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BYU announced today on Twitter that there will be a football series with Minnesota in 2020 and 2025. The Cougars will play in Minneapolis in 2020, and 2025 will be in Provo.
Last week, BYU and other hopefuls got the news that the Big 12 was not going to expand. It’s likely that this is the first of many announcements that BYU already had in the works, now that BYU will likely have more room on their schedules after 2019.
BYU and the University of Minnesota have agreed to a two-game football series in 2020 and 2025.#BYUFOOTBALL #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/YKWIvFN9GM
— BYU Football (@BYUfootball) October 26, 2016
It’s really not worth analyzing Minnesota at this point, given that the games are so far away, but we should mention a few things first. First and foremost, their mascot is the Golden Gophers. Not sure there is a better FBS mascot name than that.
Also, they are currently coached by first year coach Tray Claeys who has his team sitting at 5-2. He was also the interim head coach last year when Jerry Kill had to step down due to health reasons. Tray has been on staff at Minnesota since 2011 as the defensive coordinator. Who knows if he will be the coach five or ten years from now.
One fun aspect of independent scheduling is that the fans have no clue who they are going to get and also have no clue whether or not they’re going to be really good. For example, Michigan State and Mississippi State looked great until this year when BYU ended up playing them.
Minnesota is coming off a losing season of 6-7 but in the two years prior, they finished 8-5. This year seems to be a winning season as well as they have started 5-2.
Minnesota adds their name to the list of 2020 opponents. The schedule also already includes game on the road against Utah, Arizona State, Boise State, Northern Illinois and Stanford. The home games currently scheduled are Michigan State, Utah State and Missouri.
Stay tuned to Vanquish the Foe as we expect more schedule announcements in the coming weeks.