BSU can recruit a very different type of athlete than BYU can. Honor Code and academics directly influence this. Boise State has made a living off of academic casualties from other programs and recruiting athletes that were off the radar of the big boys. The supported this with great coaching (both Dan Hawkins and Chris Peterson were great in Boise).

BYU’s heyday was driven by a combination of a creative offensive scheme and the ability to recruit pretty much any LDS athlete they wanted. The big boys didn’t come to Utah, they weren’t willing to touch a player that wanted to go on a mission and neither Utah nor Utah State were legitimate options. That left BYU to bring in these players as they wished.

That model has changed radically. Utah is in the Pac12, and Utah State has made huge improvements. However, the biggest issue is that the big boys have both embraced recruiting in the Intermountain West and dealing with players that want to go on a mission. Many of the players that used to end up at BYU by default now are finding their way to Stanford, USC, UCLA, Washington, Oregon, Alabama, Virginia, etc. 20 years ago almost no players from this region were leaving. Now, very few of the top talents are staying.

And of those that do stay—-they can go to Utah, get P5 exposure, stay close to family and don’t have to deal with honor code issues.

BYU can’t mimic BSU’s approach and can’t replicate the BYU model of old (for different reasons). It’s a bad situation to be in and there isn’t a simple fix.