Honestly, I'm amazed that we were able to pick up Brigham Young in the 8th round of the SB Nation NCAA Conference Re-Draft Project. Not only are they officially the Notre Dame of the Mountain time zone, but they are the banner school of the Mormon Church, with a membership of over 14 million according to Wikipedia.
Having recently gone independent in football, BYU will soon capitalize on their own television network that will broadcast a huge amount of Cougar athletics. Their scheduling efforts have been vigorous, and they appear to be doing a good job of coming up with home-and-away series against BCS-quality competition.
Now that they are part of the House of a Thousand Sanctions, our conference has the two biggest faith-based institutions in the United States (in terms of name recognition and value, at the very least).
I'm certain that Brigham Young was the best pick of the 8th round, with only the 12-Pack (Virginia) coming even close. Sadly, ASU was drafted two picks after we selected BYU, but we had to pass on the Sun Devils as long as BYU was on the board.
The first 8 rounds, plus the initial pick in Round 9 are below (table from BCInterruption)
Comissioners and Conference names: BCI: Twelve Pack; BHGP: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants; TSK: The Empire (working title); BECB: Conference TMZ; HoS: House of a Thousand Sanctions; RCR: The Cult Of Les Miles.
| BCI | BHGP | TSK | BECB | HoS | RCR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1. Texas | 2. Florida | 3. Alabama | 4. Ohio State | 5. USC | 6. LSU |
| 2 | 12. Georgia | 11. Penn State | 10. Oklahoma | 9. Florida State | 8. Notre Dame | 7. Michigan |
| 3 | 13. U.C.L.A. | 14. Virginia Tech | 15. Nebraska | 16. Louisville | 17. Oregon | 18. North Carolina |
| 4 | 24. Wisconsin | 23. Miami (Fla.) | 22. Texas A&M | 21. Michigan State | 20. Tennessee | 19. Stanford |
| 5 | 25. Washington | 26. Auburn | 27. Arizona | 28. West Virginia | 29. Syracuse | 30. Arkansas |
| 6 | 36. Duke | 35. Kansas | 34. California | 33. Maryland | 32. Kentucky | 31. Iowa |
| 7 | 37. Clemson | 38. Illinois | 39. UConn | 40. Missouri | 41. Pittsburgh | 42. Oklahoma State |
| 8 | 48. Virginia | 47. TCU | 46. Arizona State | 45. Utah | 44. BYU | 43. South Carolina |
| 9 | 49. Boston College | 50. Colorado |
As I mentioned, we're doing a great job of picking up value in a somewhat difficult draft position. Where should we go from here? Three schools west of the Mississippi, two in the "south", three in the vicinity of the rust belt. Is Kansas State starting to look good?