Pac-10 Expansion and BYU: A Golden Oppurtunity Overlooked?

Expansion is currently the talk of the college football world, as the Pac—10 and Big 10 are both looking to expand. Even though BYU and Utah seem like a natural fit to both jump to the Pac—10, the rumors have all pointed to little or no interest in considering BYU as a candidate for expansion.

And interestingly enough, it's not about BYU's ability to compete in athletics.

The Pac—10 has made a big deal out of any potential candidates fitting in "culturally." This is basically a back-handed "hint" that BYU is not a candidate.

All Pac—10 schools are quite liberal and research institutions. BYU is not technically a "research" institution (even though they do a TON of research) and is one of the most overwhelmingly conservative schools in the country.

The Pac—10 Schools have a strong balance between undergraduate and postgraduate education. BYU focuses on undergraduate education.

All Pac—10 universities are secular institutions. BYU, on the other hand, is the flagship university of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The Pac—10 has a lot of sporting events on Sundays. BYU refused to play on Sundays.

BYU is about as "bad" a cultural fit for the Pac—10 as any university in the country.

But, why should the new entrant in the Pac—10 be a cultural fit? To me, it seems like the least important part when evaluating candidates for conference expansion.

While BYU may not have some of the same academic focuses of much of the Pac—10, they do compare well in overall academic performance.

Adding BYU would be a boon to the Pac—10 for exactly the same reasons they are not interested in them.

If BYU joined the Pac—10, they'd instantly become a "rival" with every member in the conference. Fans love to hate schools like BYU and Notre Dame.

Sports Illustrated even wrote an article about how BYU is the most hated team in the entire country back in 1992.

Adding BYU may not give the Pac—10 access to a top 20 TV market, but it does give them access to another market: millions of Latter Day Saints. Members of the LDS Church have a strong presence in the western United States and the world for that matter. It is a market that is growing and growing fast.

That being said, BYU may, ironically, be better off without the Pac—10. They can remain the big fish in the "not—so—little—anymore" pond of the Mountain West.

If the conference stays intact and continues to perform well, they will receive the all-important BCS automatic bid, which would increase the revenue to Mountain West schools significantly.

But if the Mountain West does not end up recieving an automatic bid, then BYU would be extremely foolish for not taking an offer to join a BCS conference when it was still available.

BYU would also look foolish though, if they made the jump to a BCS conference and weren't ready for it. Look at what happened when Louisville football when it joined the Big East. Now that may have been mainly because of Bobby Petrino leaving, but it may have also had to do with a dramatic and sudden increase in the toughness of their schedule.

Personally, as a Las Vegas native and current BYU student, I would have very mixed feelings about any move on BYU's part away from the Mountain West conference. I really enjoy the conference rivalries that have sprung up, especially the UNLV—BYU basketball rivalry, because of where I was raised.

I'm also a huge fan of the way the Mountain West is set up: nine teams, eight conference games (one against every conference member) and four non-conference games. Every conference should have this set up.

Conference championship games are vastly overrated in my opinion. As cool as it may have been to see Nebraska upset Texas and play in a BCS bowl this year, that would have left a more deserving team, most likely Boise State, on the outside looking in.

That's why I like the round robin format.

A move to the Pac—10 is intriguing, but a large part of me is secretly hoping the Pac—10 doesn't give BYU a call. I really would miss the Mountain West, if BYU ended up making that move.