Quote:
Originally Posted by Cali Coug
Sure, there are 50 or so non-BCS teams, but to say that they are all "competing" for the BCS bid isn't even close to accurate. In any given year, you are looking at the MWC champ or the WAC champ, realistically speaking. It is a competition between those two teams. Winning the MWC or the WAC is much easier than finishing 1st or 2nd in a BCS conference. Look at the WAC. Hawaii had the worst rated schedule in 1-A football last year, in part due to their lousy non-conference schedule and in part due to their lousy conference. The MWC is better this year, and this year it is actually better than the Pac 10, ACC and Big East, but that is atypical. BYU has shown it can run the table in the MWC, it has been their non-conference games that have tripped them up. They took care of that business, and suddenly the BCS looks much more likely. There aren't many teams in 1-A that have as easy of a road to the BCS now as BYU has (other than USC).
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I agree with this sentiment provided BYU gets to keep the current coaching staff. Obviously if Urban Meyer stayed at Utah, Utah would have very possibly made another appearance in the last three seasons. Even with Meyer gone, Utah now stands in a very good position at a BCS game. They have two losable games left and they're both in Salt Lake.
IMO, BYU and Utah are the class of the non-BCS over the long term. Boise State has the system and coaching staff in place to compete right now, but once Chris Peterson is gone you'd have to wonder about their long term prospects.
BYU can certainly go undefeated this year and they have the horses in place to go undefeated next year. Like Boise State, if BYU keeps the current staff then BYU can be right there every other year. Unlike Boise State, BYU has better recruiting prospects over the long term and hopefully always have some LDS coach that wants to come to BYU.
With the current BCS rules, there's no reason why BYU can't expect to get into the top 12 every three years or so as long as Bronco Mendenhall stays at BYU. I also think that with one BCS bowl appearance and a respectable showing, that BYU can even get into the top 12 with one loss. Hell, last year BYU probably would have been in the top 12 with one loss and probably ahead of Hawaii. The rest of the non-BCS is so incredibly weak that BYU doesn't need to worry about other non-BCS teams leapfrogging them as long as BYU takes care of business- and I'm not talking about going undefeated, a one loss BYU team has a credible shot a lot of years.
With that being said, inclusion into a BCS conference doesn't solve all of BYU's recruiting problems. BYU is still a mormon school, still has the honor code and is still located in Provo. BYU's recruiting prospects certainly improve, but do they improve to the point where BYU could compete for #2 in the Pac-10 consistently with Oregon, Cal, Dennis Erickson as coach at ASU, Neuheisel at UCLA, and with UW after they bring in whomever after Willingham is fired (maybe Kiffin or Jim Mora, Jr.). After Erickson and Neuheisel get established, you'd have to assume that ASU and UCLA will be tough. I think conferences get weak due to coaching instability and the Pac-10 is not in good shape due to the recent changes at ASU and UCLA and UW having a crappy coach right now.