Let me clear. I like Independence. I think it’s BYU’s best and most likely path forward (assuming P5 never materializes). But, some elements of independence needs to be refined. First and foremost, the schedule needs to be lightened plain and simple. I’m ok with BYU playing a tough schedule. A schedule that is a tier or so above relative to the resources and money that BYU brings in. But, some of the upcoming schedules are like 3 tiers above where BYU is at in terms of resources and money. The 2019 schedule is fine, I think. I wish it wasn’t so frontloaded, but can’t do a ton about that. But, the 2020 and 2021 schedules are ridiculous.
2020 Schedule:
09/05 - at Utah
· 09/12 - Michigan State
· 09/19 - at Arizona State
· 09/26 - at Minnesota
· 10/02 - Utah State
· 10/10 - Missouri
· 10/17 - Houston
· 10/24 - at Northern Illinois
· 11/07 - at Boise State
· 11/14 - San Diego State
· 11/21 - North Alabama
· 11/28 - at Stanford
Sure, it’s cool we’re playing all these great games. But, I also want to win. Winning brings recruits. Winning gets fan in the stadium. Winning will give you national exposure. I’d argue this schedule is more challenging that Notre Dame’s 2020 schedule. And, BYU is not Notre Dame. I think you’d be hard pressed to find many teams in the country playing a gauntlet of consecutive games like that. Again, I like independence. But, we need to be more strategic about our scheduling philosophy. Keep 4 (maybe 5 at most) P5 games. And, play a few more tier 3 or 4 G5 teams instead of tier 1 G5 teams. All you tough guys that want to play Alabama each week can come at me. But, I think BYU needs to have a model of winning a lot of games and then snatching a few big wins along the way to make Independence work.