After a year of being up in the air about independence
I have decided that I like it better than what BYU would get in the PAC12 (not that BYU would EVER get an invite). I had an exhaustive post comparing schedules, exposure, money and bowl games to what Utah was experiencing in the PAC12. I scrapped it in favor of a shorter post. The short version goes:
Schedule: Tie. Utah has a very slightly better schedule this year being in the P12. BYU wins next year. The home games are incredible in 2013 and November 2013 won't be bad. Utah ends their schedule this year with Colorado. Their November schedule this year is slighly less-sucky than ours.
Money: Toss up. Utah does not share revenue for a few more years. BYU gets way more than they have ever received due to the deal with ESPN. As we well know money does not equal wins. Yes it helps you pay for good coaches but there are many programs that make more money than BYU that are not as good.
Bowls: Utah wins this. The thing about the bowls is that you really have to earn it on the field throughout the year so it is very possible that BYU plays in better bowls if/when 1)BYU gets better bowl tie-in, which they will 2)BYU needs to win games and have some 11 and 12 win seasons. Some may argue that a conference championship is cool. I agree. But Utah won the MWC title 3 times in the last 11 years and shared in it once. Will they do significantly better than that in the PAC12? Once they get to the conference championship game they will get to be man-handled by USC. If they win it one year out of six I will be impressed.
Exposure: BYU by a LANDSLIDE. This is what caused me to finally be all-in with independence. BYU will play 3-4 more games on ESPN than Utah will. All the games that are not on ESPN will be available nationally via BYUtv. BYU's fanbase is spread all over the country so this is a far better deal for the fans in regards to being able to see games.
Lost in all the Quezada news yesterday was this gem:
This is bad news for Utah who looks to be getting the Mountain2.0 this year. How long until Utah fans start to complain that they can't see the games on TV?
BYU fans have access that NO OTHER fans in the country get perhaps with the exception of Notre Dame. This is a good time to be a BYU fan.
