I'm really happy to see Florida State and ASU on BYU's schedules. Hopefully Nevada will bail out on us again and we can replace them with a more exciting team, preferably not a Div. II school.

BYU vs. Boise State should be a good match. If we are going to play other non-conference mid-majors then that's a good choice.

BYU seem to be keeping a reasonable balance with schools that are going to give us some credibility and schools like USU and Army who aren't going to do much for us, but should be easier wins.

BYU and Utah play quite comparable opponents.

.02

I don't understand why BYU has Washington scheduled for so many consecutive years. I've liked how they've rotated around the PAC 10 teams and it would be nice to see that continue instead of getting stuck with Washington for so long.

Folks,

I would not argue that Army(now to be known as West Point) will provide stiff competition, but this is a great place to watch a college footbsll game. if you have a chance to travel to see this gsme, do it.

While you are there, don't miss a visit to the cadet cemetary, where they bury WP heros.

I have been to places like Notre Dame and Alabama as well as msny others and the overall experience at WP is at the top of my list.

hope to see many byu fans there.

The last time we played Texas, we beat them. The last time we played Colorado, we beat them. The last time we played UCLA, we beat them. Can we schedule anymore cupcakes? Can we schedule Nebraska with a home&home or Iowa or Wisconsin? I would like to see those games.

Who is we, are you assuming that the Deseret News only appeals to BYU fans?

I am NOT a cougar fan, but with that said, there's nothing wrong with putting Washington on your schedule -- even WITH Bronco's "schedule down" model for winning games -- since you never really know how up or down UW will be by game time. All the PAC-10 teams have been up and down throughout the last 10 yrs.

--Ute in Philadelphia

I prefer a home and home only so that we get more of a variety of the BCS schools. We are going to be Husky saturated kinda like Bruin saturated after the UCLA game. I think it's a long shot but one article had Mendenhall moving up into a BCS coaching position soon with Washington a mentioned possibility. Wouldn't that be interesting if the 2010-12 Washington games were against a Mendenhall lead Husky squad? Schedule LSU and we would complete the ex-coach cycle.

I'm hoping the Boise State games are cancelled (at least for pre-conference) cause BSU has moved into the MWC. They would make a nice regional addition and could become a great rivalry in a few short years.

Not bad... Washington was done when they was the top team in the pac ten....UW will be back to a top 25 program... They just had a few bad years like BYU.

BYU will open at TULANE next year. Deals done.

I think they should focus on playing Big 12 teams since our bowls are all in bed with the PAC ten and WAC.

Tyler

What makes you think that BSU will join the MWC over a bigger, better conference like the PAC 10? Seriously, joining the MWC would be a step sideways from where they are now, not a step forward. Let's see, would we rather play on a network that has limited viewership, or ESPN? If you don't know the answer to that, then just go back to watching the Mountain. Actually I was surprised to see the Y's nonconference schedule for the next few years. Looks like this year is thier best shot for going undefeated. Once they start playing real nonconference teams, they don't stand a chance.

Boise State owns the MWC

Some of you need to get your heads out of the ground and start paying attention to what Bronco has been saying and previous coaches have been saying.

You can't play a team who refuses to play you. It doesn't matter how often fans complain about the schedule, you can't play a team who is afraid they might be the one who gets knocked off by BYU.

Over the years BYU has knocked off just enough of the big boys that they aren't willing to play us.
Also Some of their fans complain that BYU is a patsy and they shouldn't lower themselves and schdule BYU.

Perhaps many of you so called experts should have applied for the Athletic Director position so you could "force" or "coerce" all of the BCS schools to play BYU.

Um... if you read the article that goes along with this, you'll realize that there's a reason BYU schedules Army. 1-West Point is a very selective institution like BYU. 2- The academics are much the same. 3- like was said earlier, it pays to have your fans go somewhere like that.

With that said, I wouldn't be surprised if Holmoe schedules Northwestern or Baylor or something along those lines out of academics rather than their football prowess.

What happened to Ute fans on the board? do you not want to talk about your games? It sure would be nice to see Utah get another UCLA to come to RES... I'm hoping for a 30-point shellacking that the Maize and Blue put on Utah this week!

They've managed to play the best MWC during their worst years. And yet, even that awful 2004 BYU team nearly beat them in Boise.

BSU has openly stated they'd love to join the MWC. Despite your posturing, the MWC is most definitely a step up from the other mid-major conferences.

BYU needs to drop the regional emphasis. BYU will always be viewed as a weak regional power if this is not changed. BYU looks, acts, thinks and schedules like a UT school not a national one. If you want national respect you have to act like a national power and deserve it.

