Expansion happening sooner as expected?
ARTICLE & LINK!
BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe had no shortage of news to deliver at a campus event Tuesday, its unscheduled future home games vs. Notre Dame, its relationships with the Pac-12 and ESPN, and more.
But Holmoe's most eyebrow-raising comments came in regards to BYU's future as an independent football program -- or, if the Cougars have their way, their future as something else.
"It's our intention that we would be playing in what they commonly call a 'Power 5' conference sometime in the near future," Desert News. [/I]"We're trying to put together games ... that would give us a position to better ourselves, and play in the biggest games that we can, meaning that would be conference championships and, the New Year's Day games and [the College Football Playoff]."
Holmoe said the gap in financial resources between current Power 5 programs and BYU was "real," and the school couldn't afford to let that gap expand "indefinitely." BYU has been linked with Big 12 expansion in the past, and Holmoe strongly implied he would be monitoring the league's current stance that it will not need a 12-team, two-division league -- and the championship game that comes with it -- to break into the Playoff.
"The question is, will [not expanding] be the solution to what they want to do?" Holmoe asked rhetorically. "Will that be their final move? That remains to be seen."
There's been some good news on the BYU independence front lately, as But there's been no such report where the SEC is concerned and even if a shift there would help ease the Cougars' scheduling difficulties (and bottom line), it wouldn't erase the financial disparities, either.
If Holmoe is being this up front about needing a Power 5 invite -- while he said the school isn't about to just give up independence tomorrow, "that's what we've got and that's where we are" isn't exactly a ringing endorsement -- it's safe to assume BYU's spreadsheets aren't looking independence-friendly at the moment. But where could the Cougars land? A quick, knee-jerk ranking of the Power 5 conferences, from least to most likely to offer BYU safe haven:
5. SEC. Even college football realignment doesn't get this weird. Plagues of frogs raining from the sky don't get this weird, frankly.
4. ACC. This conference already has its religious football independent, thanks.
3. Big Ten. Well, it wouldn't be all that much stranger than inviting Maryland. But it would still be stranger than inviting Maryland.
2. Pac-12. Now we're getting into "not completely implausible territory," but it's worth remembering that even if the Pac-12 is interested in BYU -- hardly a given -- it has to also be interested in a second school, since no one wants a 13-team conference. And who might that second school be? Boise State? Fresno State? Finding a team No. 14 that could actually add to the Pac-12's revenues rather than just divide them by another school seems ... difficult.
1. Big 12. Yep, just who you'd expect in this slot, but not because of the old BYU-to-the-Big 12 rumors so much as the simple fact that Bob Bowlsby's league has -- by far -- the most obvious motivation to expand. The SEC, ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 could sit tight for the next decade and, most likely, no one will bat an eye; the Big 12, meanwhile, is one season into the CFP era and has had eyes batted at it from all directions. If the NCAA gives the thumbs-down to non-divisional conference title games and the CFP Selection Committee continues to give the thumbs-down to teams that haven't played a conference title game, it won't have much choice. Twelve teams it'll have to be.
And if it comes to that, unlike the Pac-12, there's several co-expansion partners that make some level of sense for the Big 12 (Houston, UCF, SMU, etc.).
It's not likely today, it won't be likely tomorrow, it likely won't be likely by the end of next year or the year after that ... but until either BYU kisses independence goodbye or the Big 12 knows it doesn't need expansion to rank fifth-out-of-the-Power 5, expect the speculation to continue.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/eye-on-college-football/25081119/byu-ad-tom-holmoe-intention-is-to-find-power-5-home-in-near-future
ARTICLE & LINK!
BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe had no shortage of news to deliver at a campus event Tuesday, its unscheduled future home games vs. Notre Dame, its relationships with the Pac-12 and ESPN, and more.
But Holmoe's most eyebrow-raising comments came in regards to BYU's future as an independent football program -- or, if the Cougars have their way, their future as something else.
"It's our intention that we would be playing in what they commonly call a 'Power 5' conference sometime in the near future," Desert News. [/I]"We're trying to put together games ... that would give us a position to better ourselves, and play in the biggest games that we can, meaning that would be conference championships and, the New Year's Day games and [the College Football Playoff]."
Holmoe said the gap in financial resources between current Power 5 programs and BYU was "real," and the school couldn't afford to let that gap expand "indefinitely." BYU has been linked with Big 12 expansion in the past, and Holmoe strongly implied he would be monitoring the league's current stance that it will not need a 12-team, two-division league -- and the championship game that comes with it -- to break into the Playoff.
"The question is, will [not expanding] be the solution to what they want to do?" Holmoe asked rhetorically. "Will that be their final move? That remains to be seen."
There's been some good news on the BYU independence front lately, as But there's been no such report where the SEC is concerned and even if a shift there would help ease the Cougars' scheduling difficulties (and bottom line), it wouldn't erase the financial disparities, either.
If Holmoe is being this up front about needing a Power 5 invite -- while he said the school isn't about to just give up independence tomorrow, "that's what we've got and that's where we are" isn't exactly a ringing endorsement -- it's safe to assume BYU's spreadsheets aren't looking independence-friendly at the moment. But where could the Cougars land? A quick, knee-jerk ranking of the Power 5 conferences, from least to most likely to offer BYU safe haven:
5. SEC. Even college football realignment doesn't get this weird. Plagues of frogs raining from the sky don't get this weird, frankly.
4. ACC. This conference already has its religious football independent, thanks.
3. Big Ten. Well, it wouldn't be all that much stranger than inviting Maryland. But it would still be stranger than inviting Maryland.
2. Pac-12. Now we're getting into "not completely implausible territory," but it's worth remembering that even if the Pac-12 is interested in BYU -- hardly a given -- it has to also be interested in a second school, since no one wants a 13-team conference. And who might that second school be? Boise State? Fresno State? Finding a team No. 14 that could actually add to the Pac-12's revenues rather than just divide them by another school seems ... difficult.
1. Big 12. Yep, just who you'd expect in this slot, but not because of the old BYU-to-the-Big 12 rumors so much as the simple fact that Bob Bowlsby's league has -- by far -- the most obvious motivation to expand. The SEC, ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 could sit tight for the next decade and, most likely, no one will bat an eye; the Big 12, meanwhile, is one season into the CFP era and has had eyes batted at it from all directions. If the NCAA gives the thumbs-down to non-divisional conference title games and the CFP Selection Committee continues to give the thumbs-down to teams that haven't played a conference title game, it won't have much choice. Twelve teams it'll have to be.
And if it comes to that, unlike the Pac-12, there's several co-expansion partners that make some level of sense for the Big 12 (Houston, UCF, SMU, etc.).
It's not likely today, it won't be likely tomorrow, it likely won't be likely by the end of next year or the year after that ... but until either BYU kisses independence goodbye or the Big 12 knows it doesn't need expansion to rank fifth-out-of-the-Power 5, expect the speculation to continue.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/eye-on-college-football/25081119/byu-ad-tom-holmoe-intention-is-to-find-power-5-home-in-near-future
