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Ron Kantowski
Love 'em or loathe 'em, BYU Cougars are good for business
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John F. Rhodes/The Associated Press
Brigham Young wide receiver Cody Hoffman (2) celebrates after scoring in the Cougars' 24-21 victory over Tulsa in the Armed Forces Bowl on Friday. BYU, an independent now, put together a respectable schedule in 2011 and has an even better one in 2012, and it would be good business for UNLV to resume playing BYU.
Updated: Jan. 5, 2012 | 2:08 p.m.
It has been said the best way to make friends, or keep them, is to refrain from discussing politics or religion.
In Las Vegas, I also would add Brigham Young sports to any list of polarizing topics.
In Las Vegas, one either loves the Cougars or loathes them.
It's like in Indiana, where one either loves Notre Dame or loathes it, with the following asterisk: If one follows Notre Dame, and the Fighting Irish aren't playing Southern Cal, one can go to church on Saturday and it counts for Sunday.
I love and loathe BYU sports: I loved how people got all lathered up when the Cougars came to town; I loathe that it no longer happens.
Love 'em or loathe 'em, BYU was good for business, and these conference shuffles and shake-ups are not. Not if the only option is to play a conference game against Marshall.
When Utah bolted for the new Pac-12 and BYU declared its football independence, the Mountain West as we knew it ceased to exist. And that was before Texas Christian said it would leave, before Boise State came and went, before San Diego State said sayonara, before Texas told the Kansas schools they would do as they were told.
That also was before most said BYU would rue the day it declared its football independence, because who was left for the Cougars to play?
Despite the short notice, BYU managed to cobble together a schedule. It played Mississippi and Texas and Utah and Central Florida and Utah State and San Jose State. It played Oregon State and Idaho State and TCU and Idaho and New Mexico State and Hawaii. And Tulsa, in the Armed Forces Bowl.
The Cougars did not play Southern Utah.
People up there weren't too happy about playing Idaho and New Mexico State at night in November, but at least you could watch on ESPN. In fact, you could watch 10 of BYU's 13 games on the ESPN family of networks, and everybody knows how important family is to BYU.
Bronco Mendenhall, the BYU coach, always will be one of my heroes. During the Cougars' 46th or 47th consecutive appearance in the Las Vegas Bowl, it was he who remarked that "at least we get a chance to play on ESPN again," or something to that effect, and it seemed to get the ball of criticism rolling.
Today, everybody blasts the Mountain West's TV deal with the Wayne's World Network; back then, when Mendenhall had the gumption to say it publicly, it was like barfing up Craig Thompson's Kool-Aid on the 50-yard line.
BYU's football schedule probably will get better. Its first eight games in 2012 are against Washington State, Weber State, Utah, Boise State, Hawaii, Utah State, Oregon State and Notre Dame. Its last five games are against TBA, TBA, TBA, TBA and TBA -- dates for games against Georgia Tech, San Jose State, New Mexico State and Idaho have yet to be determined.
"If there's anything negative, it would be the difficulty of late-season scheduling," Mendenhall told Salt Lake City's Deseret News. "But the farther out we go, the more it seems that teams are willing to do that. It's just that the first year with the shortened window, it was hard."
This is where there could be a window of opportunity for UNLV.
The Rebels would have to improve, because in the UNLV football program's current state, BYU would be better off playing Southern Utah or the prison guards from "The Longest Yard." Rebels coach Bobby Hauck supposedly wants to play cupcakes and Twinkies, but losing to Southern Utah was like taking a fruit pie in the face.
This season, BYU played Hawaii on Dec. 3 in Honolulu; next year the teams will play on Sept. 29 at LaVell Edwards Stadium. UNLV athletic director Jim Livengood has told me he would love to play BYU (he's a BYU grad), because, like scheduling Hawaii or one of the Kardashians, it's good for business. In the years Hawaii plays in Provo, Utah, there might be an opportunity to schedule BYU after the conference season, on Army-Navy weekend in December.
Of course, it's also conceivable the Mountain West will merge with Conference USA, and that UNLV will be playing Marshall that weekend for a berth in the Argyle Sock Bowl.
Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski.
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UNLV fans love to hate BYU. So do fans from most other MWC schools. I put it down to their being jealous of BYU, their enviable high standards, and their success. I am a BYU fan who resented even going to Las Vegas amid such depravity. I especially resented the home court advantage granted to UNLV during MWC basketball championship tournaments. I hope BYU never again schedules a sporting event with UNLV. I wish UNLV fans rot in ..ll, which, of course, is in Las Vegas.
I love it when BYU plays UNLV here in Las Vegas. It's another home game for BYU as more Cougar fans show up to Sam Boyd Stadium than do Rebel fans.
Thanks for the BYU content and keep it coming. The comments have proven your opening premise perfectly. Some hate BYU and some love them here in LV. Either way, people read it and responded. Now UNLV needs to get them back on the schedule, and not just in football, but basketball too.
Honestly, I'm tired of having BYU crammed down my throat. I don't know why the RJ sees so much need to have special sections and weekly reports on this school. Why not have a USC or UCLA section or weekly report. I'm sure there are more Southern Californians in Vegas than there are BYU grads. I would say that there are more people who do NOT like BYU in this city, than there are those who do. Let the ones who do subscribe the a Utah paper to get their information...otherwise, be fair to everyone else in the city and cover other major schools equally as much.
Hmm, NOW, you want to make nice--
Honestly, I enjoyed the games in Las Vegas in Dec. Well except for the Oregon bowl game, I was so cold, my 70 year old bones ached for a month!
BYU games are seen live or on replay in 115 countries, check out all those sponsorships and advertising monies, from 115 countries and every state in the union, better income than the mwc? And are other schools realizing the benefits of playing BYU, getting all that exposure? I think so, You?
10 football games on ESPN, more money than the mwc? Shucks man! Independence is paying off for BYU, can you argue with that?
I wouldn't mind BYU playing UNLV again, but not the last game of the season, I like the thought of being in Hawaii in December!
Bob
I love this article! Ron made me laugh outloud several times. Great sense of humor. For an out of state fan, watching BYU on ESPN almost every week sure was better than going down to the local bar with the only satelite dish in town to watch the fuzzy screened Mountain Network botch all the calls of the game. Sure would like to see the Reb's vs. the Cougs on the hardwood again. Remember last year?
@ Tom
Three posts from the guy who doesn't care about BYU. Hmmmm? No obsession here!
I think the jury's still out on how much anyone will miss the rather shallow economic impact of BYU* fans. We'll see how the MWC Basketball Tournament goes this year. As far as football- BYU* is still in danger. They have no route to a BCS Bowl (although the BCS appears to be headed for the fossil pile) and, despite Mendenhall's rosy outlook, are still having scheduling trouble. Their basketball program will be playing in 3000 seat gyms and may challenge Gonzaga for conference dominance. Meanwhile, Boise State strangled their basketball program in its crib with their move and SDSU sold their basketball soul for football promises that are nothing more than an IOU for uncertain currency.
@Tom-- Nah.. you just MADE my point for me, since I KNEW you'd come back again. :)
@ One...you missed the point. I read almost all the fetured articles in the RJ.I am indifferent about BYU - whom the writer is infatuated with. I like making the point that now that BYU has left the conference UNLV is in, many people in this community could care less about their disposition. If you missed it the YAWN was about BYU not the article, get it?