HB Arnett's "Lite" <mailto:hbarnett@fiber.net> hbarnett@fiber.net 801 372 0819 Vol. 38, Issue 2 - C, August 16, 2018 Sees the Whole Field Ever been to a football game and saw a receiver wide open down the field, but the quarterback doesn't. How could he not see him? Watch this video <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOQYIvl9CKA> and it might give you a clue of what the QB sees or can't see. In this instance there are no defensive linemen in his face. Who see what and when he sees it makes a big difference in quarterbacks. Keep this in mind as BYU coaches make decisions about who will play quarterback for the Cougars. Arizona's star quarterback, Khalil Tate, is practicing this fall with what looks like an iPhone attached to his helmet. Would love to have his number to call him during the BYU game. See complete UofA football practice video here <https://twitter.com/ArizonaFBall/status/1029824233600249856> . Old Haloti Ngata Article by ESPN <http://www.espn.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=chadiha_jeffri&page=hotread 11/Haloti%20Ngata> This was an interesting article about the former Utah prep star. Click above to read it. The quote in the article that is relevant is this: "They both told us that that talk wasn't true," said Newsome, who eventually traded up one spot to take Ngata 12th overall that year. "They said they had to get him off the field a lot of times just so they could practice. He was that disruptive." Which hopefully is relevant to BYU's current fall camp. Ilaisa Tuiaki said before camp started that he thought the BYU defensive front would be very physical. So far, nobody knows. Media is not allowed to see practices except for the last 30 minutes of each day. It would be interesting to see if Tuiaki and Kalani Sitake are using the same philosophy that Mike Bellotti used with Ngata at Oregon. Bellotti wouldn't let Ngata go against the first unit Duck offense, because it was too demoralizing. Here's hoping that Khyiris Tonga is BYU's version of Haloti Ngata. We will know for sure September 1 against Arizona. How's that for hype? Full Time Clemson Student Will Play against Tigers in a Furman Uniform <https://www.si.com/college-football/2018/08/15/harris-roberts-furman-quarte rback-clemson-student> Read this article above and then read below what I wrote a few weeks back. What's the Solution? Here's my thinking out of the box suggestion: IUPUI Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis. What can the IUPUI Jaguars, members of the Horizon Conference with 16 sponsored sports have to do with BYU and thinking out of the box. Here is what it says on the IUPUI website: Discover IUPUI, a thriving university in downtown Indianapolis offering the best of Indiana University and Purdue University on one centrally located campus. Here's my outside the box proposal: Discover BYUVU, a thriving collaborative football program in Provo-Orem offering the best of Brigham Young University and Utah Valley University. My first thought was calling it BYU Lite, but both BYU and UVU can equally help each other. UVU is the largest public university in the state. They have an enrollment of 37,217. BYU's enrollment is 33,517. UVU has everything it needs except for two things. Parking and a Football team. BYU has everything it needs except for Parking and a Better Football team. The two institutions could help each other. The Wolverines don't have the funding or facilities for a football program. BYU does. BYU has and always will have trouble admitting outstanding athletic prospects who academically can't get in school in Provo or aren't proficiency qualified in English to be admitted into BYU. No problem at UVU. When it comes to recruiting football players, it is also still no problem for Utah and Utah State either. Crossover There is a major LDS Church Crossover. Before my stint in Michigan, my wife and I served 3 years in an Orem Young Single Adult Stake. It had BYU and UVU students together. In case you don't know, there are no longer BYU wards and UVU wards, there are just YSA wards based on geographic boundaries. We currently reside in an Orem ward that fits the definition of a Church unit of "nearly dead and newlyweds". You will have to guess in which category my wife and I fall. The days of "pure bred" BYU marriages is over. Ours is a transient ward with young couples coming and going at a rapid rate. These new couples are asked to speak in Church and introduce themselves to the ward. I was flabbergasted at how many BYU-UVU or vice versa marriages there are and continue to happen. Love is not a Cougar or Wolverine fan. Neither is the LDS Church. So, here's my deal. BYU is a member of the WCC in all sports except for football. (Men's volleyball and both men and women's track teams also compete in the MPSF. UVU fields all its current teams in the WAC. Nothing would change for either schools. If there could be a football only collaboration, it would still have to be as an independent. But according to my projections, it would