“They say they don’t know the teams we’re playing anymore,” says BYU advancement vice president Fred Skousen. Some BYU season-ticket holders even indicated that the new schedules had something to do with their decisions not to renew their tickets. The league devised rotating “quadrants,” which did nothing but confuse everyone from fans to media to coaches to players.Īs a result, fan support waned at BYU and other WAC locales. Sixteen proved to be a cumbersome number for scheduling, too. After decades of playing each other, traditional rivals suddenly found themselves competing against unfamiliar teams like Rice, Texas Christian, Tulsa, and San Jose State. When the WAC expanded, scheduling dictated that BYU take a hiatus from regularly playing Wyoming and other familiar foes like Air Force, Colorado State, and San Diego State. The first problem was the busting up of long-standing rivalries. It didn’t take long for post-expansion WAC members to learn that 16 isn’t necessarily sweet and bigger isn’t necessarily better. The WAC’s decision to add six schools to the existing 10 in 1996 was flawed from the outset. The group hopes ultimately to create a stronger conference, one that will be better for fans and schools.Īs jolting as the announcement was, it shouldn’t have come as a big surprise. Their exodus is in search of renewed rivalries, reduced costs, and increased revenues. This and other problems led to the announcement in May 1998 that BYU, Air Force, Colorado State, New Mexico, UNLV, San Diego State, Utah, and Wyoming plan to break away from the WAC. With the expansion of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in 1996, rivalries all over the conference were disrupted, and familiar foes rarely crossed each other’s battlefields in season schedules. Coach LaVell Edwards joked afterwards, “I’d rather lose and live in Provo than win and live in Laramie.”īut the last two years have seen a dearth of Wyoming wisecracks. One memorable moment occurred in 1981 when BYU football traveled to Wyoming and lost to the ‘Pokes amid a blinding October snowstorm. Plenty of BYU fans can recall epic Cougar-Cowboy battles in various sports, which over the years have shaped an intense rivalry. Aside from the University of Utah, BYU arguably has no bigger athletic nemesis than the University of Wyoming.
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