Any team, any time, any place. pic.twitter.com/Rs9ihEGfA8
— BYU FOOTBALL (@BYUfootball) November 21, 2020
Took less than 24 hours for BYU to crush their own playoff hopes, and they didn’t even have to lose a game to do it.
Media dunking on BYU.
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This is silly. Does Urban still not blink if he’s told he’s got to prepare (including paying travel expenses) for the game and that Auburn (or anyone else) has the right to cancel the game the Thursday before it is supposed to happen - and he’ll still be out the expenses incurred?
Does he still take that game if the AD tells him that due to a pandemic the athletic dept is short on cash and is cutting expenses including laying off people as a result - and are looking at fundraising to make up the shortfall so they don’t have to cut sports? (Clemson is saying the game FSU just cancelled against them is going to cost them $250K-$275K).
And does he still take that game if chances of it NOT being cancelled are essentially a Floyd Christmas chance?
Let’s be honest - there’s no way ASU is going to be ready to play this weekend - even pushing the game until Sunday. They can’t even PRACTICE before Friday. Your game with ASU is as good as done - and your coaches would be dumb to not be preparing for a game vs Washington (who is also already preparing for Utah).
Sure - BYU could’ve accepted the game. But with the conditions in place and knowing what it would take for the game to actually happen - they would be dumb to accept those terms. And as competitive as he is, Urban isn’t dumb. No way he takes that game.
Point 1: If it’s during a pandemic, he does the best he can, so he prepares for UW knowing it may get cancelled.
Point 2: I don’t know how to respond to this without offending a lot of people, but their school has over 100 billion in the bank…they don’t need money. Now or ever.
Point 3: BYU is STUPID to not take the game. If it plays, they go out prepared and show they are a top10 team If it is cancelled, they get to be the victim, which they love. Win/win.
And yeah, if Urban’s school had over 100 billion dollars and had a chance to show they belong in the playoffs even if it gets cancelled, he’d take that game.
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Nailed that.
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Hmmm. Welcome to the board. You joined 1 hour ago and came straight here to defend BYU. Please stick around, we need to see the BYU fan perspective!
But you do admit, don’t you, that (1) BYU wants to preserve its undefeated status so it has an argument for inclusion in a NY6 bowl? and (2) that’s why they don’t want to play Washington, even though they announced that they’d play anyone?
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I left off the 
.
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Trick is for BYU, the best scenario is they play and beat Washington (then have Washington win the PAC12) and with a few upsets happening in the right places (need as few undefeated teams from power conferences as possible), they get a playoff spot. Of course playing and losing to Washington ends any talk of playing on New Year’s Day.
One wrinkle is it sounds like Washington wanted to keep alive the chance of a Pac12 games against Utah (in case ASU can’t go) and wanted a BYU game as a backup plan. For BYU it’s sort of like if a guy asks out his first choice for the school dance and hasn’t had a response yet, so he asks a second girl if she’ll go with him IF the first girl says no.
Personally - I think that unless they have other plans, then sure, take the game.
At the same time - I don’t blame them for not. I can’t see keeping players at school through Thanksgiving to practice for a game that has absolutely no shot of happening. Doesn’t make sense. You guys don’t actually believe that ASU game is going to happen, do you? If you do - I’ve got some ocean front property in southern Utah I’d love to sell you…
Bottom line - UW is going to be playing you guys, and there is less 1% chance BYU was ever going to play UW even if a contract was signed.
That said - no one wants to be the backup plan with the knowledge that the game could be cancelled at any moment if/when another offer comes along. You can say Urban would take it - but we’re talking about a man with a great deal of pride. No way he agrees to getting dressed up for the prom and hoping for a call with the knowledge that it isn’t coming. No way.
The tweet that started this firestorm was disingenuous from the start. The game was never going to happen under the conditions given. So why should BYU play the dating game with UW? Like I said - I probably would’ve taken it. But I don’t blame BYU/Holmoe for saying no thanks - and looking for a scenario that benefits both teams in the equation.
The PAC12 has to take care of its own - I get it. But it isn’t BYU’s responsibility to take care of the PAC12.
That’s exactly the situation - but it wasn’t Washington’s doing, it was the PAC12’s with the conditions they set on scheduling OOC games. The conditions put in place make scheduling extremely unlikely. Like I said - disingenuous.