be a much-improved football program. You add 40,000 more students to your fan base. You also add another chunk of alumni base. As a sports derivative of both schools, you also alleviate the honor code and academic admittance issues. It's a no brainer in my opinion. BYU provides facilities and academics for those football players for whom that is important. They also provide an established BYUTV network and national contacts for networks, scheduling and streaming. UVU would, at its current academic level, provide an admittance to marginal academic football prospects, for which almost all other Power 5 schools have a process already in place. It's a Cougar cake and eat it too deal. It also elevates UVU academic and athletic reputations. Yeah but... Would the NCAA allow this? Who would administer this? Who would fund this? Would the LDS Church sign off on this? Would the State Legislature sign off on this? Now, it won't be an immediate reality. And is there anyone that has the ecclesiastical and political clout to make this ever happen and push it forward? I know a guy Yeah.I know a guy. He won't be available for at least 3 years or maybe longer. That would be Matt Holland, the former President of UVU and currently just beginning his 3-year calling as the LDS Mission President in the North Carolina Raleigh Mission. When he is released that would put current BYU President Kevin J. Worthen at his 7 year mark. A Holland as President of BYU has a familiar ring to it. Now if it is at least 7-8 years from this outside of the box to be opened, it would also coincide with the renegotiations of the current tv contracts. With talk of streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon likely to be in the picture and with the current networks not anxious to pay for conference members who don't pull their own weight when it comes to viewers, A BYU-UVU alliance may just be the beginning of football mergers in the future. For the likes of Kansas-Kansas State to survive and get a piece of the football streaming pie, they may have to merge in football to be viable and viewable. Others that come to mind are schools that are not currently convenient but commutable and doable such as Fresno and San Jose State, Washington State and Idaho, Temple and Navy, Air Force and Colorado State. What about TCU and SMU? Central and South Florida? The way college football is paid out will change. It will be about digital footprint and not stadium attendance. My personal view is that conferences, including P5 conferences will not look like they do now in 7 or 8 years. A BYU-UVU football only merger won't make their current athletic administration staffs happy, but something has to give if schools want to be available and desirable for the streaming money tree that is coming. Kick it to the Curb Before you kick this box to the curb or toss it in the dumpster, let it simmer, do your own study of the future of college football and the NCAA. Throw in what and how you view media in your home. Check out the demographics of UVU and amazing progression as an academic institution. Name somebody with ecclesiastical and political clout better than Matt Holland. Name somebody who not only bleeds Wolverine Green, but also BYU Blue. Until then, I just want to see the bleeding of BYU football stopped this season. What about colors? Green and Blue. Think Seattle Seahawks. What about mascot? The Mighty Mergers? Parkway Panthers? Pigskin Polygamists? Just getting started. The possibilities are endless. College Conglomerates? The United Teamsters? Got a good one. Let me hear it. If It Works for Furman, Why Not BYU and UVU? This would solve a lot of the honor code and academic issues BYU athletics encounters. All that is needed is a major not offered at BYU but offered at UVU. I'm sure it is more complex than the Furman/Clemson story, but BYU football players, in theory, could play for the Cougars but be enrolled at UVA, where the academics are less rigid and there is no honor code. I don't have the time or inclination to cross check the catalogs of both institutions to see if any major would work. Feel free to do so yourself. Maybe a big BYU football donor will have to fund a new school or discipline at UVU to make this all happen. Who knows. You may have your own suggestions, but here are a few of mine that I would like to see offered at UVU that I'm sure aren't currently offered at BYU. Sodalicious Sociology Frontal Lobe/Front End Alignments Intergalactic Mormonism Quiz Game Analytics Avoidance and Abhorrence of I-15 You are Done or Almost Done! "Lite" If you are receiving this letter it means that according to my records, your previous subscription to Cougar Sportsline has either expired or very close to expiring. If your records don't agree with mine, let me know. But hurry, the first game is just 2 weeks away. This is my personal invitation to you to continue your subscription for another year. You can do that by subscribing here: www.oldmancougar.com <http://www.oldmancougar.com/> Thanks, HB Arnett
