To San Diego State: Shut up!

This whole replay thing between SDSU and BYU is a freakin’ joke. You want to get my blood boiling? Bring up this stupid story.

It all started with a poorly written story in the San Diego Union-Tribune. Insinuations were made, but the only actual information that was in the article was that a BYU employee was part of the replay crew. The Union-Tribune even called out the name of one of those in the booth — which means someone (potentially an SDSU or MWC employee) broke confidence rules by revealing the names. But hey, who cares about breaking confidentiality? Much better to uncover half truths and make baseless accusations.

Should BYU employees be working on the replay staff? It’s not a simple answer. Yes, ideally you would separate it completely, but who’s going to work the booth in Laramie or Fort Collins? I think the MWC was making a compromise for cost and ease and it bit them back big time.

Was the call incorrect? Absolutely; the replay showed he fumbled. A mistake was clearly made. But mistakes are made every Saturday, and in comparison, this particular situation was not more game-changing that a dozen other calls that same Saturday. Heck, on the self-same play the officials missed a face mask. It happens.

What burns me about this is the reaction. San Diego State head coach Brady Hoke made a stink about it. I truly believe coaches (especially at the collegiate level) should never publicly blame officials for a loss. The message to his team should have been about the improvements they could make to get better. And this came from the same guy who said, when BYU went independent, that the Cougars could never fill an independent schedule.

This got even more annoying when three prominent SDSU alums called on BYU President Cecil Samuelsen to launch and investigation into the matter and potentially forfeit the game if foul play was discovered. Never mind that BYU had nothing to do with who was working in the booth, that the MWC was at fault (if any organization was). These three grand standers thought it was their place to tell a university president how to do his job. Pure ridiculousness.

Why is my dander up on this one? Here are my major beefs:

• Was their foul play involved? I can’t say for sure, but there is no evidence of that, no smoking gun. This is pure speculative nonsense, that has already soiled the reputation of one BYU employee and cast the entire program in a bad light. And that’s with absolutely no evidence that this was anything more than a dumb mistake.
• SDSU did not lose this game because of that call. Like the ‘Tuck Rule’ game or any other infamous blown call, the Aztecs had other plays to stop the Cougars on that drive, and then had the ball and could have scored more points. They didn’t execute and that’s why they lost. As a fan, I have stopped blaming officials for loses. Bad calls have a way of evening out over a game and season. If the Aztecs had pounded the Cougars 41-7, we wouldn’t have ever talked about this.

And now SDSU wants to schedule a game against BYU? When twitter account @byudeepthroat tweeted that this was a possibility, my response was simple: No. The coach has berated our program, insinuated foul play, and we should play them? Holmoe should say no and walk away. I wouldn’t schedule then at any point in the next few years.

Am I too emotionally charged on this one? Maybe, but I’m not about fire off a letter to the SDSU program asking for an investigation into how the names of the replay officials were leaked and asking for the dismissal of any SDSU employee that facilitated leaking that to the press.

Glad to get this off my chest.

– Adam

Looking Forward: Independence

I exchanged a couple of emails this week with a good friend of mine who is rabid Georgia Tech fan. He mentioned that he was hoping their defense would improve by 2012. I reminded him that our offense has struggled just as much (if not more) this year. So I guess this one is a race to improvement. The exchange got me thinking about how busy Tom Holmoe has been scheduling opponents for football. I remember when that coach from SDSU, Coach McWhineypants, mentioned that he thought BYU would really struggle scheduling games. I can’t find his exact quote but it was something to the effect of, “We aren’t going to play them. I don’t know who will.” I didn’t reach out to him for a quote here, because I wasn’t interested in addressing Replaygate. What I am interested in doing is taking a look at a few programs that seem excited to get on BYU’s schedule. Pay attention here, there are going to be a few programs that even the head coach at SDSU has heard of.

Georgia Tech – 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017. The two teams have met twice, each win going to the home team. Traveling to Atlanta to play a game is a great thing for the Cougars. BYU made it clear that a big part of the move to independence was about exposure and taking BYU football across the country. Atlanta is a great place for a football game. They have a solid fan base and good tradition. It’s a four game series against a BCS conference opponent and it will be on ESPN. If Georgia Tech plays the kind of offense they have been working the past couple of years BYU will need to be ready to face it early in the year. It moves fast. This appears to be an evenly matched series and a good deal for both teams. Did I mention that I have another friend that completed his undergrad at BYU and attended Georgia Tech for graduate school? He better fall on the right side of this one. I can’t make any crazy predictions here just yet. My Rabid Tech Fan Friend will remember every word I utter here.  This game will be a lot of fun for me to watch. 2013 will be in Provo. Keep that in mind, it’s going to be on the quiz at the end.

