BYU officially independent in football

Well it is finally official: BYU is going independent in football beginning next season. They will join the West Coast Conference in all other sports. I have already chronicled my thoughts on the blog before, but to recap I think the move will likely create more revenue and exposure (at least in the regular season) but will probably make it harder for them to access the BCS. BYU will likely not be able to have the scheduling power and BCS automatic access guarantees that fellow independent Notre Dame has. It is really tough not to be tied into a conference, but BYU definitely has resources that could help it to at least remain competitive. I think it will make it harder competitively in the long haul, however, unless they do join another conference at some point. If it was me in charge of the decision I probably would have stayed in the Mountain West Conference and worked out some sort of new television package if at all possible.

As for the men's basketball program, I think the Mountain West Conference is definitely a better conference top to bottom than the West Coast Conference but the WCC is more top heavy with Gonzaga and to a lesser extent Saint Mary's which made a run to the Sweet 16 last season. I don't know that it will be a huge drop-off, but I think it will be a drop-off nonetheless. There are some bad teams and bad programs in the WCC that have been down for a while that will really hurt BYU's strength of schedule. BYU does significantly help the conference, though, and should help it to be a bit more of a player nationally. I would put it just a step down from the Mountain West at this point in basketball.

Perhaps the biggest loser in all of this is Utah State. To seem my full thoughts on the subject, simply scroll down the blog. It now appears more than ever though, that USU made a big mistake in turning down the Mountain West. They are now left in what is barely still a conference in the WAC.