Kind of like when Gavin Newsome said he wasn’t keeping the Cali schools from playing football. He was just setting up some conditions they would have to follow. Which happened to include not having a group larger than 12 people at the practice. Yeah - you tell me how you prepare a football team to play without ever having more than 12 people there. I can see teams being able to practice a lot of things by position group - but limited to 12 you can’t even do 7 on 7 passing drills or running drills with the OL, RB’s, QB’s, and DL. You can do some prep - but you’ll never be ready for a game if you haven’t had a full offense line up against a full defense.
I’m confident the ASU game will be played.
I heard an interview with Herm Edwards today and he said with the game being moved back a day they are in good, but not great shape to start practicing mid week. They might only be down a handful of players come Sunday
You keep saying Urban wouldn’t take it…I disagree. BYU has no leverage here. Utah had no leverage when Urban was there. You do whatever you can…kind of like how rumors were BYU demanded to be full members of the Big 12 and Utah bought their way in with reduced revenues for years after joining.
One school was willing to do whatever it took to get into P5/BCS/etc. The other isn’t. As Jon Wilner said so succinctly when describing BYU, “And oh-by-the-way that refusal to compromise is at the core of our ethos and why no Power Five wants us. But we’ll continue to play the vicitim card and just hope that nobody notices.”
BYU won’t “do what it takes” to succeed how their fans want them to. Utah is/was willing to do so. And look at where the two programs are now. One program has left the other one way behind in it’s wake.
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This makes no sense. Your analogies don’t match, you are trying to bring your politics into this to justify BYU and it doesn’t work. There is nothing preventing BYU from being ready to play UW on Saturday or Sunday except for BYU.
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Who said the Big 12 invited BYU?
One thing is should BYU complete running the table by beating San Diego State from the mighty MWC and finish with ZERO P5 wins, if they get a NY6 bowl and miss out on the playoffs, I don’t want to hear any whining and moaning from Zoobs about not getting a playoff spot.
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Playing and beating UW isn’t getting BYU a spot in the playoffs.
Honestly - I’m not sure there’s anything BYU could do to get a shot in the playoffs. As Utah fans, ya’ll have seen first hand how the P5 conferences take care of themselves first. I don’t think going undefeated with BYU’s original schedule would even get them into the playoffs.
But I agree that BYU is playing a bit of a game of chicken here as it relates to a NY6 game. I don’t think they’re “afraid” of UW. But I don’t blame them for not wanting to schedule a game they believe is likely to be cancelled. I guess we’ll see what else happens. This year - nothing would surprise me.
Price of being independent. Notre Dame at least has the ACC to have their back as they are a member in other sports (FB also just in 2020) but BYU pretty much has no one to give them a push in a spectacular year. Not like the West Coast Conference has any say in the matter.
I agree - but honestly, most years it wouldn’t matter. This is a once in a generational pandemic event. I don’t know that BYU has to make conference affiliation decisions based on something that will happen every 100 years or so. Also - I’ve been happy that BYU has gotten to play games and a lot of them, compared to many teams.
With the schedule BYU had this year, they would’ve been just fine if they run the table as far as a NY6 is concerned. As I’ve said - I don’t know that there’s anything BYU could do to get into the playoffs. Honestly - it would take one of those runs of a great schedule with a couple of years of being undefeated. And it would likely require some losses by other teams as well.
For the record - I’d be OK with BYU joining a G5 conference, some have said they should try to return to the MWC while others have said they should try to join the AAC. At the same time, I can’t say either of those move the needle for me and I don’t mind remaining independent. BYU has had some good schedules and fun games and I’ve been able to see all but one or two these last few years. Frankly, I haven’t missed not being involved with the crappy MWC TV deal - and that’s even acknowledging that BYU would probably get better coverage and better exposure than many of the MWC teams.
It will be interesting to see how this goes and whether or not BYU gets a shot at a NY6. BYU’s schedule has not been awesome, so they could be in trouble running up against a good team and facing some adversity for the first time. At the same time - I think this is a really good team with some really experienced lines. So I like to think they could handle teams that are better than what they’ve seen so far. I’d love to get the shot. But I’ve also seen BYU melt under pressure enough times to know nothing is guaranteed.