There was plenty of discussion about earth-shattering conference shakeups in college football earlier this summer, when Colorado and Utah joined the Pac 10, Boise State joined the Mountain West, Nebraksa joined the Big 10 and several other schools – including Notre Dame, Rutgers, Texas and Oklahoma – considered following suit.
But just a few months later, the next round of conference shakeups could already be starting to happen. ESPN.com is reporting today that BYU is moving closer to leaving the Mountain West and becoming an independent in football, but joining the Western Athletic Conference in all other sports, starting next fall. In the story, BYU is said to want to become the “Notre Dame of the West.”
Could BYU possibly attain such status? It’s possible, though unlikely. Notre Dame reach its current level thanks to decades of national exposure and 11 national championships. While BYU also has a stellar football tradition, it’s not on the same level.
The obvious advantage to being an independent is – like Notre Dame – is the added revenue streams that come from not having to share money with conference members. BYU has its own television network (named, not surprisingly, BYU-TV) available on major satellite networks.
It would be a crushing blow to the Mountain West to lose BYU, as the conference is attempting to force its way into an automatic bid in the BCS, as the Cougars are one of the league’s top three teams. The conference recovered from losing Utah to the Pac 10 by successfully taking Boise State from the WAC, but losing BYU would leave Boise State and TCU as the standard-bearers for the league.
The Big East isn’t necessarily in danger of losing its automatic BCS bid if the Mountain West is given one, but it would certainly be in the league’s best interest to see the Mountain West weakened by the loss of one of its best teams.
BYU will likely not receive the same consideration as Notre Dame does, if it chooses to become an independent, in terms of the BCS. The Fighting Irish automatically qualify for the BCS if they have nine wins and finish in the top eight of the final BCS standings. Any team is eligible to make a BCS bowl if they finish in the top 14 in the final standings.
tbontemps@nypost.com
