It's Rivalry Week, Baby!!!

One of my favorite days of the year is the Saturday after Thanksgiving. A few days off work, family around, eating the Thanksgiving leftovers, and getting ready for the BYU-Utah game.



It's Rivalry Week!!!! Time for the game, baby!!!! Oh, wait...



I am really, really bummed that is not happening this year. Of all the changes that have happened lately, the loss of the end-of-year BYU-Utah game is the toughest to deal with.



Doink, The Answered Prayer, 4th and 18, Hall to George, all the great memories and excitement that game always brought...



It's too bad, really. The state of Utah, and the fan bases of both teams, are really missing out on something special. It makes me sad. I know it got ugly at times, but I for one am really, really going to miss it.



Boo. It's thanksgiving weekend coming up and there is no BYU-Utah game. All I can do is watch my DVR'd replay of the Idaho and NMSU games.

hypercoug wrote:
One of my favorite days of the year is the Saturday after Thanksgiving. A few days off work, family around, eating the Thanksgiving leftovers, and getting ready for the BYU-Utah game.



It's Rivalry Week!!!! Time for the game, baby!!!! Oh, wait...



I am really, really bummed that is not happening this year. Of all the changes that have happened lately, the loss of the end-of-year BYU-Utah game is the toughest to deal with.



Doink, The Answered Prayer, 4th and 18, Hall to George, all the great memories and excitement that game always brought...



It's too bad, really. The state of Utah, and the fan bases of both teams, are really missing out on something special. It makes me sad. I know it got ugly at times, but I for one am really, really going to miss it.



Boo. It's thanksgiving weekend coming up and there is no BYU-Utah game. All I can do is watch my DVR'd replay of the Idaho and NMSU games.

You could watch a replay of the butt whoopin they gave us - it is on BYU TV. Times have changed and BYU is going to need to develop new rivalries. Utah may not be willing to risk playing us every year. If we were in Big 12, I would not want to risk playing Utah every year.

You can thank Utah that the Rivalry is going away, and frankly, I am thanking them for it, I'm glad it is ending because I hate that school, I hate everything about them!



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

hypercoug wrote:
One of my favorite days of the year is the Saturday after Thanksgiving. A few days off work, family around, eating the Thanksgiving leftovers, and getting ready for the BYU-Utah game.



It's Rivalry Week!!!! Time for the game, baby!!!! Oh, wait...



I am really, really bummed that is not happening this year. Of all the changes that have happened lately, the loss of the end-of-year BYU-Utah game is the toughest to deal with.



Doink, The Answered Prayer, 4th and 18, Hall to George, all the great memories and excitement that game always brought...



It's too bad, really. The state of Utah, and the fan bases of both teams, are really missing out on something special. It makes me sad. I know it got ugly at times, but I for one am really, really going to miss it.



Boo. It's thanksgiving weekend coming up and there is no BYU-Utah game. All I can do is watch my DVR'd replay of the Idaho and NMSU games.

I agree. Every year no matter what occurred, I always had this game to look forward to. The way it is now makes it really lame if we lose (which we seem to have a penchant for). Especially since we seem to start off bad and get better as the season progresses.

I don't like how the rivalry has evolved, but the fans at USU are beginning more so to reflect that same base level, inappropriate and ugly behavior, so it will still exist, just at a smaller level, and since I don't live in Logan--not in my face.



But, I still am disappointed to see it go. I've said this before and I believe it, Clemson and South Carolina; Georgia and Georgia Tech; and Florida and Florida St are all in different BCS conferences and they still seem to play their rivalry game. I too am glad this is all Utah turning tail. I don't care what Chris Hill or KW talk about they need to go to places they need to recruit like Texas. Bolderdash!

EM_Puma wrote:
I don't like how the rivalry has evolved, but the fans at USU are beginning more so to reflect that same base level, inappropriate and ugly behavior, so it will still exist, just at a smaller level, and since I don't live in Logan--not in my face.

at least the USU president apologizes for his fans poor behavior. Can you imagine something like that coming from the :utard: ?

hypercoug wrote:
Boo. It's thanksgiving weekend coming up and there is no BYU-Utah game. All I can do is watch my DVR'd replay of the Idaho and NMSU games.