Notre Dame – 2012, 2013, then four times between 2014-2020. There was some discussion back when independence was announced about whether BYU was willing to play two road games in order to get certain opponents to come to Provo. That is essentially the deal that was made here. What it allowed BYU to do is book six games against an opponent that will garner national exposure. I never thought I would say this, but I am hoping to see some recovery out of Notre Dame in the next year or two. I am hoping that just as some of the young talent is coming of age for BYU, Notre Dame will be a real quality opponent for them. Notre Dame is interested in legitimizing the concept of independent football squads. Some have speculated that independence is Notre Dame’s problem right now. Big recruits want to play for championships. I think they have some recruiting issues, but independence isn’t the problem. They have just as good of a chance as anybody to get to a BCS game or a National Championship. They just need to play better. A good, independent BYU team is good for them. This deal gives both teams a quality opponent in October and November.

Texas – 2011, 2013, 2014. This is another “we’ll come to you twice if you come to Provo once” deal. Everybody wants to pretend that this is two separate deals, but it just isn’t. That’s still okay. I don’t think BYU gives anything up by agreeing to these deals with teams like Notre Dame and Texas. Frankly, I think some players will enjoy the challenge of playing teams like that on the road. These are historical college football settings. Great places for historic BYU wins. The idea of playing Texas next year a la the Oklahoma matchup of 2009 is a great situation for BYU. I see this team making significant improvement between 2010 and 2011. They should be prepared to compete in 2011.

West Virginia – 2016 Fed Ex Field Landover, MD. This is where the Redskins play. While this is billed as a neutral site, Washington DC is clearly closer to West Virginia than it is to Provo. However, the BYU alumni network in the DC area is pretty solid. I should know. I live here. I see BYU traveling very well to this game. I think there will be fans from all over the East Coast present. This is also an opportunity to play at an NFL facility. Who knows what the team will look like in 2016, Heaps could be playing for the Redskins at that point (backing up John Beck). But this is a great deal. Hopefully these kinds of deals at neutral NFL sites will become a staple of the schedule.

Oregon State – 2011, 2012. This series starts in Provo. These teams have met in bowl games before. This is also an interesting matchup because of Bronco Mendenhall’s connection to Oregon State. This is a quality opponent from the PAC-10+ and a matchup that I really like for BYU. It’s a game against a solid opponent that I feel like we can win. Especially at home.

University of Central Florida – 2011, 2014. This also starts in Provo. UCF is not the same level of program as some of the other schools on this list. But they are a competitive team and if we beat them, the win will likely look as good or better than a win against most WAC or MWC opponents. This also gets the Cougars a game in Florida. Playing in Florida is good for recruiting and gets the Cougars back out to the East Coast.

Utah – 2011, 2012. Last but not least, the Utes. What I do like about continuing the rivalry is that this game is going to become about BYU and Utah again. It will be interesting to see what this does to the climate of the rivalry. BYU is forging new ties as an independent and Utah is going to develop other rivalries with new conference opponents. This game is good for BYU as Utah is another PAC-10+ opponent and will look good on the schedule. I love it when BYU wins this game. I hate it when BYU loses it.

While this is not an all inclusive list, this hits some important points and allows us to discuss a couple of things. First, if Jake Heaps does not go on a mission, 2013 will be his fourth year as a starter and we will play Texas and Georgia Tech at home. I am not going to officially make a comparison to 1991 Miami or anything crazy; I think it’s way too soon for it. But I will say that I like how 2013 is shaping up. (Texas and Georgia Tech in Provo as well as Notre Dame in South Bend). Second, the hardest part of operating as a football independent is scheduling consistent quality opponents. Tom Holmoe is forging relationships with quality programs that are signing up to play several times. Holmoe and company are doing an excellent job. This plan clearly came with a great deal of forethought and has been executed with tremendous effort. I applaud them for what they’ve done and I am really looking forward to some of these games.

