Excellent Article Interviewing Bronco Regarding Scheduling

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Love the quote about Bronco stating that espn's power is so great that teams are dropping people on their schedule to be part of byu's nationally televised schedule. Loved it when he said he has had to say no in order to maintain a balance.



glad to here that. we will push ourselves but not more than we can handle.



also says he has put more time in preparing for first three games than usual this year. our coaches and players are killing themselves getting ready. this year may be a good year given how hard everybody is working and how motivated everybody is.



hope the execution part comes together. i think i am forgetting what our record was last year and how young the team still is.

I liked that Bronco is looking for balance in the schedule--taking care that we don't overload with great teams that we don't have sucess

I love the balance part of the schedule as well. AS I have mentioned in the past though, I do not want balance to mean dogs at home and great opponents all away or neutral. BYU fanbase in Utah deserves great games at LES. Putting a great game together just to show it on ESPN is cool, but not it LES gets scraps for home games consistently.

It is great that they want to play us at Fed Ex field and all the others, but our schedule can't be filled with home-away-neutral. Don't get me wrong, those are great games to play and to watch on TV. I am concerned that we will have one or two good games a year at home and the rest will be filler in between the away and neutral site games. Not only will that make for a lack luster home schedule, it will also make it very difficult for the team to win.

BYUcougfan wrote:
It is great that they want to play us at Fed Ex field and all the others, but our schedule can't be filled with home-away-neutral. Don't get me wrong, those are great games to play and to watch on TV. I am concerned that we will have one or two good games a year at home and the rest will be filler in between the away and neutral site games. Not only will that make for a lack luster home schedule, it will also make it very difficult for the team to win.

This has been what it's been the last several years. One or two good home games and the rest have been awful. It wouldn't be any different.

I don't know what people are expecting out of home schedules.



Here's the home schedule this season for defending BCS champs Auburn:

-Utah State

-Mississippi State

-Florida Atlantic

-Florida

-Ole Miss

-Samford

-Alabama



So, 2 good opponents, 2 decent/slightly-above-mediocre-but-have-a-reputable-name opponents, and 3 cupcakes.



BYU next year is 1, 1, 5, which is undesirable, but in 2012 they are already at 1-1-1 and for 2013 the home schedule is at 2-1-0.



I think people are just hitting the panic button too quickly and expecting an unrealistic home schedule.

SpiffCoug wrote:

It is great that they want to play us at Fed Ex field and all the others, but our schedule can't be filled with home-away-neutral. Don't get me wrong, those are great games to play and to watch on TV. I am concerned that we will have one or two good games a year at home and the rest will be filler in between the away and neutral site games. Not only will that make for a lack luster home schedule, it will also make it very difficult for the team to win.

This has been what it's been the last several years. One or two good home games and the rest have been awful. It wouldn't be any different.

But what we have had the past several years isn't good enough if we want to significantly expand the BYU brand beyond the faithful.

mormonrasta wrote:

BYUcougfan wrote:
It is great that they want to play us at Fed Ex field and all the others, but our schedule can't be filled with home-away-neutral. Don't get me wrong, those are great games to play and to watch on TV. I am concerned that we will have one or two good games a year at home and the rest will be filler in between the away and neutral site games. Not only will that make for a lack luster home schedule, it will also make it very difficult for the team to win.

This has been what it's been the last several years. One or two good home games and the rest have been awful. It wouldn't be any different.

But what we have had the past several years isn't good enough if we want to significantly expand the BYU brand beyond the faithful.

Boise St. was able to build their brand with worse. That being said, after the first 2 years, I don't think we'll have much trouble bringing in some good teams to Provo. The problem we most need to be careful of is not over scheduling by trying to play 8 - 10 teams which are the elite of the BCS. We need to have balance. Luckily Bronco understands that.

snoscythe wrote:
I don't know what people are expecting out of home schedules.



Here's the home schedule this season for defending BCS champs Auburn:

-Utah State

-Mississippi State

-Florida Atlantic

-Florida

-Ole Miss

-Samford

-Alabama



So, 2 good opponents, 2 decent/slightly-above-mediocre-but-have-a-reputable-name opponents, and 3 cupcakes.



