BYU football: Three reasons to keep supporting the Cougars
By Adam Gibby
Expansion and relevance
Yeah, I’m tired of expansion talk too.
But the reality is, nobody knows when and if there will be an expansion in college football. (Although things seem to be aligning for expansion in about six years). Conferences are always looking for ways to make more money and in the past BYU football has always been a top candidate.
The conferences will look at a lot of possible scenarios and two of the big deciding factors are:
- Winning record/performance versus Power Five schools in recent years
- Fanbase following
This year, the Cougars performance has not been great against Power Five schools. However, in the last five years, the Cougars have gone 9-13 versus Power Five Schools. That might not be great, but it is respectable. If BYU football is somehow able to knock off Mississippi State or a team in a bowl game, that would put their winning percentage at just above 40 percent against Power Five schools over the last five years.
The second issue is the fanbase following. This is something that matters a lot right now. With teams like UCF and USF doing well, there is a lot of attention going towards Florida.
One big advantage that BYU has either one of those schools is the fanbase. There are not a lot of people outside of Florida that are going to watch UCF or USF play. There are BYU fans who will watch nationwide, however, if we give up this season, that can really hurt the Cougars’ chances.
If USF and UCF have better seasons AND higher ratings with TV viewership, that could really hurt the Cougars’ chances of being invited to a conference if that opportunity were to present itself.
And finally, don’t forget the BYU fight song “Loyal, strong, and true… Go Cougars!”