Three Teams That Could Round Out BYU’s Schedule

One of the most entertaining parts of the 2020 season so far has been seeing new games pop up, seemingly out of nowhere. It’s been well-documented at this point that BYU’s schedule was nearly wiped out back in July, and Tom Holmoe has had to pull all sorts of strings in order to create the 9-game schedule BYU has now. But what other games could BYU be looking at?

The Mountain West Conference released their schedule yesterday and rumors held true as BYU made an appearance as the third game on Boise State’s schedule. Rumors had been floating around Twitter after MWC Commissioner Craig Thompson said the game could be a possibility due to Air Force’s commitment to compete for the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy. In order for that to work, two MWC teams would each need to find an out-of-conference replacement. BYU gladly filled that vacancy for Boise State, but there’s still one more spot that needs to be filled: a regular season finale for San Diego State.

San Diego State

**NOTE** San Diego State was officially announced right after we published this article.

San Diego State was originally scheduled to come to Provo next month until everything crumbled. With a mutual vacancy on December 12 (yes, that late in the year), could we still see a BYU-San Diego State matchup?

From SDSU’s official schedule release: “SDSU is also expected to play a non-conference game on Dec. 12 against an opponent to be determined.”

Playing a game in Provo in the middle of December probably isn’t at the top of the list for SDSU, but BYU they have an open spot that and it fulfills the return game as part of the home-and-home series that began last season.

A possible matchup with SDSU would put BYU at 10 games, but wouldn’t it make sense to fill the gaps between the North Alabama and SDSU games and create a 12-game schedule? Why, yes, it would. I’m glad you pointed that out.

After tonight’s game, the remaining schedule looks like this:

Saturday, Oct. 10 vs UTSA

Friday, Oct. 16 at Houston

Saturday, Oct. 24 vs Texas State

Saturday, Oct. 31 vs Western Kentucky

Saturday, Nov. 7 at Boise State

Saturday, Nov. 14 TBA

Saturday, Nov. 21 vs North Alabama

Saturday, Nov. 28 TBA

Saturday, Dec. 5 TBA

**Saturday, Dec. 12 vs SDSU

If the SDSU game does get scheduled, it would be ideal to find games 11 and 12 on Nov. 28 and Dec. 5, and there are two available teams that make a whole lot of sense.

Army

Army Athletic Director Mike Buddie took to Twitter shortly after the postponement with BYU was announced, in hopes to find a team willing to play right away. His wish was unsuccessful, and after losing by a couple of scores to #15 Cincinnati last week, he may be more willing to reschedule the BYU game now that an undefeated season is out of the picture. Both teams have open dates on November 28.

UCF

The rumors of a possible BYU at Central Florida game started circulating around the time of the Navy game. At that point, the Big Ten and Pac-12 still hadn’t announced they would be playing, and the AAC was looking at its best chance to crack the College Football Playoff that it may ever see. Both teams had openings on Nov. 7 and it was thought to have the potential to boost the resume of the winner, possibly catapulting them into the Playoff discussion—as long as they remained undefeated.

With yesterday’s announcement of BYU playing Boise State Nov. 7, obviously there would need to be a date change. Earlier this week the AAC rescheduled a game between Memphis and Houston to be played on Dec. 5, which could bump the AAC championship back to December 12, opening up a chance for BYU and UCF to meet in Orlando on that day.

Filling a 12-game schedule might be a lot to ask for in a year where some conferences are only playing 7 games, but it makes sense in all three cases and it’s certainly a possibility.

In the meantime, enjoy the BYU game tonight and keep fingers crossed for some more big games to be scheduled in the near future.

Tonight’s game against Louisiana Tech will kickoff at 7 p.m. MST on ESPN2.