I think the Pac 12 should have added BYU when they had the chance. They're like a Mormon Notre Dame and I bet they get bigger and bigger. I've said this to a lot of people and most of them think I'm crazy so maybe I'm just missing what everybody else is seeing on this issue.
WVU '88 and have lived in Utah since 1993.
I find it interesting reading WVU dismiss BYU, much like WVU is dismissed by others.
BYU has a student enrollment of 33,000 and is ranked #79 for national universities.
WVU has student enrollment of 22,000 and is ranked #249 for national universities.
BYU is in the Provo/Orem metro area with a population of 820,000 and growing rapidly. The nearby Salt Lake Metro area has a population of 1.3 million, while Utah's is 3.3 million and growing rapidly. The Polynesian community is huge- figuratively and literally- and has doubled in the last 10 years. Some of these players have opted for Utah as it’s in a Power 5, but BYU will start to pick up players they’ve lost to Utah in the last 10 years.
Morgantown has a population of 30,000 and the Morgantown Metro is at 138,000. West Virginia's population is 1.78 million and declining.
You can fly commercial directly into Provo or into nearby Salt Lake, which is a Delta hub and the 28th busiest airport in the world with 380 daily flights. Plus tons of charter options into both.
Utah's economy is ranked #1. West Virginia is #48.
BYU's endowment is $1.97 billion. WVU's is $611 million.
2021 football home attendance average: BYU 61,647, WVU 51,583.
BYU football has a national championship and a Heisman Trophy winner. WVU has neither.
BYU and WVU both built reputations on playing anybody, anywhere.
We always complain when someone dismisses WVU and West Virginia as less than, but then we turn around and do the exact same thing with some of the same tired, worn-out stereotypes and cliches ( (polygamy) that we despise when used against us (incest)