I would argue that your points are valid but that not playing BYU will hurt them worse than they think. They have rode on the BYU Hating Bandwagon for decades and that hate has driven them to excel (see Meyer and urinal cakes, BYU countdown clock, and Max Hall's Mom mannequin). Without that rivalry who will they look forward to hatin' on each year? Hate fuels them to win and beat BYU. It fuels the yewt players to do idiot things to BYU players and turns their otherwise placid fans rabid.

I mean, how small do you have to be to come on your rival's board each day to see how BYU fans think about you and your team?

One of the greatest short-sighted play for mediocrity is nothing more than their playing Fresno State in lieu of BYU. I welcome it for so o many reasons. The biggest is that they will add another loss to their schedule. But mostly, they will have nothing to get up for and their real performances will be seen: underachieving, bad offense, bad play calling, and mediocre coaching.

But for what its worth Arizona, Washington State, and ASU will be happy: someone else will be the cellar dwellers of the PAC instead of them.