Two things really bother me about BYU football. I think that #1 is this constant flow of suspensions. I don’t know the circumstances and I am not the judge, but it bothers me, a lot. #2 it seems that everyone on this planet can schedule a very appropriate bye week except BYU. BYU was tired and really needed a bye week in week 4. When is it scheduled? After the Wagner Game. If that is true, my reaction to that is, Are you kidding me? It seems to me that every year when there is an important game coming like Utah or TCU or Cincinatti, like this year. BYU has a short week and the opponent has a bye scheduled. Logic, would dictate that you schedule according to the schedule. I know, I can hear the chatter, that you have to play when ESPN wants the game. That is great, but maybe EXPN needs to show a little fairness. Just as a thought, this is one of the few things that I like about Utah. Their folks schedule byes really well. Which in turn protects their players. I have respect for their coaches, most of their players and absolutely very little for their fans.
Jeff
We are Indy, scheduling isn’t up to us, it’s up to who will play us and we work around their schedules and where they want us to play.
Not having a conference makes the entire scheduling process a nightmare, bye weeks are no longer in our control.
A lot of it does have to do with ESPN. That is one of the reasons BYU is on ESPN so much. I saw this past week that USC played Washington on a Thursday and thought to myself… I wonder what all the BYU indy critics who say that only the dregs play on Thursday or Friday would say about it.
There is some truth to a variety of aspects that play into the big picture and being independent is surely one of those.
But honestly, independence has put BYU on tv way more than they were before it. Also, I believe in spite of the loss of Hill, Williams and others that BYU would have won the MWC easily this year. Boise is running the table without much trouble and BYU took care of the Broncos business early in the season.
Just my opinion.
ESPN shows its fairness to BYU one million dollars at a time.
isn’t USC and Washington the Dregs… of the PAC12??? 
I am in total agreement. Even when we were in the MWC and had a big game set with TCU or Utah, they always had a bye and or we always had a short week. The conference really screwed BYU when it came to byes.
Jeff
Yup, and you just made the case for why Indy was such a blunder and lacked any foresight. Boise will end up in another NY6 (i.e. BCS bowl) bowl game while we may be a better team when it’s all said and done and again, left out in the cold. The G5 conference champion with the highest ranking gets an auto bid NY6 bowl, Indy has no guarantees, it’s s huge problem.
I like Indy because as a non Utahn I still get to watch all the games. However, if we need a league I’ve been saying for 2 years that AAC would be a good league for us. We have played a bunch of their teams and are competitive with the best ones. And they don’t play any D in that league so we would fit in nicely there as well.
True it is nice, but living in AZ I have also seen all of Boise State’s games, all of Utahs games, and all but 2 Utah State games.
When you are good and in a conference today, they all have tv deals that allow fans to see if not all nearly all football games each year.
So many of our fans still suffered from the mtn issues that no longer apply or didn’t apply if you chose your provider based on BYU sports. Causal fans will never see all the games, they aren’t willing to pay for the channels to watch them.
Jeff,
You lost me with your very last statement regarding the fan base of BYU, however, most the the rest of your post, I do relate to.
I would like our suspensions to be under the direction of the NCAA. Normally, I would prefer local control for individual differences and values, however, I think, like you, that we have overdone it with
suspensions and driving 4-5 star talent away, or perhaps keeping them from even giving us a try,
Like you, I also cringe, when I see bye weeks before or after a FCS game. That FCS team, at best, is our Bye week. The Bye weeks should come before playing a P5 team, and definitely not
after a Wagner game to get ready for a San Jose State game. We still have Missouri on our schedule, and after what happened to Boise State vs Utah State, we even need to consider Utah State now as a spoiler if we are not really, really, really well prepared for that game.
And would you like to see our Church disciplinary courts under the direction of the U.S.Federal Court system? Since most disciplinary actions at BYU are school related rules dealing with moral issues, why put those decisions in the hands of secularists?
We don’t want anything to do with the NCAA scumbags having any more authority over us than they already do. Corruption city.
I’m not suggesting anything more than we don’t want secularists deciding what sins are to be avoided at BYU. And if a student breaks their word to honor the moral codes at BYU that they will not be punished by expulsion. That’s BYU’s sole decision as a private college owned by a church.
The fact is, the NCAA has been very fair and lenient towards BYU with recent violations. That guy who was director of football. Remember him? We could have been put on probation and lost scholarships.
I don’t think the ncaa has been any more fair or lenient than they have had it been any other school. I do agree that we don’t need some outside organization deciding how our own honor code and rules should be enforced. We need less intrusion into our personal situations, not more.
The adage that people should be taught correct principles and then allowed to govern themselves still holds true.
I agree that the main issue is no outside organization deal with the HC and other rules related to conduct. But especially the NCAA, which is ruled by money.
I want to stay as far away from regulatory agencies as I can. BYU does a decent job with it’s policies, but nobody is perfect so to expect perfection with young athletes is probably a little lame. Since I don’t really consider Wagner a game it’s like a two week bye,which might be a little much, so it will be interesting to see how the coaching staff handles the playing time in the Wagner game. The defense is starting to get confidence, so is two weeks going to help or hinder that aggressive attitude we have seen lately or make no difference at all. I see that the Wagner game is on BYUTV so don’t be expecting a million dollars from ESPN-what a scheduling glitz imo
For the Wagner game: If the second and third stringers can’t get it done fairly easily, then the BYU depth problems are REAL problems
No reason to chance it. Start the first string and open up a large enough lead. Then put in the second team and then the third.