Cougarbib wrote:
Bottom line is that BYU is slightly better off as an Independent. Hair and The MWC remain the next best alternative available to BYU unless things change in a P5 conference. Unfortunately for BYU, the P5 conferences got rid of The BEAST and kissed and made up after realignment and put poison pills in place that seem to preclude further pilfering of each other.
The MWC is not BYU's next best alternative. No way! Because most BYU fans and alumni live in the western US, we tend to inflate the MWC's (and the West Coast's) value. Back east, no one cares about the MWC. It's barely a step above the MAC, and that's only because of Boise State.
There is a tremendous East Coast bias on the national stage. A lot of that has to do with the fact that there are a lot more people on the East Coast and the time zones don't help at all (a 7pm start in the Pacific time zone = 10pm in New York!). The PAC 12 suffers from East Coast bias....now compare that to the MWC. Exponential.
BYU is MUCH better to align with the American over the MWC. It has teams in heavily populated East Coast markets and in Texas. BYU is much better off aligning with Central Florida, UConn, and Cincinnati, than Boise St., Fresno St., and Colorado St. MUCH better off.
I think BYU's next best alternative is a ND-esque alignment with the American. We're already scheduling 3 or 4 games with the American as it is, and the Miami Beach Party shows the American's current willing disposition.
Another long-shot option, better than the MWC, would be a similar affiliation with the Big 12. It would just be a whole lot easier to get an alignment agreement actually signed with the American than with the Big 12.
Another available and better alternative than re-joining the MWC is joining the American. I'm not a huge proponent of such a move, but it would be better than re-joining the MWC. It might make it more palatable if BYU were to join with a couple or handful of the best of the MWC (to basically destroy the MWC and seal the annual Group of Five bid for the American). My vote would be for Air Force, UNLV, San Diego St., Boise St., Fresno St., and New Mexico and parity-based scheduling. It would make for pod scheduling, which would give BYU good regional partners and opportunities to play Central Florida, Cincinatti, and Houston in conference. And, it would make for a fantastic basketball conference!
Another potential alternative to re-joining the MWC is to have an affiliation with the MWC. I hope BYU heavily considers that option before it ever considers actually re-joining the MWC as a full member.