Playing NV, BSU, USU, WA etc. over and over does not give you national exposure. They need to schedule a lot more Big 12, SEC, Big 10 and ACC teams and drop the regional emphasis. Almost nobody West of CO watches the PAC 10 games unless they are playing a big name from the East. Nobody watches the Mountain West Conference Games as they are not widely available.

It's not too hard to predict when a team is going to be having their building years.

Rather than picking mid major non conference games, I would rather pick all four non conference games among those BCS teams that are at the bottom of their league and having their rebuilding years.

If we can't be assured of winning 4 BCS teams that are seller dwellers, then we are kidding ourselves if we think that we are not just mid majors.

I have faith and trust in our Cougars. I know that we can handle 4 seller dwellers among the BCS conferences for our non conference games. Go Cougars.

The MWC did make a huge mistake in not trying to get BSU a few years back and now I doubt that they would join. If they do join, its because of Utah and BYU. Having BSU and Fresno St in the MWC would make the MWC a BCS member. It would be better than the Little East, the MWC needs to wake up to this fact as does BSU & Fresno St.

what makes you think that boise state could move to a better conference anyway? I sure wouldn't want the scrubs from idaho in my conference. Boise State would love to move to the mountain west, and yes it would be a step forward for them. I'm sure their content to stay where their at! and its a good thing because nobody else wants them

It's well known that Boise has been begging for MWC acceptance and for some reason they have gotten the cold-shoulder. Could be that their advanced degree programs are focused in the "tractor-repair" industry.

The MWC is always rated nationally over the WAC. BSU would jump into the MWC in a heartbeat and would do very well there. BSU simply does not have the fan base and tv market to ever go anywhere but the MWC or stay in the WAC. BYU and even Utah on the other hand will always be in a BCS conference expansion discussion. Hey, I am not knocking BSU. I am a BSU fan and love to see them do well. That is partly why I would prefer to see them competing in the MWC. Outside of BSU and FSU (Hawaii will be down for a while again) the WAC is just not that competitive for BSU and few rivalries get fans excited. BSU v Idaho would always stay on the schedule but the conference schedule would immediately become better and funner to watch if BSU were in the MWC. How about we just make it easy and swap Wyoming for BSU!

Don't need to schedule LSU to complete the X coach thing. Crowton was Oregon's OC in the Vegas Bowl blowout.

RE: BSU is fortunate and others

BYU is 2-4 against Washington. We're 0-2 against Boise State. Those suggesting the Cougars don't belong on the field with these teams don't know what they're talking about. (unless they're saying BYU can't compete to their level) Idaho is a small state, but there's nothing farmish abouth BSU football. Some Cougar fans can be so arrogant. Again BYU is 0-2 against BSU, including a BSU blowout of the Cougars at LES.

I agree...let's swap BSU for Wyoming, or, even better, let's swap BSU and FSU for some combination of UNLV, CSU, Wyoming, or SDSU. They are often ranked in the bottom 4 of the MWC. So, let's pull the bottom 2 MWC teams, stick them in the WAC, and bring in BSU and FSU. GO COUGARS!!!!!

it's good to see that the MWC fans think there league is so much better than the WAC, it's natural but if you look at the top fore schools in each league and compare win's and loses head to head i think the WAC would win and in the case of both leagues the bottem four teams need a lot of help.

Last year I remember an article about how Tom Holmoe got calls from USC talking about when they were going to play BYU again. What happened to that? I would much rather pit our cougars against USC than Washington or UCLA or anyone else in the PAC 10. (Well maybe ASU but that's it). I do agree that it would be great to schedule more teams from back east. Does Urban Meyer want a rematch? We just might get it this year though! ESPN analysts are saying that if (and it's a big if especially after the Hawaii fiasco) BYU makes it to a BCS bowl, it would be either the Fiesta bowl against Missouri, or the Sugar Bowl against Florida. As much as I would love to drive down to Arizona for the Fiesta bowl, I would much rather see our cougars play the team that Urban left the Utes for, and beat them. It's a long shot, but it would be sweet.

It has been well documented in the Idaho Statesman that BSU and Coach Chris Peterson would jump at the chance to play in the MWC. There are a lot of BYU fans in Idaho and outside of BSU, BYU football has a large fan base here. It would make a lot of sense to add BSU to the MWC, which means that it will never happen as long as Craig Thompson is commissioner. It is also a pipe dream to think that BSU will ever get invited into the PAC 10 over Utah and BYU. BSU has football and the rest of their teams are average at best. Also they have a great fan base but it is small in comparison to both BYU and even Utah.

authors posting on this thread. And I thought us Aggie fans had to create a fantasy world to make it through football season....

Go Aggies

PS - Desnews missed a game @ Texas A&M next year and a series with Colorado State for the Aggies. Probably a few more out there too.

