It was just a long time ago.

I spent two years at BYU, for grad school. I'm a fan. (I'm a slightly bigger fan of Utah, where I spent four years.) I want BYU to be great, and to have success, and to build on that success, to revitalize the *program*. The BYU program's national relevance obviously peaked in the mid 80's, but LaVell was able to keep the program solid and relevant throughout his tenure. In 2001, had they won in Hawaii, there's a decent chance that BYU could have busted the BCS long before Utah, or TCU, or anyone else did. Over the next three seasons, the program kind of fell apart, under Crowton, but Bronco was able to come in, clean up the off-field issues, and get BYU back to respectability on the field. He won 99 games, in 11 seasons.

I personally think independence has been a major reason for the lull, over the past few seasons. (I'm NOT saying that BYU should just go back to a G5 conference.)

The other night, I heard an interview with Ian Fitzsimmons, of ESPN Radio. He had worked in Utah earlier in his career, and was very familiar with all of the coaches in the state, at that time. He said that he had spoken with Bronco Mendenhall, and that Bronco had said that the #1 reason he had left BYU was Independence. He said that it was not sustainable. He's said that on other occasions, to various people, and so I have no reason to doubt the veracity of Fitzsimmons.

Personally, I think the massive pay raise, the ability to coach a P5 program, at a good school, in a beautiful state, without any honor code probably played a bigger role than independence. But I still I think that it is interesting that Bronco said that.

When BYU announced that it was going independent, in 2010, Bronco seemed, at least, enthusiastic how about the idea. And yet, just a few years later, he was saying that Independence was unsustainable. This leads me to believe one of two things:

1. BYU was not able to make Independence work the way that they believed it would.

OR

2. Bronco believed, in 2010, that Independence would be a temporary springboard into a P5 conference.

As I said the other night, I think both are partially true, but I think #2 was the bigger factor. I get the impression that Bronco thought it would only be couple years, and then BYU would be invited to join the Big-XII.

In my opinion, Independence isn't a problem theoretically. The problem is making Independence work on a practical level. Because of the way that most power conferences schedule their games, the schedule is always super front-loaded for BYU. Everybody knows that BYU is going to be playing the hardest schedule throughout the first four games. The problem is that when you start out with Utah, @ Tennessee, USC, and UW- the players are going to spend the first 4 weeks of the season getting the crap kicked out of them. So, on top of the fact that you're going into Toledo, Week 5, with an 0-4/1-3 record- you might be dealing with injuries, depth issues, and a deflated morale. So, while BYU should be favored to beat Boise State, UCF, Utah State, and Toledo- all four could possibly be losses. (I'm saying BYU could lose any of those four games- not that all four will be losses.) BYU loses a couple of those games, and morale is totally gone, and BYU is just trying to be bowl eligible. 2017 is the ultimate example of how quickly things can go sideways.

BYU needs to do WHATEVER to get into a power conference.