[Snorlax94]

I have no bad feelings towards BYU, but I'm not sure how scheduling them benefits Stanford? If we are looking at having one top-tier, one middle-tier and one lower-tier non-conference opponent, how does BYU fit in? I guess as a middle-tier opponent? 

Is it that middle-tier Power 5 schools don't want to have to travel all the way to California? That's hard for me to believe, given that all of college football recruits--or wants to recruit--in California. But so far, all I see is TCU in 2024, Vanderbilt in 2027 and Boston College in 2029 coming to Stanford this decade. Or maybe it's just getting butts in the seats. I'm sure that there are plenty of BYU alums/fans in the Bay Area who will populate Stanford Stadium when their team is in town.

1.  Agree that butts in seats may have been a consideration;

2.  The only thing I have against BYU is that in competing against them you're giving up two years worth of strength, maturity, and wisdom.  (That's also why I favored recruiting more LDS players in various sports)!  There is a big difference (physical and mental) between most 19 year olds versus 23 year olds . . .

I think this is a pretty good development (relative to years past) because
1) BYU is reasonably close — less than a two hour flight. I hate the faraway games. I think it hurts the team beyond losing that away game. You can lose a day of practice flying there, lose a day of practice flying back, and lose half a day before getting on-campus therapy and treatment.
2) It’s not a non-conference ucf/northwestern type of opponent. BYU is pretty good and sometimes very good, but hopefully not consistently brutal.
3) i like that they are one of the top brands in college sports, sort of like (if not quite) a Notre Dame
I think the administrator types will like it because of 
1) tv relevance
2) butts in seats
3) awareness in recruiting lds kids*
* it helps if you win

[Snorlax94]

I have no bad feelings towards BYU, but I'm not sure how scheduling them benefits Stanford? If we are looking at having one top-tier, one middle-tier and one lower-tier non-conference opponent, how does BYU fit in? I guess as a middle-tier opponent? 

Is it that middle-tier Power 5 schools don't want to have to travel all the way to California? That's hard for me to believe, given that all of college football recruits--or wants to recruit--in California. But so far, all I see is TCU in 2024, Vanderbilt in 2027 and Boston College in 2029 coming to Stanford this decade. Or maybe it's just getting butts in the seats. I'm sure that there are plenty of BYU alums/fans in the Bay Area who will populate Stanford Stadium when their team is in town.

1.  Agree that butts in seats may have been a consideration;

2.  The only thing I have against BYU is that in competing against them you're giving up two years worth of strength, maturity, and wisdom.  (That's also why I favored recruiting more LDS players in various sports)!  There is a big difference (physical and mental) between most 19 year olds versus 23 year olds . . .

I think this is a pretty good development (relative to years past) because
1) BYU is reasonably close — less than a two hour flight. I hate the faraway games. I think it hurts the team beyond losing that away game. You can lose a day of practice flying there, lose a day of practice flying back, and lose half a day before getting on-campus therapy and treatment.
2) It’s not a non-conference ucf/northwestern type of opponent. BYU is pretty good and sometimes very good, but hopefully not consistently brutal.
3) i like that they are one of the top brands in college sports, sort of like (if not quite) a Notre Dame
I think the administrator types will like it because of 
1) tv relevance
2) butts in seats
3) awareness in recruiting lds kids*
* it helps if you win