BYU next year is 1, 1, 5, which is undesirable, but in 2012 they are already at 1-1-1 and for 2013 the home schedule is at 2-1-0.



I think people are just hitting the panic button too quickly and expecting an unrealistic home schedule.

I am not in panic mode. I am just responding to what I am reading. Mendenhall did not say teams were willing to change schedules to play BYU in Provo. They are willing to change their schedules so they can play in their own backyards and get a big pay day. That is hardly a surprise to me.



I am a fan of going independent and I think it is better than being in the MWC. I agree our home schedule in the MWC was not much better. My opinion is that if we have to play a bunch of teams from the bottom 40, we might as well mix it up and play different teams. However, that does not mean that I don't want the big boys playing in Provo. I will take a game against a BCS conference team in Provo over playing that same team in Yankee stadium every time.

hawkwing wrote:

SpiffCoug wrote:

It is great that they want to play us at Fed Ex field and all the others, but our schedule can't be filled with home-away-neutral. Don't get me wrong, those are great games to play and to watch on TV. I am concerned that we will have one or two good games a year at home and the rest will be filler in between the away and neutral site games. Not only will that make for a lack luster home schedule, it will also make it very difficult for the team to win.

This has been what it's been the last several years. One or two good home games and the rest have been awful. It wouldn't be any different.

But what we have had the past several years isn't good enough if we want to significantly expand the BYU brand beyond the faithful.

Boise St. was able to build their brand with worse. That being said, after the first 2 years, I don't think we'll have much trouble bringing in some good teams to Provo. The problem we most need to be careful of is not over scheduling by trying to play 8 - 10 teams which are the elite of the BCS. We need to have balance. Luckily Bronco understands that.

There are two key differences between BYU and BSU.



1. BSU doesn't claim to be playing for national titles. Making the BCS is good enough for them. While I would be thrilled to be as good as BSU has been over the last 5 years, Bronco's explicit goal is higher, National Titles.



2. BSU has an easier path to meet their goal. All they have to do is be the highest ranked team from a nonBCS conference and finish in the top 12 of the BCS standings and they are in. 1-2 good opponents with 10 scrumptiousj cupcakes will do the trick. That will not do the trick for BYU to meet BYU's goals of National Titles.



The fact is that every team that has won a National Title in the BCS era played a team that was ranked at the time of the game at home. All but 3 played at least 2. Every BCS champ played at least 1 home game vs. team that was ranked in the top 10 at the time of the game except for 2001 Miami.



Only three times in BYU's history have multiple ranked teams played in Provo in the same season. That has got to change if Bronco wants to achieve the goals he has set forth for the program.

The differance is that ESPN wants to show our home games on tv. they want good matchups at our home. I believe they will be successful in getting those matchups.

I think the decision of ESPN to pick up all of the available games is a marketing move to take to other teams. BYU can say "ESPN put us on TV even though we only played SJSU. Just think where they'd put our game?"



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I'm confused why some people think we should get these big name schools begging to play in our house the second we annound INDEPENDENCE.



It's just like life and our jobs. We don't get promoted because of a name. If my great-great-great-great grand daddy is Brigham Young. That doesn't mean I should get instant recognition.



I have to work for it, just like what BYU has to do with a schedule. It takes time to get these big name programs to come to us. Do what we can and ESPN will fill in the gaps.



We haven't even played a game as an Independent yet. We've made SOME HUGE STRIDES thus far. Just wait till you see what we have after two, three, or even four years down the road.



Unless we have some bandwagoners here :~(

The problem is not the home schedule. It is the road and unnatural neutral site schedule. That part is top heavy and for a team that has not gone undefeated since 1984 vs admittedly ordinary schedules, the leap of faith that BYU will beat all of these teams on the road and then actually be given a chance to play for the NC rather than get snubbed anyway - and then win yet one more big game.



What are the odds of that. Rome was not built in a day. A couple of undefeated seasons and BCS Bowl wins along the way to enhancing recruiting and eventually contending for a NC sounds like a stretch too but not so far fetched. BSU is on that path. Utah is on it - but will probably fall off it due to over scheduling. Same for TCU although Big East might be weak enoughvfor TCU tovstay on track.



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