BYU Going Independent in Football? What???

(Update - Colorado State is allegedly going with the "someone hacked our Twitter account" explanation. And BYU is in "no comment" mode. We'll see, I guess.)

It could end up being false. But considering Colorado State is announcing this themselves (and then musing on its implications) instead of the news being leaked through the media, I'm going to guess this is fairly legit. This tweet came out from them earlier tonight.

BYU to go independent in football in 2011. Cougars will join the WAC for all other sports. Press conference scheduled for Thursday.

This story went completely under the radar until yesterday, but it all started with this article in the Deseret News back on July 31. It detailed exactly why and how BYU could go independent thanks to their BYU-TV network, which currently shows all religious programming.

Seriously, if this is all true, WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED.

Also, if this is all true, does TCU just start calling Dan Beebe right now and begging him to be let into the Big XII on whatever terms they can get? Or do they wait until morning? (Or does John Marinatto get proactive for once in his life and reach out to them?)

If this is all true, it doesn't affect USF until two or three moves down the road -- especially if TCU jumps ship -- but it's just so shocking that I felt like addressing it. I mean back in June we were thinking the Mountain West was going to be the one doing the poaching when the Godzilla conferences formed up and schools like Kansas and Missouri looked like they were going to get squeezed. Now the Mountain West and the WAC may have to slap their old 16-team conference back together when this is over. (Which would bring BYU back into the fold automatically.) Amazing.