That place can be pretty entertaining. Some of them recognize they’d be getting invited to the orphans table, others respond “So what? We could work our way up from there!”
My evil hope is Bowlsby gets canned and they choose Craig Thompson to be the commissioner. That would be a nice episode to watch. lol
Of course, the comparison talk to the Pac-12 is laughable, but this would be a huge step up from indepenence for BYU. They’d end up in a strong conference - OSU, ISU, Baylor, TTech, WVU, and even KSU have spent time ranked in the top 25 over the past decade.
Plus with all this talk of the Pac-12, ACC, and Big10 scheduling 2 games per year against each other, it might become harder than before for an independent to land a decent schedule.
Although I do not wish success on their athletics programs I do think they’d do well to get into the Big 12 Minus 4. The remaining schools are the kind that BYU could try to push around a bit, which is the setting they like. It would not be like the WAC or MWC, but they’d have a chance for a little obnoxious swagger again.
I think it would be the ideal situation for them. They’re likely to have at least some immediate success, since there really wouldn’t be any power teams in the entire conference. Their recruiting would likely improve, and I expect that the program would take some positive steps forward.
Which is why it will be even funnier when they get left out again.
I think you might be underestimating Okie State and the rest. These are not pushover teams. I’d say most have been much better than BYU over the past decade.
Last season was a stark reminder of just how badly BYU handled independence. They could have been top 25 and on the national radar every year if they had just scheduled down more. They should have been looking for 1 or maybe 2 P5 games and then a schedule of winnable games.
8 + 1 + 1 scheduling - I could deal with that.
“Hey, we only have 2 warmup games, and the Legislature wants us to play Utah State. You guys are set on schedule, right? Morgantown, Ames, Stillwater, Lubbock, Manhattan(!). Yeah, you’re set. So… see you in a couple”.
If the B12 invites Cincinnati to help WVU feel no so lonely out there, BYU could get at least one Eastern time zone trip a year… which are very tough to win. Ask any NFL team… or just ask BYU how that goes.
We’ll see how badly the Big12 wants to spread from coast to coast. If not, there are plenty of options in the southeast. Tulane/Houston are a good geographical pair. Memphis/Cincy. USF/UCF. Navy would finally give WVU a partner.
But the plan in the article seems reasonable too. Maybe they could do five teams per pod to make travel more reasonable.
I think they look more east than west. I don’t see the need for them to kneecap the MWC, but they do need to kneecap the AAC. As such, I don’t see BYU or Boise State coming in. The article mentions that a big gaming company of some kind maybe interested in streaming (like what Bally is doing in pro sports). That leaves BYU out immediately.
If what is suggested it occurs, and they go to sixteen with pods, look at that Pod for BYU, hilarious. Basically, they are back in the MWC with that pod, with the chance to play Kansas State, Texas Tech, or Iowa St once in a while. That is essentially, MWC souped up a bit.
It would be a definite step up from the MWC. There are a lot of teams in that group of 16 that have been ranked high or in NY6 bowl contention over the past 10 years. We’ll see what happens. They have some stuff to think about.
I hope byu doesn’t get an invite. That would make me laugh. And we would get the unintended humor of “independence is better than being in a conference” mantra for years to come.
I don’t think they would be the big dog at the dIsh, like they always tried to be in the WAC and MWC. In the depleted Big12 they could throw a little bit of weight around. After all, with all those fans they attract to every game they play, no matter where, you’ve got to admit they are…. Well, they are.
byu’s recruiting may slightly improve but I think they would struggle overall going on the road in the leftover B12. They would win 50% to 60% at home but most years they would be a middle of the road leftover B12 team.