Even though I'm a "hater", I gave BYU kudos for the move to independence. They certainly couldn't sit around in the MWC after Utah left. That would have looked horrible, not to mention the fact that it was simply a smart business decision. I also thought that it would only be temporary as they were bound to find their way into the Big 12.
I think all of that is starting to unravel now. While I still think the move was a must for BYU, it's starting to look like the Big 12 isn't going to take them and if this season is any indication, I'm seriously starting to wonder if they can survive as an independent. Interest has been lower than ESPN was hoping for and while BYU has shown that they will be able to schedule quality opponents in the future, IMO they still haven't shown a way as to how they are going to solve having such a front-loaded schedule. As it stands right now, most of BYU's schedule from mid-october on is going to be filled with the WAC schools. Having a schedule with the likes of Utah, Texas, Boise State, Georgia Tech, Penn State, etc, is certainly excellent IMO, but it does you little good if the 5 toughest games of the season come during the first 6 weeks. It's almost impossible to ask BYU (or any team for that matter) to come out of the first half of the season undefeated on those terms. That's huge because it means as soon as loss #1 happens, they're already booked to the Armed Forces Bowl (until/unless a stronger bowl tie-in emerges). The inevitable fall-out from that is that 1 or 2 weeks into the season, your fans already know that you're not making any type of run to a decent bowl, interest dwindles, tv ratings drop, and ESPN quietly wonders how much longer they want to be partners with BYU.
I know some BYU fans are already trying to cushion the fallout but I don't buy it for a second. Duck saying something along the lines of "if BYU ends up independent, that's what they wanted all along" is the perfect example of viewing this thing with blue-colored glasses (and it's Aggie blue at that). Make no mistake: BYU made this independence move with a future move to a BCS conference in mind. Anything short of that and this move is going to prove to be an unmitigated disaster. The basketball team was sold-up the river and will now be playing in high school gyms for the sake of a football team that's not going to be able to hold the fans interests year in and year out while they are an 8-to-9 win independent team.
