Financial details are still forthcoming, but BYU has itself an eight-year TV deal for its newly independent football team. ESPN will have first dibs on all BYU home and neutral site games, of which it must broadcast a minimum of three somewhere on its 200-channel lineup. The rest will go on BYUtv. The wannabe Notre Dame of the West also set up a series with the actual Notre Dame. It's "a six-game deal through 2020" that includes at least one trip for Notre Dame to Provo, and it clearly isn't an every-year thing. Somewhat troublingly, ESPN is helping BYU set up marquee games, including the Notre Dame series. The four-letter network had its fingerprints all over the salvation of the Big 12 back in June, and the swiftness of the announcements today leave no doubt that ESPN had a hand in BYU's independence push as well. It seems that the network is making as much news as it reports these days.