BCS - BYU

Ok, So I'm a big BYU fan. So I am annoyed that a 2 loss BYU (10+ wins for 4 years in a row) will NEVER get into a good bowl game. But a 3 loss Notre Dame, or any other BcS team will get considered. I'm also annoyed by BCS putting Boise and TCU at the kiddie table in their BCS bowl because they are afriad that TCU and Boise would win a la Utah. I've often thought that BYU would or Should get invited to be in a BCS conference like the PAC 10 or the BIG 12. I don't think that will happen. Reason being is that the schools there are not going to share. What I think now should happen is the MWC (BYU's conference) should expand and drop non-qulifiers. a Non-Qualifier is a kid that didn't pass the standards test with a (SAT) 1250 and have a 2.0 GPA. Some schools (UNLV, New Mexico) allow that. Utah and Fresno State used to but have recently dropped that policy. So if the 9 schools in the current MWC stop excepting non-qulifiers and the MWC adds Boise State, Univ of Nevada and Fresno State they would almost force (along with the Washington DC pressure they are already getting) the BCS to include them. If the BCS doesn't like it they can add a 5th bowl + the national championship game they already have. I think the Cotton Bowl would be a good one to add with their long standing tradition and former first class status. So here's my plan with there being two parts 1) the NEW MWC allignment and 2) the NEW BCS affiliations to bowl games.

NEW MWC
So the new 12 member MWC would have to split into a NORTH and a SOUTH division, with natural traveling partners (like PAC 10) and a football championship game on 1st week in December (like the BIG 12, ACC and SEC) at Dever's Invesco Field at Mile High, Home of the Denver Broncos.

North Division:
BYU, Utah, Boise, Nevada, Colorado St, Wyoming
South Division
TCU, New Mexico, UNLV, Air Force, Fresno St, San Diego St.

The Schedule (football): Each team plays everyone in their division and rotate 2 others from the other division. Allows for 8 conference games, clear north /south champions and 4 non-conference games.

The Schedule (Basketball) : Play everyone home and home in your division (10 games), play everyone in the other division once rotate home team (6) and have a big east style conference tournament (everyone in higher seeds get buys).

Pluses: Keeps natural rivalries. Currently MWC had 9 teams, and play everyone twice so they have 16 conference games. This wouldn't change basketball. 4 non-conference football games could be scheduled for big payouts, wins (lesser teams), geographic rivalries or for intriguing matchups TCU/Oklahoma was a good one; or Utah/Utah State could be preserved. Football Conference Championship Game in NFL stadium would work well for the conference exposure since a BCS bowl would be on the line. Bigger basketball tournament on your own network would be great. New expanded conference would only help get The Mtn Network on more cable systems (Nor Cal, Nevada, Idaho). You'd own the the Mountain time zone. Then have your championship game on CBS (basketball game) your MTN partner.

BCS Changes Expantion:
Step One. Include the MWC so there are seven automatic qulifiers.
Step Two. Add another BCS Bowl. Currently there are 4 bowl games (Orange, Rose, Fiesta and Sugar) Plus the National Championship Game. Currently with the 6 auto qualifiers (PAC 10, BIG 12, BIG 10, ACC, SEC, BIG EAST) and 10 spots that makes for 4 "invitation" bids. With the additoin of MWC as an auto qulifier the invitation bids would go to 3 if you don't add another Bowl. If you add another BCS Bowl The spots would increase to 12 and thus even with the MWC there would be 5 "invitation" bids. I suguest the Cotton Bowl. When I was a kid it was one of the Big Bowls. The Old SWC champion went to it. It was/is Played in Dallas. What better place to have a good bowl game (National Championship game every 5 years) then the New Dallas Cowboys stadium. Could you Imagine Texas v. Alabama in Texas Stadium?
Step three: Keep Bowl Affiliations to conferences. Current Auto Qulifiers alignment: Big 12: Fiesta, Big 10/Pac 10 Rose, Big East/ACC - Orange, SEC - Sugar. So Easily add the MWC to the Cotton. So if the MWC team isn't in the NC game then they play an invited team in the Cotton bowl.

Let's use this year as an example: If they had my proposal above.

Rose Bowl (no change) Oregon (PAC 10) vs. Ohio State (BIG 10)
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma State (BIG 12 - at large) vs. Boise State (MWC - at large)
Cotton Bowl: TCU (MWC) vs. Virginia Tech (ACC - at large)
Sugar Bowl: (no change) Cincy (Big East) vs. Florida (SEC - at large)
Orange Bowl: (no change) Georgia Tech (ACC) vs. Iowa (BIG 10 - at large)
National Championship: (no change) Texas (BIG 12) vs. Alabama (SEC)

So the top 11 of the final BCS standings are taken, Every conference except Big East and PAC 10 have two teams in. The only team not in the top 12 of the BCS is Oklahoma State because the others in front of them are from conferences that already have two teams in. West Virgina from the Big East could be there instead of Oklahoma State but the Fiesta has a BIG 12 affiliation so they'd pick the Next Best BIG 12 Team (since BIG 12 Champion Texas is in the National Championship game).

