Cards are stacked against BYU from a money perspective and conference affiliation--of course. Utah's PAC affiliation has just been awesome for them and it definitely impacts BYU--there is no question it eats into BYU's recruiting base. However, Utes are made up of athletes from the PAC recruiting base--not usually where BYU was recruiting besides a few.

Obviously, you have honor code as a filter for many of the premier athletes--not that they couldn't live it, it's just that is not of interest to them.

Scheduling is completely brutal as an independent. But scheduling can be brutal for many P5 teams when they get into conference play.

However, BYU, I contend, is the best University around for young members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and those that really really want to live with faith and traditional values as a major part of their life.

We'll see. I'm just saying that probabilities favor a good BYU team at some point and that team will beat Utah--and we'll enjoy that game. Cheer for your team and enjoy life. Acknowledge reality that Utah is good, maybe even be happy for them? I'm almost there. I tip my hat is all. I like when BYU dominates. I had so much fun in the Arizona and Wisconsin games, was great with my family. I loved the McNeese State game. Just enjoy. We have no impact on the outcome of a game, none.