Apathy

I had lunch with one of my dear friends who is a diehard BYU football fan. He basically said that he is feeling completely apathetic about BYU football. Asking around to other BYU fans, I think this sense is more prevalent than I realized.



Sounds like it is a combination of multiple things:



Heaps / Nelson

The implosion against Utah

Big 12 buildup / no invite

Growing concerns about coaching



Others feeling the same?

I am apathetic to the football season now. The Texas game did it for me. So I have moved on to BYU basketball.

There's no incentive for watching the rest of the season. No rivalries, no conference championship. No ranked opponents, no TCUs on the schedule.



After the first loss, all BCS dreams went out the window. After the 6th win its already a known fact which bowl we'll end up at.



The Heaps/Riley drama adds to it. But mostly that's on us fans for buying into a 19 year-old's smack talk. Still leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.



I honestly don't get the negativity towards the coaches. Anyone that thought a rookie OC would be able to come in and immediately out perform an experienced OC was smoking something. We've all known Bronco's limitations, so to think they would go away over night is also naive.



BYU will always get less talented players and less talented coaches. Been that way for a long time and will continue to be that way. That's BYU football. Perhaps if BYU embraced the attitude of an underdog out to prove themselves more we could resemble BSU.



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I'll take apathy over waking up on a November morning and hearing about a former coach using a BYU facilities to run a program to help disadvantaged kids and then being accused of sexually assaulting multiple children from that program on the BYU campus.

BYU will always get less talented players and less talented coaches. Been that way for a long time and will continue to be that way. That's BYU football. Perhaps if BYU embraced the attitude of an underdog out to prove themselves more we could resemble BSU.

I don't understand this, in some post they talk about our recruiting class being better then utah or tcu. Then there are posts like this that say our reqruits are not as good. Which is it?

Gunk wrote:
There's no incentive for watching the rest of the season. No rivalries, no conference championship. No ranked opponents, no TCUs on the schedule.



After the first loss, all BCS dreams went out the window. After the 6th win its already a known fact which bowl we'll end up at.

This is how I feel. But I'm still going to watch and enjoy the games because we're supposed to win big and that's always fun to watch. Even if they are mostly cupcakes.



But that's part of the problem too. We're SUPPOSED to beat these "easy teams". If we do, no one cares. Doesn't change the bowl game or our record, or our national perception or anything. If we lose against a Hawaii or resurgent Idaho ... we stand to lose even more

Gunk wrote:
I honestly don't get the negativity towards the coaches. Anyone that thought a rookie OC would be able to come in and immediately out perform an experienced OC was smoking something. We've all known Bronco's limitations, so to think they would go away over night is also naive.

This. When people were going ape for Doman at OC, we heard OVER AND OVER how he would be everything Anae was, minus all the weaknesses. We'd score 80 ppg. we'd keep the same methodical offense and add explosiveness. No more execution of routine, predictable offenses (that worked btw....). We abandoned an offensive coordinator that gave us four 10 win seasons. And as much as we may like Doman, there was BOUND to be growing pains. but it does beg the question. How would we have done this year had Anae still been around?

CougarClaw wrote:
but it does beg the question. How would we have done this year had Anae still been around?

As good of a question as that is, isn't a better question, how good will we be next year with Doman and a year under his belt, vs. how good would we be with Anae?

BYU has to play in game that matter in November. having 2 byes, and then playing NMSU and Idaho is a recipe for disaster. I get that 2-11-2 were short notice, but they still stunk. 2013 late season looks no better. And the risk is that if BYU starts 1-2 like most years under Bronco, and has no games of interest late in the year, this will became the norm for BYU Football as an Independent.



Notre dame can make it work because even if they start slow, they still play USC late, BC, Stanford and other BCS schools late in the year. We get the WAC, or C-USA. Not the same at all.



BYU needs to either go Big XII or just tell fans that as Indy, we make more, get on TV more, but will play more crappy teams as a result.

Independance = Crap home schedule, no conference championship and nothing to play for late in the year......Apathy. We do get to see BYU beat the crap out of crappy teams on ESPN though.