-Matt

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The End of Dependence

The front page of the BYU campus newspaper on September 1, 2010 - David Mangum

Before you read any further, let’s get one thing straight. The move for independence is not about gaining access to the BCS. BYU knows that this does not necessarily bring them any closer to the BCS. This is also not a move towards membership in the Big 12. I don’t think that is ever going to happen. If this works, BYU does not need an invitation to a BCS conference. Independence does not change BYU’s relationship with the BCS in the short term. They will be in the same position they are in right now. If they do well enough, they will get invited. Independence is not about the BCS.

If you still think this is about the BCS, please read the first paragraph again. If you still think this is about the BCS, then you simply don’t understand BYU. Athletics at BYU are about the same things that drove this decision: access and exposure. Access is the accessibility of BYU sports to both alumni and the general public. Exposure is about providing BYU athletics with a showcase to perform on a national stage. BYU’s entire mission is related to these same goals. So let’s all repeat together, “Independence is not about the BCS.  Independence is about access and exposure.” I love that BYU is taking control of their own destiny.

Want to know one more reason I love this? I never have to hear another weak kneed BYU fan tell me that I have to cheer for some team that I don’t like because that team’s success is “good for the conference”. Not only did I never buy that, I hate the entire concept.  

BYU made the only sensible move. They had to leave the MWC. There was no reason to stay and every reason to leave. The MWC loves and resents BYU. This has always been the case. This type of relationship never lasts and always creates bad feelings. The MWC worked so hard not to give BYU, Utah and TCU special treatment that they eventually mistreated them. I never understood how they got BYU, Utah and TCU to agree to the mtn network. It got even crazier when Boise State signed up. There is no reason to feel bad about any of this. The MWC got exactly what they paid for. As a conference, they are one bumbling move after another. Playing Oklahoma, Texas, Notre Dame, Florida State and even Utah State on ESPN provides access and exposure. The mtn does not. BYU has had enough and is moving on. 

The MWC and Craig Thompson have put on a good game face for this. Keep a stiff upper lip there Thompson. Try not to think about the fact that, just as things were looking good, you have essentially put both the WAC and the MWC back at the drawing board. To your credit, you have reinvented the MWC. I liked it just as much when it was called the WAC. I wouldn’t return any of those calls from the Las Vegas Bowl. Give them time to calm down. For now, they are stuck with you. Their independence will come later.

This is the beginning of a reinvention of BYU football. BYU fans are not going to learn anything about the program that they didn’t already know. It’s a storied program that has enjoyed success over the years. The team is run a little differently than any other team in the country. They will always be competitors. Their fans are some of the most devoted in the country. BYU fans already know all of this. The reinvention will take place as the college football world takes notice and learns more about BYU in new and exciting ways. The college football world is about to become reacquainted with an old friend. This is BYU Football.

-Matt 

BYU still has options

The twitterverse and media are rife with rumors about BYU. They may still go indepedent in football and put their other sports in a revamped WAC or WCC. The may form a new conference with the help of ESPN, raiding the MWC (TCU and Boise State) and Conf USA (Houston, others).

I believe strongly that BYU is parting ways with the MWC in the next couple of days. The only real question is where the Cougs will land.

Adam

What would independence in 2011 look like?

What would indepedenc look like in 2011? It’s being reported that BYU is likely to remain in the MWC, but let’s play around with the 2011 schedule just for fun.

They have two non-conference opponents scheduled: Oregon State (Sept. 3) and Texas (Sept. 10), both big road games. They would almost certainly secure games with Utah and Utah State as well. So that’s four games.

Other highly likely contests are the other three independents: Notre Dame, Navy and Army. So that’s seven.

I think some of the remaining WAC schools would still be eager to get BYU, and the WAC would be willing. So I threw in San Jose State, Hawaii and Idaho. That’s 10 games.

Filling in the rest seems doable for the first season of independence. Viva la independence!

Adam

BYU and independence?

This is a total cop-out for a first post, but here it is. Last month I wrote on my other blog, Adam Bomb, about a Dick Harmon article regarding the possibility of independence. So you can read my weeks old take on the subject.

Really, I find BYU’s official silence on this topic to be deafening. Waiting for more info before Matt or I post anything else.

Adam