BlueBlood wrote:
BYU has several advantages that make scheduling easier for them - built in rivalries with Utah at Utah St, being considered P5 equivalent, and having a football pedigree that makes them a brand name (and an acceptable loss if they beat their P5 opponent). Even with those advantages, I've read articles that say scheduling is tough for them.
Another advantage is that BYU has an exclusive contract with ESPN, so they get like $1 million per game, with any game not shown by ESPN permitted to be shown on BYUtv, BYU's cable network. This has made it so that I, as a BYU fan, can see every BYU game, which is one of the real pluses to being independent for us. ESPN also helps with bowls and scheduling, to an extent. It will be interesting to see how long this arrangement lasts, long-term. With a lot of "cord-cutting," ESPN has hemorrhaged susbscribers. ESPN is also pretty liberal (any media entity is), so as society continues to change in certain ways, there may be backlash and ostracism against schools like BYU. Or Liberty. cf. the outcry about the honor code and expectations/enforcement of the law of chastity when the Big12 considered adding BYU as a member. Anti-religious bias makes BYU a non-starter for really liberal conferences, like the Pac 12.
In theory, being an FBS independent sounds more appealing to me than being in a G5 conference. I just wonder if scheduling becomes even more difficult as the team improves.
It's really controversial among BYU fans, many of whom would prefer being in even a "lower tier" conference to independence. I really like independence, even though it all but guarantees that we will never be undefeated. I really like our schedules (way more interesting, even though we get pounded in September and have a hard time scheduling difficult opponents in October/November, with their conference schedules in full swing), I like the 100% availability of watching games, and I like that we don't have to share our TV or bowl money with conference members.
The downside to scheduling is that getting P5 teams means that we have to do one-off "neutral" site games (that always favor the P5 opponent) or 2-for1 home and away deals. Notre Dame won't come to Provo any more, and still owes us two games (I want them to pay us the breach of contract fine, even though that means that they won't ever play us again. If we're promised games, then we get those games, in my book). So, we played a ton in South Bend, without the promised return trips.
All in all, I'm very happy with independence, but realize that it is easier for us than it is for UMASS or NMSU. Liberty enjoys certain similar advantages, too, such as a broad fan base of evangelicals. I think Liberty would pick up a lot of bandwagon momentum from fair weather fans if it could get the ball rolling and pull off some major upsets. And many P5 fans would absolutely lose their minds.
My pipe dream is for all of the independents to have good records and rankings. *That* would help expose the corrupt system that is designed to only benefit the P5 conferences.