How much damage was done to the reputation of BYU Football with the 2017 performance which was the worst in 47 years?
How much damage was done for our home games, away games, scheduling, chances to get into a P5 conference, or desirability and clout to get back into the best G5 conference?
How much has our leadership dominance diminished ? Was it a fluke or is it the signs of the times? Where is the respect level now compared to the last 30 years?
Will those that matter, Power conference decision makers, Mid Major conferences decision makers, those that we try to schedule as an independent, the TV ratings and it’s sponsors, the new TV contract offer, the fans for home games and the fans for away games, soon forget the 2017 season, or will this 2017 season forever be remembered? Will we recover, or has our damage control failed us ?
Trying to find something good out of all of this, is that it that we are not now as arrogant as we use to be. We may be easier to get along with if indeed we do join a conference. We may be more of a team player among the other Universities in a conference instead of seeing ourselves as the best that all should be grateful for. We may have been given this opportunity to be humble and learn and gain from it.
Perhaps, we will never be a Norte Dame, because perhaps, the leadership at BYU is not as committed to and does not understand the value of BYU Football as much as Notre Dame leadership is committed to and understands the value of Norte Dame Football. Perhaps it would take the full commitment that we do not have, to be the Norte Dame of the West.
Perhaps, we once thought that we were good enough to be a P5 team, and perhaps our dreams and our aspirations of being a P5 team was stronger than the reality of the 2017 season suggest.
Perhaps now we can say, “We gave it our best shot as an independent, and our best shot was not good enough to play anything close to a P5 schedule.”
Perhaps we can now say, that we were once ( one of the best) Mid Major Teams, but nothing more. Perhaps, we may hope that once again, we may get back to being one at the top half of the Mid Major teams, as so many have now caught up with, and several have passed us.
Now many of us must wonder, what happened, what triggered, and when did it start, and what jolt brought it to it’s conclusion?
Finally, it seems like we have two directions to go.
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Jump into a mid major conference if they will take us, and do it before it’s too late. or
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See what this new coaching staff on the OF side of the ball can do. Give them a year or two to see if they can get us back our swagger and not give up on our dreams of being great, and hope for more commitment from the top to make it happen.
I still maintain that we can not make sweet orange juice out of lemons and it will take the most respected coaches to attract the best oranges to make the best sweet orange juice.
Ron