BYU Cougars To Play at Texas in 2011: Are 'Horns Afraid of Home-Home Series?

Just two years after beating Big 12 powerhouse Oklahoma, BYU will play the Texas Longhorns on Sept 10th, 2011 on the Longhorns' home field.

The game is not even at a neutral site, and BYU will not get a return visit from the Longhorns.

Now I'm very happy to see both of these teams upgrade their non-conference schedules.

But why is it that teams like BYU have to agree to play one road game with no return trip to BYU's home stadium?

Imagine if in the NFL, some teams got to play 10 games at home vs. six games on the road. It's the same principle at stake here.

It's all about leverage. BYU needs Texas more than Texas needs BYU.

I don't think Texas is eager to play the Cougars at Lavell Edwards Stadium, considering that they and Oklahoma are both 0-4 there, and during their last trip to Lavell Edwards Stadium, the Cougars sent Texas back to Austin with their tail between their legs after a humiliating 47-6 loss.

To me this shows everything that's wrong with college football today. There's no reason for elite teams like Texas to play tough non-conference road games, especially against elite teams from non-AQ (automatic qualifying) conferences.

Even a two for one deal would be much better than this inequitable debacle.

This is even more surprising considering that Bronco Mendenhall said that agreeing to anything less than a home and home series with a BCS team would be "insulting" and basically a slap in the face.

The good news for BYU fans, players, and coaches is that they still get to the opportunity to make a statement against a perennial top 10 team from a BCS conference. They'll just have to make that statement in a hostile environment.

In the end, I can't really blame Texas for only accepting a one and done. It's just a product of a failed system: a senseless cartel that has kept non-AQ teams at a competitive and monetary disadvantage for over a decade.

Regardless, it should be a great game. BYU is a program on the rise, and Texas is perhaps the biggest name in college football. We'll just have to hope that BYU can pull off a gigantic upset on Texas's home field. They did it against Oklahoma in 2009.