YOu might want to visit this link



http://www.bluecougarfootball.com/p/special-features.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Look under "Remembering the Rivalry"

If we joined the Big East we could have started a great rivalry with the Boise Smurf Broncos, but obviously I don't share the foresight of BYU higher ups in this regard. Yes, we have them set up on the indy schedule, but I'd rather have league standings at stake.

Bluma wrote:
...but I'd rather have league standings at stake.

Why? What do league standings give us?

Schmoe wrote:

...but I'd rather have league standings at stake.

Why? What do league standings give us?

Nothing besides something to play for that is more realistic than a national championship every year.

Bluma wrote:

Bluma wrote:
...but I'd rather have league standings at stake.

Why? What do league standings give us?

Nothing besides something to play for that is more realistic than a national championship every year.

YAY! We’re number one of a random group of universities not geographically aligned, and grouped together primarily for the purposes of bringing in money (but less money than we were making on our own) and giving us national exposure (but giving us less exposure than we were receiving on our own)!

ABYUFAN wrote:

Schmoe wrote:

...but I'd rather have league standings at stake.

Why? What do league standings give us?

Nothing besides something to play for that is more realistic than a national championship every year.

YAY! We’re number one of a random group of universities not geographically aligned, and grouped together primarily for the purposes of bringing in money (but less money than we were making on our own) and giving us national exposure (but giving us less exposure than we were receiving on our own)!

As opposed to a randomly-selected schedule of teams that decided to play us 2 years out of their lengthy CFB history, never to be seen again? Indy has its benefits, but I think playing in a major conference is much more beneficial. As other posters have said, BYU makes $3M/game on ticket sales alone ($50*60K fans). Give the team better start times and meaningful yearly rivalries and BYU can expand the stadium to 70-80K, bringing the total more up to $4M/game. Independence may work, but I thought the Big East was a perfect collection of teams on par with BYU, as opposed to the MWC which had a lot of teams like Wyoming and UNLV who showed no signs of ever becoming a major college football program, and underachievers like UNM, CSU, and SDSU.



future of Utah, TCU, BSU, AIr Force, etc.

Hello group of teams that are either already major or have a huge upside to become so. We'll be playing in the same league for decades.



BYU's future:

Hello Clemson ... Good bye Clemson

Hello USC... Goodbye USC

Hello Georgia Tech...Goodbye Georgia Tech

Hello Oregon...Goodbye Oregon

(and more often than not)

Hello New Mexico State...Goodbye New Mexico State

Hello Louisiana Monroe...Goodbye Louisiana Monroe

Hello Ball State...Goodbye Ball State

Hello San Jose State...Goodbye San Jose State

Hello random FCS team...Goodbye random FCS team



Great fun to be had...we can't get much more random than indy.

Bluma wrote:

Bluma wrote:

Bluma wrote:
...but I'd rather have league standings at stake.

Why? What do league standings give us?

Nothing besides something to play for that is more realistic than a national championship every year.

YAY! We’re number one of a random group of universities not geographically aligned, and grouped together primarily for the purposes of bringing in money (but less money than we were making on our own) and giving us national exposure (but giving us less exposure than we were receiving on our own)!

As opposed to a randomly-selected schedule of teams that decided to play us 2 years out of their lengthy CFB history, never to be seen again? Indy has its benefits, but I think playing in a major conference is much more beneficial. As other posters have said, BYU makes $3M/game on ticket sales alone ($50*60K fans). Give the team better start times and meaningful yearly rivalries and BYU can expand the stadium to 70-80K, bringing the total more up to $4M/game. Independence may work, but I thought the Big East was a perfect collection of teams on par with BYU, as opposed to the MWC which had a lot of teams like Wyoming and UNLV who showed no signs of ever becoming a major college football program, and underachievers like UNM, CSU, and SDSU.



future of Utah, TCU, BSU, AIr Force, etc.

Hello group of teams that are either already major or have a huge upside to become so. We'll be playing in the same league for decades.



BYU's future:

Hello Clemson ... Good bye Clemson

Hello USC... Goodbye USC

Hello Georgia Tech...Goodbye Georgia Tech

Hello Oregon...Goodbye Oregon

(and more often than not)

Hello New Mexico State...Goodbye New Mexico State

Hello Louisiana Monroe...Goodbye Louisiana Monroe

Hello Ball State...Goodbye Ball State

Hello San Jose State...Goodbye San Jose State

Hello random FCS team...Goodbye random FCS team



Great fun to be had...we can't get much more random than indy.