This isn't a golf blog so you'll need to find another blog to discuss the top Fore schools.

I doubt you can come up with a single objective poll that rates the WAC above the MWC, but here's a couple of well researched polls for comparison.

Jeff Sagarin’s College Football Ratings

Rank Conference MEAN AVERAGE TEAMS
1..SEC..(A)=80.62..80.53..(..1)..12
2..PAC10..(A)=79.82..79.98..(..2)..10
3..BIG12..(A)=78.10..77.78..(..3)..12
4..ACC..(A)=77.37..76.88..(..6)..12
5..BigEast..(A)=77.25..77.25..(..4)..8
6..BigTen..(A)=76.26..76.89..(..5)..11
7..MWC..(A)=71.60..71.66..(..7)..9
8..I-A IND..(A)=65.21..65.38..(..8)..4
9..C-USA..(A)=63.16..63.31..(10)..12
10..WAC..(A)=62.90..63.64..(..9)..9
11..MAC..(A)=60.78..60.17..(11)..13

Sorensen's ranking of teams and conferences in 2007

Rank SOS Record Conference
1..1514..(38-10)..SEC
2..1134..(23-12)..PAC10
3..1118..(32-12)..BigTen
4..1056..(34-14)..Big12
5..998..(26-13)..BigEast
6..523..(28-21)..ACC
7..100..(19-17)..MWC
8..-1067..(8-23)..WAC
9..-1267..(12-25)..I-A Ind
10..-1300..(12-42)..MAC
11..-1332..(12-34)..C-USA

If I had to choose two teams in exchange for BSU and FSU one would easily be Wyoming but a hard choise after that. Utah is a no brainer. TCU, SDSU and LV have great fan/tv bases and recruiting potential. Air Force is quality in everything they do. I guess it would come down to CSU or New Mexico. I'd just have to flip a coin but would take BSU and FSU over both if I had to.

Props to BSU and Fresno St. and even the hated Warriors at UH...but Bob you think the WAC is better...the Cougars were a charter member of the WAC. They dominated the WAC. Did you know that?

Two losses to Boise in what was it..........'04 and '05? The Cougars were experiencing their worst seasons in thirty years.......though I suppose it is easy to pick on a regionally great football program when things are turned upside down...and by the way, BYU has always dominated Fresno State and Hawaii as well. Fresno and Hawaii were welcomed in the WAC by the likes of BYU and Utah....

And Bob....I see your academic demeanor creeping in there as well. Is the academic's in the WAC superior to the school's in the MWC...if so Bob has changed the spelling of four, the number(that is what you meant BOB; four?)Or were you thinking about golf? Fore? As in look out, I don't have a good swing(lol)

We know our golf Bob.....and we know our football as well....though I suspect that even our football team knows the difference between the number(Four)and the word(Fore)Dude..Fore just means get out of the way.....right? Four means 4 and 4 means Four...?

Yes....

I want to see the Cougars play Ohio State, or higher ranked teams.

The future schedule shown in this article may change a bit after BYU replaces Baylor in the Big 12 in two more years. Then there will be an opening for Boise to move in. Or maybe Baylor.

You are a genius. Let's schedule schools that are smart. Brilliant. This is football, not chess club. You schedule schools that are good at football not because they are smart. Perhaps that BYU education isn't really paying off after all.

Keep dreaming about that 30 point defeat. Maybe you will get it when your boys head up to Washington. That could be one of the Huskies two wins this year. Bronco's record isn't real good in non-conference games on the road early in the season.

I don't think our Utah team should be told who to play and when. I think each week we should vote on who we would like to play and then just show up at their place. Hey Urban, guess who's coming to dinner!

Although LV Bob's spelling isn't so good, I agree with his assessment. The MWC Conference may be a better football conference top to bottom than the WAC, but the top four schools in the WAC can successfully compete with any schools in the MWC. Thank goodness conference commissioners and university presidents are also interested in academics when it comes to the make-up of their conferences, and not just who can beat whom.

Easy answer here is CSU and Wyoming for FSU and BSU. They can keep their rivalry and take it to the WAC. Obviously will never happen, but it's sure fun to dream.

Also, for those that complain about quality, it definitely is a case of the BCS schools not being interested. Michigan will find out soon that teams like Utah and BYU will beat them, even if they refuse a home and home setup. Utah had Texas on their schedule for 2007, but they dropped out after 2004.

GO UTES!!

Boise State is undefeated against MWC schools. It's like 12-0, and that includes absolute shellackings of BYU and Utah in Provo and SLC.

The MWC is a better conference when it comes to depth. The WAC has the best team of the two in Boise State.

Tier 1: Boise State
Tier 2: BYU, Utah, Fresno State, TCU
Tier 3: Everyone else, except...
Tier 4: Utah State, Idaho, Louisiana Tech.

