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There may be a lot of empty spaces on future BYU football schedules, but the Cougars just took two of them off the board. The team announced that they have agreed to a two game, home and home agreement with Arizona State, for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. The Cougars will play at Tempe on September 19th, 2020, while the Sun Devils will head to Provo on September 18th, 2021.
The Sun Devils appear to be a solid addition to what could be promising 2020 and 2021 schedules. 2020 already has a home date with Arizona, and road trips to Stanford and and Boise State. Virginia is also slated to make a trip to Provo that year, but the exact date is TBA, and with the ACC reportedly mulling either a 9 game conference schedule, or an 8+1 arrangement with the SEC, any future road game agreement may not ultimately come to fruition.
The 2021 BYU schedule will boast the home date with Arizona State, along with a home date with Boise State and a road game against USC.
The two schools were previously slated to battle in 2009 and 2010, but that agreement fell through. Unless the two meet in a bowl game before 2020, the future matchups will be the first meeting between the two schools since 1998. The Sun Devils are 20-7 against BYU historically, but BYU won the last meeting, 26-6.
BYU AD Tom Holmoe has this to say about the agreement, per the official release:
BYU-ASU is a great regional matchup that dates back to the 1930s," "As charter members of the Western Athletic Conference, we've enjoyed a rich football rivalry. We look forward to playing in Tempe again, where we have a lot of Cougar fans and alumni. It will also be exciting to have ASU back in Provo."
On paper, bringing Arizona State is a nice get for BYU, and with roughly one gazillion Mormons and BYU alumni in the Tempe/Phoenix area, the gate for the game shouldn't be a problem. Of course, a lot can happen between now and 2020, including coaching changes and changes in the playoff structure, so what looks like a great game now might be something totally different by the time this game actually happens.
For now though, Arizona State joins a slate of other Pac-12 schools, from Stanford to Cal to USC, that will eventually make the trip to Provo. With BCS caliber home games hard to come by, that's good news.