BYU football: ESPN reports Cougars 'have had conversations' about rejoining Mountain West Conference
Taysom Hill (4) of the Brigham Young Cougars scores BYU's only touchdown against Boise State during NCAA football in Boise, Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012.
Ravell Call, Deseret News
BYU may be reconsidering its independent football status and returning to the Mountain West Conference, according to an ESPN report.
The report claims that talks between the MWC and BYU stemmed from the recent changes to the Bowl Championship Series format. Those changes state that the highest-ranked champion from the five non-automatic-qualifying conferences is guaranteed a BCS berth.
Two other former MWC schools, Boise State and San Diego State, have also had conversations about rejoining, according to ESPN's sources. The two are slated to join the Big East starting in 2013, but that conference has lost its automatic-qualifying status.
To rejoin the Mountain West, BYU would have to relinquish its eight-year independent television deal with ESPN.
The Mountain West will have 10 football members in 2013: Air Force, Colorado State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV, Utah State and Wyoming.
Email: lshumway@desnews.com; Twitter: TheShums
Read more about BYU and others possibly rejoining the MWC on ESPN.com.
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Layton is an assistant editor for DeseretNews.com. He also helps manage the organization's social media presence and writes sports articles. Prior to his internship and employment at the Deseret News, Layton received a more ..
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I called it from the beginning!
Indy is a death trap, BYU had no business doing it.
BYU is NOT a Notre Dame.
It was a knee jerk reaction to Utah going PAC.
Next on the list fire the man that got the Cougs in this mess.
More..
oh boy this doesn't surprise me. The Y is struggling to survive in the NCAA and especially football.
I guess I tipped the D-News to this, check out my comments on how week 12 opponents for BYU fared. Not like it was a big scoop, but I might as well post my comment from that story here to get in on the discussion:
I know I am going to More..