As a person who grew up far from Utah as a non-member and didn’t start rooting for BYU until 2009, I am struck sometimes by the weight BYU fans give to our national stature. We think that because of the national championship in 1984 and the success of the LaVell years we have all this cache nationally.

We really don’t. We are not, never were, and likely never will be one of the big boys nationally. This is important to realize because until we do our decisions about and expectations for the future will be terribly skewed.

It seems like a large amount of fans, and the powers that be at the school, think that independence protects our hard-earned reputation nationally. But that view is fundamentally flawed because it assumes a national reputation that doesn’t exist.

In my mind independence creates a significant psychological disadvantage for our players. What is a realistic goal for our team to reach for? An undefeated season is the big goal. Worthy, but unlikely to happen. So once that fails there is nothing left. We all know that a good goal is one that is difficult to achieve but doable. Something like, and I’m just spitballing here, a conference championship.

I wish BYU fans and the administration could just come to grips with what we are. A regionally, not nationally, significant team. Like Boise St. Join a G5, compete for conference titles, do the best we can to schedule a strong out of conference slate. Get to some NY6 bowls as a conference champ. That to me is a far more realistic path to future success.