BYU's long-standing dominance of the WAC (back in the day) is very similar to Boise State's dominance of the WAC over the past 10 years.

Yes, Boise is a better team, but the Cougars are on the rebound and should make a tough opponent for the Bronco's...Go cougs!

To BG... Nobody watches PAC-10 football? I think most of the country has been watching and following USC the past 5 years. Probably more than any other team in the country for that stretch of time. I would rather see the Cougars play PAC-10 opponents than Big 10, ACC, Big 12, or Big East opponents. The only other conference that would take a spot over a PAC-10 school would be the SEC. I would imagine that every team in the country would like an SEC team on their schedule... I just don't think the SEC teams have that many open dates on their schedules.

BYU is not going to walk all over PAC-10 opponents. If they can maintain a .500 winning percentage against PAC-10 opponents over a 10 year period, that would be considered respectable. I think that even a UW team with a poor record is going to be a battle for the Cougars... and I fully expect one this year. UW has been a nemesis for the Cougars... they kept BYU from a perfect record in 1996, and it wouldn't surprise me if they did it again this year. Dawgs and Bruins will be the toughest games.

Try playing BYU now instead of dwelling on your fortunate timing of wins during Crowton's worst years and BSU at their best. How many times do we have to explain this to you? And then BSU's played other MWC teams in their bad years, too. Not really much to brag about there. And remember to put the potato in the front of your swimsuits if you want to impress the ladies, not in the back.

that there's more to changing conferences than just how good your football team is. Yes, football seems to be the most popular and dominant NCAA sport, but there are schools that don't have such a great football reputation but excel in other sports within the conference. So, again, it's not ALL about football when talking about changing conferences.

Tell us about your 28-27 squeaker in Boise over a 5-6 BYU team that finished 4th in the MWC (one of the 3 worst BYU teams in the last 40 years).

Boise State had a great team for their Fiesta Bowl victory over Oklahoma and has had a brief run where they've been a much better than BYU. But, the run is over. BYU football is back.

A far as Boise State's dominance of the WAC, get back to us when Boise State breaks BYU's record of 10 WAC championships in a row.

Get real, just a little bit ago you were playing Weber State, you haven't proven your longivity in the Wac to think your better. You had one good year, but oh well, lets see what happens when BYU plays again.

Two years from now, BYU will NOT replace Baylor in the Big XII.

Three years from now, a TDS fan will hear word, from a very reliable source, BYU is talking with the [*insert BCS conference here*] about joining their league. The next day, BYU blogospheres will be all abuzz that they're leaving the MWC soon.

The BCS system will collapse before the TDS will ever be asked to move up.

This is almost like bragging about playing Utah State. After all, Army is only ranked a few spots ahead of the Aggies (around #115 of #120)

hmmm why not add boise state and have a 10 team conference with a championship game which the winner goes to a bcs bowl game

WAC better than the MWC, what a joke! BSU would do anything to join the MWC! Then will see how good BSU really is when their conference schedule was a little more challenging. I bet even their Fiesta Bowl team would have lost 1 conference game in the MWC that year!

Since 1996 BSU has never won a game on the road against a BCS team. BYU's road record against BCS schools lately hasn't been much better. But since 1996 BYU has beaten 4 BCS schools on the road. Look at BSU's record over the last 10 years and they have played about one BCS school per year.(usually Oregon St.)Their strength of schedule for the last 9 years?

1999-112
2000-110
2001-70
2002-82
2003-109
2004-75
2005-84
2006-108
2007-105

They backed out on Penn St. last year to play Weber St. Come on BSU, we all respect you, now play somebody instead of just trying to pad the win column.Oh, and FYI BYU's SOS for the last 9 years.

1999-45
2000-48
2001-63
2002-48
2003-58
2004-22
2005-47
2006-118
2007-61

I am both a BYU and BSU Alum/Fan (Graduated BYU). BSU has had some great years. However, to state that they are in a "Tier" above BYU, TCU and Utah is ludicrous. I don't think BSU could have beaten any of those teams in 2007.

BSU will struggle to contend for the WAC Crown this year (2008). They did not win it in 2007 (2nd to Hawaii - what "Tier" was Hawaii last year?).

However, I think BSU/FSU/UH would be great additions to the MWC. Personally, I think it was a HUGE mistake for the MWC to break away from the WAC. The WAC just got a bit overambitious those last few years (Rice, SMU, etc...). It got too big!

BKB

Conferences must have a minimum of TWELVE teams to qualify for a season-ending conference championship game. Adding BSU would do no good unless we added 2 other teams as well. Even if we DID expand to 12 teams, there is no guarantee we would then be included among the BCS teams receiving an automatic bid for our champion.