So you're saying we shouldn't have left the MWC? Where we'd be playing crappy teams late in the year, but be doing so for a MWC championship title?

hawkwing wrote:
So you're saying we shouldn't have left the MWC? Where we'd be playing crappy teams late in the year, but be doing so for a MWC championship title?

In all the years I have followed BYU football, this is the most negative I can remember the fan base.....especially when BYU is 6 and freaking 3. I was not a fan of the MWC or the stupid Mountain network but at least BYU had a conference championship to play for. If BYU was in utah's position right now in the PAC, I don't think that BYU fans would be nearly as negative. All we have to look forward to right now are 3 crappy wac teams and a crappy bowl game.



BYU needs to be in a conference. The Big 12 would be my dream but that dream does not seem to have a possibility of fulfillment.

Fans are negative, not because of a lack of conference championship, but because Jake Heaps sucks and they all had bough into the hype. If Jake Heaps were playing great everyone would be ecstatic, even if we had 2 loses and no hope of a BCS game.

hawkwing wrote:
So you're saying we shouldn't have left the MWC? Where we'd be playing crappy teams late in the year, but be doing so for a MWC championship title?

King of a Kingdom, baby!

I am saying that 2011 was a big year for BYU Football, and they have laid an egg. Slaughtered at home to Utah, lost to Texas in a game we controlled at half, then punked--again--by TCU. Yeah, we beat Ole Miss, but they are awful.



Fact is, htis program is far from elite, and if BYU wants to make noise they need to win games that matter, or Indy turns into irrelevant really fast, because late season games will have no lasting importance, unless we have 1 loss or fewer.

hawkwing wrote:
Fans are negative, not because of a lack of conference championship, but because Jake Heaps sucks and they all had bough into the hype. If Jake Heaps were playing great everyone would be ecstatic, even if we had 2 loses and no hope of a BCS game.

While I think this is a contributor, I think the biggest problem was the loss to the University of Utah. I think the fans want Heaps to do well, but I think the blowout losses to the U and to TCU are wearing down the fans confidence.



This, then, compounds concerns about being independent - particularly with the shifts in the landscape of college football.



If BYU lost close games to Utah and TCU, I don't think the fans are as apathetic...Heaps will always be a point of interest - but I don't think that is really the driving force for this version of apathy.

Ygridiron4ever wrote:

So you're saying we shouldn't have left the MWC? Where we'd be playing crappy teams late in the year, but be doing so for a MWC championship title?

King of a Kingdom, baby!

I think you're on to something...maybe we SHOULD just join the WAC and save Benson's job. Think about it - we'd maybe lose one conference game a DECADE! :)

hawkwing wrote:
So you're saying we shouldn't have left the MWC? Where we'd be playing crappy teams late in the year, but be doing so for a MWC championship title?

Excactly. Our situation is more reflective of the state of college football because of the cancer that has been the BCS. It's not of our own doing. I'd rather be indy at this point than in the MWC.

I will enjoy watching the rest of games. I am a BYU fan - forever! 8)



Who's with me??!

I never cared about the MWC championship, and I don't think anyone else did either. Two years ago, some SI.com writer wrote in the blurb for the upcoming Utah-TCU game that we would be cheering for Utah to win "so that BYU can preserve a share of the MWC title." I remember laughing long and hard at the idea that a conference title somehow meant more than seeing Utah get thrashed to BYU fans.



In my mind there's really not a whole lot of difference between the LV, Poinsettia, Armed Forces or NM Bowl. You play against a good-but-not-great team on national TV. You have the BCS games, the historical or usually-good bowls (Cotton, Chick-Fil-A, etc.) and then you have the rest. All of the MWC's tie-ins fall into the latter.



I get "BYU needs important late-season games," but I don't get "at least we used to contend for a MWC championship/better bowl game." I think that's just looking for reasons to be pessimistic.

creative45 wrote:

BYU will always get less talented players and less talented coaches. Been that way for a long time and will continue to be that way. That's BYU football. Perhaps if BYU embraced the attitude of an underdog out to prove themselves more we could resemble BSU.

I don't understand this, in some post they talk about our recruiting class being better then utah or tcu. Then there are posts like this that say our reqruits are not as good. Which is it?

We do not get speed. That is the main difference.



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