It was back on 31 Aug of 2010, one of the most history decisions in BYU sports history when they announced to leave the Mountain West Conference and go independent in football to join the West Coast Conference in all other remaining sports. The following day, BYU made it known of a long term television agreement with ESPN. In turn it allowed BYU the freedom to broadcast sporting events on its own network BYUtv. No more of almost zero visibility on "the MTN".
At that time, there were only three independent teams in football: Notre Dame, Army and Navy. No one, would have guessed what the impact and ramifications of independence could have in store. Although, the goal in mind was two fold: access and exposure. The relationships that athletic director Tom Holmoe had developed over the years certainly played a major role then and now. BYU officially joined the WCC on 1 July 2011 and the cougars played their first independent game on 3 Sept 2011 in Oxford Mississippi.
Before leaving BYU to become head coach at Virginia, Bronco Mendenhall stated publicly that independence was not sustainable. However, the cougars continued paving its path boldly and nobly with the end goal getting access into a Power Five Conference.
With the help of partnership from ESPN Cougar fans throughout the nation experienced a host of truly memorable games. Through its eleven seasons of the Independent Era BYU played in all four continental time zones facing 23 first time FBS opponents and played ultimately 55 games versus Power Five competition by the end of 2022. Since 2011, only two other programs west of the Mississippi (Oklahoma and USC) have more games on national networks than BYU within that same time frame.
Such a major difference from the limited viewership of "theMTN". Holmoe wanted our spirit, tradition, and honor to play out on the absolute brightest national spotlights. BYU sports historically has been one of the best exposure tools for The Church.
Some of the memorable games of the Independent Era include the following:
14 Oct 2011 This was BYU's absolute first game as an Independent matched up against Ole Miss deep in the heart of SEC country. In the close battle BYU trailed with just over five minutes remaining 13-7. Kyle Van Noy came off the edge on 3rd and long sacking the quarterback, forcing a fumble and recovered it for the go head touchdown.
7 Sept 2013 The dynamic duo of Taysom Hill and Jamaal "Swagdaddy" Williams ran all over the Texas Longhorns in this one to a 40-21 victory combining for 441 yards rushing.
6 Sep 2014 Pretty much the same story as the previous year with the Longhorns. Rinse and repeat. However, this one is famous for Hill's Hurdle on his way to a touchdown in dominant fashion beating Texas 41-7.
5 Sep 2015 Who can forget the Hail Mary with no time left from Tanner Mangum to Mitch Matthews to beat Nebraska 33-28 spoiling the debut of Cornhusker's coach Mike Riley?
8 Oct 2016 Heading into East Lansing Michigan the cougars certainly didn't overlook the tradition and history from the Spartans. Taysom Hill guided the cougars through the third quarter but JSwag Daddy took over in the fourth. Jamaal ran for 163 yards and 2 touchdowns beating Michigan State soundly 31-14.
30 Sep 2016 No one expected a game against Toledo to be one with such offense to light up the scoreboards. The two teams racked up 1278 yards scoring a combined 108 points. Kicker Rhett Almond put this one away for BYU 55-53.
15 Sep 2018 Coming off a horrendous 2017 season and Wisconsin was ranked heading into clash of the two squads. This one looked like a total mismatch on paper. Sione Takitaki led BYU's defense with 12 total tackles helping the cougars in a 24-21 victory.
7 Sep 2019 Zach Wilson completes a 64 pass to Micah Simon placing BYU within FG range. Kicked Jake Oldroyd sent the game to overtime against Tennessee and BYU was able to find the will to victory in double OT thriller beating the Vols 29-26.
14 Sep 2019 After traveling back from Knoxville TN the Cougars squared up with USC who were 2-0. An interception by Dayan Ghanwoloku ultimately sealed this victory in OT 30-27.
18 Sep 2021 In the Pac12 matchup with the Sun Devils Tyler Allgeier created one of the more memorable saving plays in cougar history known as the Hammer helping BYU secure the win 27-17 over Arizona State.
11 Sep 2021 Will go down as the game in which ended the streak. BYU was able to beat Utah at their own game playing physical on both sides of the trenches. When the dust cleared it was BYU on top 26-21.
10 Sep 2022 After getting completely pushed around in the trenches from the previous year by Baylor, BYU staff and players had this date circled to deliver some payback. The cougars defense was able to get a 4th down stop in double OT defeating the Bears 26-20.
Through the Independent Era BYU shown that they could compete against P5 type teams. With the increased exposure and total viewership, the access to Power Five football was about to change. The Big 12 came calling and announced on 10 Sep 2021 it had invited/added BYU to the P5 status officially starting 1 July 2023. Such a historic day for BYU athletics and the university. BYU was able to navigate through a rather unique time in history and college athletics which included the pandemic as well as NCAA changes of NIL. The administration, staff, and played stepped things up, made necessary alterations in righting the ship, an offseason staff overhaul, revamping it's roster, etc with the goal of competing at the highest level. Will it be enough? Only time will tell.
30 Sep 2016 No one expected a game against Toledo to be one with such offense to light up the scoreboards. The two teams racked up 1278 yards scoring a combined 108 points. Kicker Rhett Almond put this one away for BYU 55-53.
15 Sep 2018 Coming off a horrendous 2017 season and Wisconsin was ranked heading into clash of the two squads. This one looked like a total mismatch on paper. Sione Takitaki led BYU's defense with 12 total tackles helping the cougars in a 24-21 victory.
7 Sep 2019 Zach Wilson completes a 64 pass to Micah Simon placing BYU within FG range. Kicked Jake Oldroyd sent the game to overtime against Tennessee and BYU was able to find the will to victory in double OT thriller beating the Vols 29-26.
14 Sep 2019 After traveling back from Knoxville TN the Cougars squared up with USC who were 2-0. An interception by Dayan Ghanwoloku ultimately sealed this victory in OT 30-27.
18 Sep 2021 In the Pac12 matchup with the Sun Devils Tyler Allgeier created one of the more memorable saving plays in cougar history known as the Hammer helping BYU secure the win 27-17 over Arizona State.
11 Sep 2021 Will go down as the game in which ended the streak. BYU was able to beat Utah at their own game playing physical on both sides of the trenches. When the dust cleared it was BYU on top 26-21.
10 Sep 2022 After getting completely pushed around in the trenches from the previous year by Baylor, BYU staff and players had this date circled to deliver some payback. The cougars defense was able to get a 4th down stop in double OT defeating the Bears 26-20.
Through the Independent Era BYU shown that they could compete against P5 type teams. With the increased exposure and total viewership, the access to Power Five football was about to change. The Big 12 came calling and announced on 10 Sep 2021 it had invited/added BYU to the P5 status officially starting 1 July 2023. Such a historic day for BYU athletics and the university. BYU was able to navigate through a rather unique time in history and college athletics which included the pandemic as well as NCAA changes of NIL. The administration, staff, and played stepped things up, made necessary alterations in righting the ship, an offseason staff overhaul, revamping it's roster, etc with the goal of competing at the highest level. Will it be enough? Only time will tell.
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