Argyle

August 31st, 2010 at 6:57 PM ^

They're certainly betting against the trend. I hope it works out for them, but I personally find independents obnoxious. The MWC seems to have a decent future, too bad BYU won't be a part of it.

Zone Left

August 31st, 2010 at 6:58 PM ^

Damn, that's pretty wild.  They were close to getting a conference auto-bid for the BCS.  I suppose they want to schedule their way into prominence now.  Good luck beating five or six BCS teams a season guys.

maizenblue92

August 31st, 2010 at 7:41 PM ^

My only question is: why would you want to be the Notre Dame of the West, when Notre Dame is barely "the Notre Dame of the East"? It just doesn't make since. BTW MaizenBlue BP, we on the mgoblog are better than "Notre Lame".

smwilliams

August 31st, 2010 at 7:44 PM ^

Anybody else feel bad for Boise State here?

They think they're joining a stacked MWC with Utah, BYU, and TCU. Two of those teams leave. They're basically going to be in WAC+ starting next year. Wouldn't shock me if TCU leaves in 2013 or 2014 to join a 12-team Big 12 either.

funkywolve

August 31st, 2010 at 7:52 PM ^

Losing BYU and Utah is rough.  However, the MWC will still be the premier non-BCS conference:  Boise St, TCU, Air Force, Fresno St.

Good luck to BYU with their schedule.  ND gets games because they're ND and I think the Big East helps them out.  Once conference play kicks in, I don't see to many teams eye-balling BYU as an opening week opponent in October and November.  Teams usually try to schedule the baby seals if they need a non-league opponent to fill a week once October and November roll around.

cutter

August 31st, 2010 at 9:41 PM ^

Brigham Young did have the opener last season with Oklahoma and you can imagine they'll want to continue to play at least one major BCS opponent in September each year.  They'll also have their annual game with Utah, but you have to wonder when that game will be played with the Utes in the Pac 12 playing a nine-game conference schedule and possibly going to a conference championship game.  Unless Utah wants to accomodate BYU, that game will also be in September.

BYU does have some games scheduled with former WAC opponents, but the ones moving the MWC (Boise State, Fresno State, Nevada) may not be on the schedule in a few years' tiime. 

Who does that leave?  Obviously, Notre Dame, Army and Navy are all independents and the Big East programs may be looking for a game since there are only eight teams in that conference (leaving five open dates which need scheduling).

But overall,  there aren't a lot of choices here and I have to imagine they're positioning themselves towards a possible berth in a reconstituted Big XII with Texas, Oklahoma, et. al.

If I played Olympic sports at BYU, I wouldn't be too happy with what's transpired though.  The West Coast Confernce isn't exactly a powerhouse group and I understand there are some sports that Brigham Young has that they don't participate in--what do those guys do when it comes to scheduling, etc.?

Tacopants

August 31st, 2010 at 9:43 PM ^

ND gets games because they have and maintain traditional rivalries

Michigan, MSU, Purdue, USC, Boston College, Navy.  That leaves them only 5 spots to fill with other teams like Miami (YTM) or Macrifices like Miami (NTM).

BYU would have Utah and.... Utah State?  I think they have a game against UT schedule as well, but that's it.  9 other games is a tough amount to come up with

wildbackdunesman

September 1st, 2010 at 6:11 AM ^

I don't feel too bad for Boise State.  The NCAA has put in place a lot of rules to create more parity helping these conferences out...despite the fact that these conferences are losing money on football even though they are getting a little bit of BCS money every year.

Wolverine In Exile

August 31st, 2010 at 10:24 PM ^

They already have their own TV network in any house with Dish Network (look for BYUTV), they're in most basic cable packages in the West of the country. They can schedule OOC's with Utah, Utah St, Hawaii (significant Mormon presence there), and fill out the rest of the schedule with WAC schools, a couple Sun Belt and a C-USA team, and maybe one big road trip game per year to a BCS level school for exposure and cash. Guarantee for 6-8 wins every year and a slot in the Hawaii Bowl would be my guess as to what they're hoping to get. As  for non-football sports, they'll join the WCC and have an instant rivalry with Gonzaga in hoops. in the long run, hell who knows. I think the positioning to join either a re-expanded Big XII or a 14 team Pac 10 makes the most sense, but if a mid-major can pull this independence thing off, it's BYU.

Brodie

September 1st, 2010 at 3:51 AM ^

The MWC going from arguably better than the Big East to WAC+ is sad. I assume Hawaii will join up now to complete the transition.

Sure, it's still the premier non-BCS conference. But a couple down years at Boise or TCU and it's Conference USA West.