I think the general idea here is to do whatever makes the most sense for BYU. If an invite comes and the terms look acceptable, and looks to be generally more favorable than what we currently have, shoot let’s join the big 12 then.

But as long as we are on the subject of “if’s” as you pointed out earlier, then the crux of the whole situation rests upon the big IF an invite comes and IF it’s terms and conditions are acceptable.

However, there is something that is entirely within our control and that is our narrative and attitude about independence going forward along with working to make Indy the best possible situation for our program.

Talking to an outsider and a B12 expert was refreshing for my perspective. He is naive to our growing pains ….and We’ve had some growing pains. He can’t really comprehend all the trauma we suffered when we have had such a respectable football program for so long and then to watch a relatively mediocre Utah program have a few good seasons and then just waltz on in to a P5 conference. Nor can he understand all the heartbreak of rumors year after year of conference expansion come and go where it seems every time that there is a sure fire guarantee that our pain is finally coming to an end and we can finally join the table with the big boys where we belong and have belonged for decades only for nothing to happen. Again and again and again.

Finally, he’s probably a little near sighted in his perspective - people only remember the most recent past. All he has seen is BYU beating the Wisconsin’s and USC’s and Texas’s and Tennessee’s of the world on national tv with a heisman candidate QB getting nationally ranked and talked about weekly about our playoff chances and listening to people make their case for BYU.

He doesn’t remember all the losses to Utah, all the crappy schedules and sacrifices we’ve had to make and all the times we’ve been screwed in the process. He was probably fast asleep in his cozy warm bed while BYU played meaningless unknown teams late at night in November year after year after year.

What he does see is who we have played, and beaten, recently. Who we HAD scheduled originally in 2020. Who we have scheduled this year with an amazing home schedule hosting P5 team after P5 team along with some premiere matchups and an overall winnable but respectable schedule. He sees next years line up and the year after that and it’s looking about the same. He sees a schedule that is consistently looking like a solid and exciting schedule. Along with an exclusive TV deal with ESPN and our own version of the longhorn network, growing exposure, a reloading roster for 2021 along with a handful of other top elite programs sniffing independence knowing that if they could make it work they would of course make the jump because it’s an amazing deal when it does work.

In his mind, getting better post season access is do-able and in all likelihood eventual and probable. Landing some scheduling agreements would be doable if the money and exposure is right and we keep winning like we are but it’s also not entirely necessary, it would just be nice.

As I sat and thought about it, I thought, huh, we tasted a year like last year and it entirely changed the whole vibe of our program. Winning changes everything. Perhaps it was an anomaly. But it seems like we are trending upward. It seems like we have reason to be at least optimistic for 2021. Even just winning 9-10 games and dropping a few with that schedule would be near equivalent to last years success setting us up for a huge 2022 season.

What I’m thinking now is the growing pains might be over, and we are in a little groove and reaping the rewards of paying our dues and now we can truly begin to enjoy independence and see some of the reasons why Notre Dame has stayed independent in spite of knowing they could join a p5 at any time if they wanted. Of course it’s not ever going to be exactly the same but I think we’ll get to really get a taste of how sweet it could be as fans.

And if that is the worst case scenario? If that’s what we end up going with if the big “it’s” don’t pan out for a Big12 invite and we move forward with what we can control? Well that’s a great situation to be in.

Changing the narrative would be as easy as saying

“in the primitive stages of independence we took a leap of faith but felt the great magnitude of uncertainty always looming behind our shoulders. We struggled for years to make schedules work and had to take what we could get and in many ways compromise in ways other P5 schools don’t have to. But we had faith in our potential and felt that we owed it to ourselves to pursue something that could have an enormous pay off if we can just get it off the ground and developed. Leaving the G5 ranks and towards the level and standards of the P5 realm was a first big step for us. Now we are scheduling, competing, and attracting the talent on the level of a P5 school, with an exclusive ESPN tv deal and exposure meeting and exceeding our expectations we had when we set out on this path initially and is head and shoulders from where we were as a G5 program and we did that on our own. We now feel confident and are satisfied with where we are at as an independent where, in spite of our hesitations and uncertainty expressed several years ago, we now feel confident in its sustainability and long term viability. We are confident that our strategy to make our post season access to a fair and balanced criteria for a playoff berth based upon a fair and equitable criteria that ensures the best teams compete at seasons end have access and we are confident in that working out in our favor in the near future, and expect to compete in a playoff spot should we meet the criteria and qualify. While we welcome any and all invitations from potential athletic conferences interested in our athletic program and will certainly entertain any discussion with careful consideration, we are confident and excited to continue in our unique and privileged position as a football independent moving forward and plan to head in this direction for the foreseeable future.”