Some Tweeks that might make more sense but would cause a lot of change. What if Colorado joined the NEW MWC and TCU took their spot in the BIG 12? This would really help both teams. TCU would have more natural rivalries with the 4 other Texas teams in the BIG 12 and Colorado would have an in state travel partner in Colorado State. This would change my North South alignment to an East West Alignment as such:
EAST:
Colorado, Colorado State, Wyoming, Boise St, Air Force, New Mexico
WEST:
BYU, Utah, UNLV, Nevada, San Diego State, Fresno State

Conclusion
I could see some great Games either way. A TCU / Boise State MWC Championship game would have been better then the "Kiddie Table" BCS Fiesta Bowl game that means nothing this year. The other conferences wouldn't be effected at all. In fact my system makes them more money. The ACC and Big 12 getting a 2nd team in the BCS (example above) is only more money then they'll get under the current plan. Now sure.. if you include the MWC in the BCS won't the WAC and Conf. USA and others would get all upset. Well if you include Boise in the MWC that takes all of the WAC's Fire power away since Boise is the only consistant BCS "buster" (Hawaii was a one time anomoly). UTAH (twice) and TCU have done it and BYU is always predicted to do it, the the MWC has more history anyway. Conference USA has never done it and haven't even sniffed it. The other conferences aren't likely to have much fire power until they start to show they are worthy like the MWC has 3 out of the last 4 years. If BYU beats Florida State this year (big "IF" I know) then they are in the TOP 12 BCS standings (#14 as is) and are in the discussion or debate this year. That's 3 teams that the new MWC would have in the BCS discussion. And Just wait; UTAH will be in the BCS discussion next year again (three times in 5 years???) that's better then most teams that are in BCS games this year (Iowa, Cincy, Georgia Tech).

Now do I think it will ever happen? well maybe. But I am more positive about it then BYU, Utah, TCU and Boise State ever getting invited to join an existing conference. It's really up to the MWC to expand an "bust the BCS" again and again until they kick the door down. I also think they should keep the pressure on the politicians to force the issue. If TCU or Boise State win convincinly and Alabama kills Texas (or vice versa) the outcry should be that they got it wrong and TCU(or BSU) should have been included.

40 - ain't nuttin' but a number

Well today i'm 40... old by standards of where I live and who I associate with. I think it's funny that I'm 40. I thought that I'd be about where I am. It's better in some ways than the dream but worse in others. I knew my Dad at 40. In fact I remember the day he turned 40. My cousins were in town because it was summer. My cousin Brett Johnson made my Dad a cake. It was a unique cake that was shaped like a mountain. I don't know how he did that kind of cake. But he did. Also he made it with green frosting that to me looked like a grassy mountain or hill. Then he put a flag on one side that said "40" and a toy hiker that was by the flag that was my Dad I guess making it over. So it was a unique Over the Hill cake. Anyway my Dad was a good sport ate the cake and moved on. I was 11 I think so about Skylar's age. Funny what you remember. I was thinking the other day, you know comparing my life now that I'm over the hill to my dads. It's pretty interesting because there are a lot of similarities. Here are a few. We used to tease my Dad that he was overweight. Well that was a mistake because I'm way heavier on my 40th birthday then he was. I'll blame that on me having an office job and him building homes and farming. He had 7 kids and so do I. Although his was a bit more of a round about way; step kids, adoption etc. than my path but still same (although I'll have my 8th soon enough). funny how it turns out...

Today I am working. But I plan on not doing much tonight. I will finally get to eat my cake. Mine is much cooler than my Dads... It captures what I like and I wonder if it isn't a bit kiddish. But I am a Dad of many kids so I guess that it is what I am. Thanks to my wonderful wife I had a party the other night that was fun. I couldn't cut that beautiful cake then so tonight I will. Here is a picture of it just in case you didn't see it. If you want to know where it came from I guess you'll have to ask Stacy. It is a lady in our ward that does these edible art cakes. She's amazing.

Saturday

I had a very tough day last Saturday. It was crazy. I was sick. I wanted to puke every minute. The boys and I went shooting with a friend of mine from work. It was really fun. I got to shoot my shot gun my dad gave me. it was cool. Its a little 410 so it doesn't do damage like we are used to and Drew thought it kicked too much. My friend Denny had a bunch of other guns that we enjoyed shooting including a 9mm and 357 hand guns. It was cool, but I wanted to lie down in the dirt and sleep. We also found a really old train station in a thicket that was cool. One of the little buildings was still standing. After that we went to Taco Bell, maybe not the best choice for me, then headed home to watch the UA/ASU and BYU/UU games. It was a fun afternoon. Problem was i really just sat there from 1:30 until 6:30 that night. Stacy wasn't 100% either and so she watched movies, washed, dried and folded laundry and slept (a little) all afternoon. I guess I didn't accomplish much but I did enjoy the outcomes from my day. UA & BYU are my two favorite teams and enjoyed their victories. I found this cartoon... Enjoy! By the way Happy Birthday to Skylar today!!! 11 is old man!