Bronco Mendenhall Quotes on Balance (2 Quotes)

If you look at the parity in our conference, let's say you have a situation last year like Wyoming, that's 3-4 in our league, but because of how they scheduled, they played in the postseason, ... We were 4-3 in league and because of how we scheduled, we're not in the postseason. Ultimately, you have to beat who you play and execute at that level. But to not address scheduling in that discussion isn't a wise thing to do. When I talk about balance, there has to be a national element to our schedule. It's what is expected at BYU and it's what the standard has been here. Last year, we played three undefeated teams (Boise State, Utah, USC). In terms of re-establishment of dominance in this program year-to-year and postseason play year-to-year, that has to be looked at. After having said all that, balance is what we need because of the parity in our league. It could be realistic that it's 5-3 to win the league. Or 6-2. What about all the teams that are 4-4 That's going to come down to postseason play and what their non-conference scheduling is. Ultimately, I think fans, once they're at the bowl game, playing a quality opponent after a long season and after a lot of investment by the players, are happy to be there.

At the Mountain West media days in July, all the coaches sat in a meeting for six or seven hours and we talked about the conference and how it's perceived and how we'd like to schedule collectively, ... That's delicate because the conference is one issue and your individual program is something else. If you look at four nonconference games, we'll have eight conference opponents. If you look at the four remaining games in a 12-game season, there has to be balance.