You're right that the Big East was a step up from the MWC, the question is would it have been a step up from where we are now. Some of us believe that it would have been, others beleive that it wasn't, the most that we all agree on is that it is "undecided" at this time. In a few years it may be that we'll see that one group ws right and one was wrong, and it may still be yet undecided. I guess that's the joy of the journey.

ABYUFAN wrote:
You're right that the Big East was a step up from the MWC, the question is would it have been a step up from where we are now. Some of us believe that it would have been, others beleive that it wasn't, the most that we all agree on is that it is "undecided" at this time. In a few years it may be that we'll see that one group ws right and one was wrong, and it may still be yet undecided. I guess that's the joy of the journey.

I'll probably get used to indy eventually (don't have much choice do I?) but I'm more than a little bothered right that BYU had a major conference in the bag, and only needed to sacrifice a little of it's indy sweethart deal to upgrade the football competition from its previous conference affiliations. BYUtv may be a dinosaur in a few years as more games get streamed online, so this may look like the biggest blunder in BYU history.

So, we should give up money and exposure to play for an imaginary/meaningless accolade? I'll agree to disagree with you on this one.

Schmoe wrote:
So, we should give up money and exposure to play for an imaginary/meaningless accolade? I'll agree to disagree with you on this one.

I may appreciate the money if it is put to good use. But for now I just notice that independence has ended our season 1-2 months before the rest of the country. At least in the MWC this time of year was pretty exciting with Utah and other rivals wanting a piece of us. Right now we are essentially playing for the WAC championship, but have no claim to the trophy since we aren't official members.

Bluma wrote:

So, we should give up money and exposure to play for an imaginary/meaningless accolade? I'll agree to disagree with you on this one.

I may appreciate the money if it is put to good use. But for now I just notice that independence has ended our season 1-2 months before the rest of the country. At least in the MWC this time of year was pretty exciting with Utah and other rivals wanting a piece of us. Right now we are essentially playing for the WAC championship, but have no claim to the trophy since we aren't official members.

What options did BYU have that you're upset about that they didn't take? Playing Utah for the Mtn West is no longer an option, after this year playing TCU for the Mtn West is no longer an option, the Big East likely is irrelevant going forward and is probably a step down from what the 2010 Mtn West, it's unknown if the Big 12 was ever an option. I'm not happy with 8:15 games against NMSU either but I don't know of a better option that we've past up on. The most attractive alternative to independance that I can see was to stay in the Mtn West and play Boise in the future. Maybe that's better but I don't mind taking the chance on independance given our options.

The new Big East has plenty of teams on the rise. Houston is a hot team right now. Boise State too. The Mountain West was a decent league for what it is worth, but its isolation from the rest of the country doomed it to obscurity. Pair some of the better MWC teams up with Big East media markets and you have a good league - or would have had a good league. BYU missed the boat.

Bluma wrote:

So, we should give up money and exposure to play for an imaginary/meaningless accolade? I'll agree to disagree with you on this one.

I may appreciate the money if it is put to good use. But for now I just notice that independence has ended our season 1-2 months before the rest of the country. At least in the MWC this time of year was pretty exciting with Utah and other rivals wanting a piece of us. Right now we are essentially playing for the WAC championship, but have no claim to the trophy since we aren't official members.

I've still got a lot to look forward to this season, two very good games to close out the season on TV, Hawaii and a Bowl game that beats the Las Vegas Bowl

Bluma wrote:
The new Big East has plenty of teams on the rise. Houston is a hot team right now. Boise State too. The Mountain West was a decent league for what it is worth, but its isolation from the rest of the country doomed it to obscurity. Pair some of the better MWC teams up with Big East media markets and you have a good league - or would have had a good league. BYU missed the boat.

I don't neccesarily disagree but I think it's a coin toss as to if the BE works out or not. The Mtn West was started with the same thinking that we take teams on the rise and leave the dogs. The odds are high most teams on the rise return to be average teams, better teams continue to be poached by better conferences, and the AQ tag is taken away.



If they join the BE it may turn into something better than Indy but it could easily turn into something much worse.