So the main idea of this blog, as my name implies, really has caused me to feel a lot of disappointment and anger. For those of you who don't know, BYU's attorneys have been conversing with those of the Big East. Now the team selection (or roster) was not certain, but, from my understanding, the concept of an automatic BCS berth was. The reason this is so significant is that BYU has never belonged to a conference who was ensured an automatic bid to a BCS bowl. When the cougars were part of the mountain west, the only way to be remotely considered for a BCS bowl was to finish in the top ten (or eight, not entirely sure) or maintain an outstanding record during the regular season. Even with these qualifications, BYU has been excluded from at large bids because of the reputation of their conference and program (which is complete bull crap).
Currently, BYU's football status is independent. This ensures even less exposure and vulnerability to the BCS system and a national championship. I personally viewed the independence move to be a way to get away from the ties of the mountain west conference, gain more public/media exposure, and to get picked up by another conference. However, the stubbornness of BYU's attorneys (who were initially open to negotiation of contracts and such) has made the opportunity to move to the big east null and void. In fact, an unknown source said that BYU's ability to even negotiate at this point is out of the picture. So I personally believe that BYU has no right to be upset about being excluded from the BCS. While I think that the BCS is a biased and stupid way to rank teams, I think that BYU shot themselves in the foot concerning their inclusion in this flawed system. Please give me some feedback, I really do want to hear what you guys have to say!
From what I know of college football you are right that the BCS is screwed up, BYU probably has its own agenda to attend to and that must not have anything to do with the Big East. They went independent for their own reasons so they are avoiding the Big East for the same reasons most likely. But I really have no idea what I am talking about.
ReplyDeleteThe Big East was looking for more teams on the west coast. They want to have a better conference as well. BYU would do well and would have challenging games playing for the Big East, but I think that there are better places that BYU could go. Just wait a couple years and see what pans out. BYU is stupid about what they want to do.
ReplyDeleteApparently BYU wanted to keep its media rights, which is asking a lot because "No other school in a major conference has such a deal" (http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7271078/byu-ends-negotiations-not-join-big-east-according-report). It would have been cool to be in an automatic qualifying conference.
ReplyDeleteI actually have some real strong feelings about this and I kind of disagree with all of you. We never should go to the Big East, the only thing we were considering about this proposal was getting that automatic BCS berth. Why both Big East and Big 12 talks broke down is first and foremost Sunday play, then followed up by the issue of BYUTV. BYU here did the right decision of not joining a sinking ship who needed us more than we needed them. We have a great deal right now with independence: great games that we can watch on BYUTV and ESPN, the potential of BYUTV, and being more attractive to recruits. Its not the stubbornness of BYU but of the conferences that we are negotiating with. I have full faith in Tom Holmoe and in this whole conference realignment process. He is the only one who has the whole perspective on this situation and out options, and criticizing him and the decision making that is happening is being uninformed of what is really going on.
ReplyDeleteThe Big East is such a weak conference that I feel that BYU would definitely have a legitimate chance of gaining an automatic BCS bid. At the current rate, our only chance would be an undefeated season and even then we would likely end up getting a less popular BCS bowl.
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