Last night, on a flight from LAX to Salt Lake City, I was seated next to a guy who played wide receiver for BYU when Robbie Bosco and Ty Detmer were quarterbacks. I asked him what he thought about the Big 12 possibility for BYU and he commented he would like to see them in one conference for all sports and that the Big 12 would be a good one. He doesn't feel being independent is good as they have to front load their schedule with high level opponents early, leaving easier opponents for later in the season (all the good opponents are in conference play later on). He questioned whether it would happen because of their "no play on Sunday" and the "Mormon" thing but was hopeful. He also commented he liked college fans in the Midwest, as both a player and a fan attending games in the Midwest, he felt they show a lot of respect for their opponents (got the feeling he thought much better than BYU fans). I mentioned I was surprised to see Bronco Mendenhall leave as their head coach to go to Virginia. He thinks Mendenhall will be more successful at Virginia as, at BYU, he thought he was to "ecclesiastical". He said he had told Mendenhall to "just coach" and leave the religion stuff to others. He thinks, at Virginia, he'll just be a coach and do better. I would question that as, from my experience in working with a number of people in the LDS faith, several have a "missionary zeal" about themselves and can't leave it behind.
When we first started chatting, we found out we were both cyclists, which led to some great discussion. He then showed me a book his nephew (who went to Utah) wrote about the holy war between BYU and Utah in sports which led us to discuss the Big 12 possibility and so forth.
When we first started chatting, we found out we were both cyclists, which led to some great discussion. He then showed me a book his nephew (who went to Utah) wrote about the holy war between BYU and Utah in sports which led us to discuss the Big 12 possibility and so forth.
