November again is drama-free for BYU

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PROVO — Here we are again, the annual drama-free portion of the BYU football team’s schedule otherwise known as November.

Since leaving the Mountain West Conference six years ago to become an independent, BYU has had to close the last month of each season against programs that usually don’t generate much excitement. The schedule often includes opponents that don’t even play in the same division as BYU.

For fans of Massachusetts football, you’re in luck. BYU plays the 2-8 Minutemen this Saturday, the first of four consecutive seasons the two teams are scheduled to meet.

Unfortunately, future November schedules look much like the past several seasons. The Cougars are not scheduled to play any Power 5 teams in the last month until 2020, when Missouri and Stanford are on the slate.

This month included a bye, an easy win over Southern Utah and games against Massachusetts and Utah State. Next November is better, albeit barely with games against Fresno State, UNLV, Massachusetts and Hawaii.

“There’s nothing to play for,” said Norm Chow, who coached at BYU for 27 years and is now retired.

A critic of BYU’s decision to go independent, Chow would rather have the program be in a league. He argues that college players want a chance to win a championship. As an independent, BYU can only play for the national championship, which doesn’t seem possible with the program’s restricted access to the four-team playoff.

At 6-4, BYU has already qualified for the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego. Given that Massachusetts and Utah State are a combined 5-15, the Cougars likely will finish coach Kalani Sitake’s first regular season at 8-4.

“I don’t know if that’s as important as getting a shot to win a championship, like Utah,” Chow said. “I bet you those guys are chomping at the bit to go to practice because they see that they can win a championship and get a championship ring and (have) the memories that will last a lifetime.”

The reality is, BYU’s November schedule as an independent may not be any easier than it was all those years in the WAC or Mountain West. Both conferences rarely had a depth of talented teams.

In 2010, during the program’s last season in the Mountain West, BYU beat UNLV, Colorado State and New Mexico by a combined score of 144-24 in November. During a season in which they finished 7-6, the Cougars also lost to Utah by one point in the last November game.

From 2006-11, BYU went 20-3 in November games. Since going independent, the program is 12-4 in November.

Beyond the quality of competition, as Chow points out, the opportunity to play for a conference championship has much more allure than playing as an independent. BYU has not had much at stake during the final month of the last six seasons.

As much as Tom Holmoe has worked hard to create an enticing early season schedule, the BYU athletic director can’t do much to spice up Novembers. Most programs are not willing to play nonconference games that late in the season.

Maybe BYU could make like Notre Dame and create a scheduling agreement with a conference. As college football’s foremost independent, Notre Dame has an agreement to play five games each season against Atlantic Coast Conference teams.

An agreement to play several Mountain West teams each season would benefit BYU for several reasons. Without a conference championship to shoot for, BYU would be better served to play more familiar regional teams rather than schedule the likes of Massachusetts. The Mountain West also could get more exposure and more money by having rotating teams play BYU.

A contract with the Mountain West also could include taking part in the conference’s bowl arrangements. As it stands, there is little intrigue to BYU’s postseason destination each season.