:
@CSUFootball: BYU and ESPN to hold join (sic) news conference Thursday morning to discuss BYU going independent from the MWC conference. Possible 2011 football.
That tweet was followed by this:
@CSUFootbal: Schedule could include Notre Dame, Navy, Army, Utah in addition to already schedules games versus Texas Oregon State Utah State.
The information came as a surprise to Mountain West Conference (MWC) football fans who felt that the move by Boise State to the MWC in 2011 would be a boon for their conference—despite the loss of Utah to the Pac-10.
However, that obviously wasn't the case for BYU who felt jilted during realignment talk and now wishes to take the future of the football program into their own hands.
Currently, Notre Dame is the highest profile team with Independent status and the FBS has a deal with them that if they finish in the Top 10, they will receive an automatic BCS berth. BYU is hopeful that they can wrap up a similar deal and avoid the pitfalls of being mired in a conference which does not guarantee an automatic bid.
If this decision by BYU does turn out to be legitimate, it will definitely change the rules a little bit for some of the other teams in the league.
For one, the MWC suddenly goes from being a conference with some legitimate power—in TCU, BYU, and incoming Boise State—to one that isn't nearly as interesting—to advertisers or fans. I mean, honestly, the TCU/Boise match-up looks intriguing the first year or two, but those teams will only face each other once (possibly) and the rest of the league isn't nearly as competitive.
Secondly, the MWC would have looked a lot more attractive with Utah, BYU, TCU, and Boise State in the mix. All four teams are consistently looked upon as potential BCS busters and the attention their play might have attracted on a national level could have eventually led to some consideration of receiving an automatic bid—particularly if the OOC schedules were up to par.
Lastly, what will it mean for Boise if BYU exits? They made the decision to move to the MWC in order to gain a little more respect for their program—as their WAC schedule wasn't getting much. Now they have essentially traded their WAC colors for a MWC schedule that looks eerily similar—offering only TCU as any real competition.
Is that what they bargained for when they signed on?...Doubtful.
At any rate, you cannot blame BYU for getting tired of watching the opportunities pass them by. Utah received a Pac-10 nod over them and that had to sting quite a bit. Furthermore, despite their tougher OOC schedule and slightly more challenging conference slate (compared to Boise), they still aren't gaining any ground with voters or viewers—Boise appears to be the chosen one at present.
The Cougars may or may not jump ship, this could all be a wild goose chase—especially considering the CSU Football account has curiously rid their timeline of the tweet that started it all—but if it's not, then BYU finally has done, alone, what they couldn't seem to do once this off-season...become relevant.
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