Wah-hoo-wah! BYU @ Virginia

[woot]

Not being in a conference or not being in a BCS conference? Is Wyoming a more interesting team because they're in a conference?

You betcha. What else is Wyoming playing for besides occasionally competing for a conference title?

Are you not interested in the WCC basketball conference race? Of course you are, and that's in a sport with much more opportunity outside of conference championships.

[jay santos]

You betcha. What else is Wyoming playing for besides occasionally competing for a conference title?

Are you not interested in the WCC basketball conference race? Of course you are, and that's in a sport with much more opportunity outside of conference championships.

Basketball's different. In football, nobody cares about the shitty conferences and you don't win anything if you win it except for a shitty bowl. I'm not a big independence fan. An optimized MWC is probably better. But only marginally better. Neither is really that great.

[TripletDaddy]

For those who find their interest waning as a result of independence, how has that manifest itself? Are you attending or watching fewer games? Do you care less now if BYU loses to Utah? I read several on the board bemoaning the downsides to Independence, but I don't see these people posting less about BYU football or expressing more apathy after losses. I'm trying to understand how independence correlates with your own personal enthusiasm.

[Pelado]

For those who find their interest waning as a result of independence, how has that manifest itself? Are you attending or watching fewer games? Do you care less now if BYU loses to Utah? I read several on the board bemoaning the downsides to Independence, but I don't see these people posting less about BYU football or expressing more apathy after losses. I'm trying to understand how independence correlates with your own personal enthusiasm.

I find it less likely that I'll watch other, non-BYU games because there are no conference championship implications. I prefer the Independent schedules going forward to being stuck with 8-9 games against MWC teams every year.

[Portland Ute]

Not after that drubbing by Washington, no. He's one of yours.

Oh, the Boise State fans have been out in force on Twitter and elsewhere letting off steam. The comparisons of BYU's recruiting to Boise's seal the deal. Only a Boise fan would know or care.

[YOhio]

For those who find their interest waning as a result of independence, how has that manifest itself? Are you attending or watching fewer games? Do you care less now if BYU loses to Utah? I read several on the board bemoaning the downsides to Independence, but I don't see these people posting less about BYU football or expressing more apathy after losses. I'm trying to understand how independence correlates with your own personal enthusiasm.

Flystripper and San Juan Sun have lost so much interest that their lack of interest is all they post about anymore.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Flystripper and San Juan Sun have lost so much interest that their lack of interest is all they post about anymore.

[byu71]

For those who find their interest waning as a result of independence, how has that manifest itself? Are you attending or watching fewer games? Do you care less now if BYU loses to Utah? I read several on the board bemoaning the downsides to Independence, but I don't see these people posting less about BYU football or expressing more apathy after losses. I'm trying to understand how independence correlates with your own personal enthusiasm.

I know you want to hear my thoughts and this is sure to get LOL out of JL and then a personal attack.

I don't buy season tickets anymore on a regular basis. I bought this year because the value was there.

I don't listen to sports radio trying to see if the are talking about BYU. I didn't care if it was favorable or unfavorable.

I DVR the games and play golf.

The dissapointment over the loss on Saturday lasted 5 minutes, seriously I used to be in pain for days and over and over again thinking about "what if".

My kids don't fight to get the tickets to the Utah game, they don't care about it anymore than any other game. They don't consider Utah anymore of a rival than another BCS team. In other words stature wise they think Utah is out of our league.

One positive thing though. I am not as critical of the coaches or BYU. For instance the Anae call I would have said a lot more than just, I think he should have ran the ball.

[Surfah]

I find it less likely that I'll watch other, non-BYU games because there are no conference championship implications. I prefer the Independent schedules going forward to being stuck with 8-9 games against MWC teams every year.

Did you not watch Utah-Utah State?

[woot]

I find it less likely that I'll watch other, non-BYU games because there are no conference championship implications. I prefer the Independent schedules going forward to being stuck with 8-9 games against MWC teams every year.

Agreed. It's fun to have a rooting interest in a bunch of games every week. Without a conference, one's rooting interests are independent.

[Pelado]

Did you not watch Utah-Utah State?

I watched most of it. We're playing both of those teams later in the year, so I wanted to get a feel for what we'd be facing. If we had already played both of them, I most likely would have watched a lot less if at all. It's not that I won't watch non-BYU games, it's just that it's less likely than when other games had conference implications.

[SoCalCoug]

I don't know about its effect on recruiting, but I can say that BYU not being in a conference makes them a lot less interesting to me. They aren't going to make noise on the national scene, so the only "drama" is whether they'll get to play in a crappy bowl game that nobody cares about vs. staying home. Competing for a conference championship is the main goal of most college teams, so losing that removes a lot of the interest. Even on a crappy team you can root for certain players to get conference honors. I suppose KVN has an outside shot at honorable mention AA, so there's that. Which is nice.

Okay, so they win the MWC and they get to go to a slightly less crappy bowl game?

[Surfah]

Agreed. It's fun to have a rooting interest in a bunch of games every week. Without a conference, one's rooting interests are independent.

How is that different? I only paid attention to conference games because I wanted to see what BYU would be up against. I pay attention to everyone on BYU's schedule now just the same.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I know you want to hear my thoughts and this is sure to get LOL out of JL and then a personal attack.

Don't be such a baby.

My kids don't fight to get the tickets to the Utah game, they don't care about it anymore than any other game. They don't consider Utah anymore of a rival than another BCS team. In other words stature wise they think Utah is out of our league.

Wouldn't Utah's improved status make the game more interesting and not less? Are you saying your kids are only interested in mediocre opponents?

[Surfah]

I watched most of it. We're playing both of those teams later in the year, so I wanted to get a feel for what we'd be facing. If we had already played both of them, I most likely would have watched a lot less if at all. It's not that I won't watch non-BYU games, it's just that it's less likely than when other games had conference implications.

That's my point. We watch who we play. We only watched MWC teams because we played them. It's no different now. We watch the teams on the schedule. We're fans of the team, not the conference.