BYU Football adds future games with Houston, Hawaii and Georgia Southern

While most of the attention this offseason has gone to the changes on BYU’s coaching staff, Tom Holmoe and the athletic department reminded us today that the work of independent scheduling never stops.

In a press release that was published Thursday morning, BYU announced future football match-ups with Houston, Hawaii and Georgia Southern.

BYU and Houston first faced each other in 2013 and again in 2014, with BYU winning both of those games. The first game in their new series will take place on Oct. 17, 2020 at LaVell Edwards Stadium and the follow-up will be on Oct. 7, 2023 in Houston at TDECU Stadium. It will be BYU’s first game at Houston’s new home field with the 2013 game having taken place at Reliant Stadium. Some time ago both fan bases could have hoped to face each other again but as conference opponents in the Big 12.

The Cougars just finished off their 2017 season with a win against Hawaii, improving their overall record against the Rainbow Warriors to 22-8, with BYU having won the last four in a row. The next game between the two schools will be in Provo on Sept. 14, 2024, and the return trip to Honolulu will be the following season on Sept. 6, 2025.

The scheduled meeting with Georgia Southern will be the first. BYU starts the series on the road and will play in Statesboro, Georgia, on Nov. 20, 2021. The Eagles will make their first visit to LaVell Edwards Stadium on Oct. 12, 2024. Georgia Southern recently made the jump to the FBS in 2014 by joining the Sun Belt Conference.

While these match-ups might not look too exciting on paper, with BYU having already played both Houston and Hawaii recently, they provide balance to what will probably be difficult future independent schedules. 2020 sees the Cougars facing P5 foes Utah, Michigan State, Arizona State, Minnesota, Missouri and Stanford. After seeing what can happen in a down year it’s important for BYU to schedule these G5 games.