Knudson: Should the Mountain West try to bring back BYU?

It was an ugly parting with long-term collateral damage on both sides.

But has enough time passed that the Mountain West conference and BYU can kiss and make up? And would it be a good move for the league?

It’s something to consider on the heels of another mundane MW football season, one that will see the league miss out on the coveted New Year’s Six bowl game bid for the fourth season in a row.

The MW is lacking in star power, especially with Boise State coming back to the pack. Sure, the Broncos are still the top program in the league but they are no longer a national player, and programs like San Diego State are showing signs but not staying power. The MW has fallen behind the American Athletic Conference in terms of national prestige.

The AAC’s preseason boast about being the sixth “Power” conference is – for the moment – right on the money.

By choosing to leave the league they helped launch to go independent in football seven seasons ago, BYU has suffered a bigger loss than the conference has. During the first dozen seasons of MW football, BYU played in eight bowl games, won four and finished among the Top 25 five times while being the marquee team.

Since leaving prior to the 2011 season, BYU has become insignificant in the big picture of college football; a schedule filler with no titles to play for and only TV money and steadily declining national exposure to claim as a victory.

As an independent, BYU can make a deal with ESPN and play whomever they like but have virtually no chance at reaching a high-profile bowl game, much less playing for the big prize. Even the TV money is now substandard in comparison with big conferences. This is a program that won the national championship in 1984 and finished ranked 5th in 1996 but has not been ranked in the final polls since leaving the Mountain West.

This year, the Cougars skidded to a 4-9 record, including a seven-game losing streak, and will miss playing in a bowl game for the first time since 2004. They just fired offensive coordinator Ty Detmer, their legendary Heisman Trophy winning QB. Their record ranks 4th (last) among the independent schools. Ironically, BYU’s 2017 football schedule included six games against MW teams. They went 3-3 against the conference schools.

Prominent BYU alum Dave Checketts, a former NBA general manager and team president, was recently quoted as saying, “It feels like the decision to go independent clearly has not worked. It feels like they need a conference, like it’s a necessity.”

He was not advocating for a return to the MW. Few at BYU are. Being in a Power Five conference is at the top of BYU’s agenda. But starting their climb back to prominence should start at the Group of Five level since they don’t have other options.

BYU’s fall is not totally attributed to leaving the MW. Their rigid and outdated honor code for students has been seen by many who follow the program as a severe detriment to football success. Prospective recruits know they’ll have to eschew many of the normal practices of being a college student if they choose BYU.

BYU athletes can still gain a physical advantage by spending time on a church-sponsored mission that allows them to mature physically and compete at an older age, but that advantage has proven to be neutralized when balanced against the limitations placed on recruiting by the honor code.

Given all of that, would both parties benefit by reconciliation and is it conceivable?

On the field, the answer is yes.

The conference and the school would get better. Having BYU back in the MW would make the league schedule better for all teams. Regardless of whom BYU is playing, it would give the league several more marquee games to sell viewers and ticket buyers. It would lift the conference profile significantly.

Off the field, it’s way more complicated than that.

The conference already has 12 football teams, so if they added BYU they would likely have to add another school as well, or subtract one. That would be messy. Revamping all the league schedules would be a challenge, especially for BYU, which is already scheduled out well in advance.

Most importantly, would adding BYU bring enough cache to significantly enhance the conference broadcasting deals? Could BYU still generate the same kind of TV revenue for itself that the program earns now? While they have regressed on the field, you can be certain the BYU hierarchy has no intention of backpedaling in the revenue department.

In 2018, BYU is scheduled to face three MW schools — Utah State, Boise State and Hawaii. In 2019, San Diego State replaces Hawaii. In both years, the Cougars football schedule would appear to give them a shot at no better than a .500 season. It’s one thing to play one or even two Power Five schools in a given season, it’s another to play half your schedule against programs with significantly more resources than you have and expect to produce on-field results at a high level. By going independent, BYU stacked the deck against itself.

The school and the LDS Church it represents crave attention. They want national exposure they don’t believe the MW can give them. The counter to that argument is that by joining a conference you have a legitimate chance to win every season, with the realistic possibility of playing in a New Year’s Six bowl game.

While it wouldn’t be easy to do, it’s not out of line to think a MW and BYU reunion might be what’s best in the long run for both sides.

Listen to Mark Knudson 11:30 a.m. Mondays with Brady Hull on “The Hull Show” on AM 1310 KFKA.