BYU Football Schedule: What’s next for BYU after the Mountain West Postponement of Fall Sports?

BYU Football is now down to three scheduled games as the Mountain West Conference announced they will postpone Fall Sports. The announcement indicated that the conference “will begin to explore the feasibility of rescheduling fall sports competition, including the possibility of those sports competing in the spring, and develop options for consideration.” BYU had scheduled games with Utah State, Boise State and San Diego State.

BYU’s schedule now consists of Navy, Houston and North Alabama — you can pretty much cross off that North Alabama game, though.

The MWC followed the MAC in postponing Fall Sports and precedes what appears the inevitable cancellations of the Pac 12 and Big 10 seasons. Multiple reports indicate the Big 10 could announce as soon as Tuesday that they are cancelling Fall sports. It is widely believed that the Pac 12 would follow suit.

However, other conferences are still holding firm on their stance of playing in Fall. Both the Sun Belt and Conference USA both stated that they intend to play this Fall, while the Big 12, ACC, and SEC may still forge ahead without the other two power conferences.

So, What Happens Next for BYU?

Chaos has ensued the past 24 hours as prominent college football players have tweeted the #WeWantToPlay hashtag. Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence tweets started the trend last night and dozens of college players followed.

Nebraska Head Coach Scott Frost said in a press conference that Nebraska is prepared to play a schedule independent of the Big 10, and reports have been swirling that the SEC, ACC, and Big 12 may forge ahead. If that’s the case, look for BYU to try to play this fall.

BYU is still practicing despite all the chaos.

Below are what I see as the most likely options.

1) College Football season is postponed/cancelled. As much as we hate to see it, this outcome is probably inevitable. Decision makers have been putting this off, but in the end college presidents probably won’t want to be associated with any liability that comes form playing.

2) BYU keeps Navy and Houston games, schedules as many games as possible with remaining opponents. If anybody is playing this Fall, it’s likely the 3 service academies. Even with the MWC’s postponement, Air Force’s AD tweeted that they will try to still play Army and Navy.

The next week and beyond will be critical to see what the remaining three P5 conferences do. If they postpone fall sports, BYU will probably have no choice but to do the same. If they don’t, however, the door is still open for BYU to play in the Fall. Being independent has its drawbacks, but it also gives BYU the freedom to be flexible and adapt to a multitude of scenarios. Heck, even if just the service academies play, BYU could still play its Labor Day game versus Navy with the winner being crowned national champions.

If BYU were to still play a schedule with Navy, Houston, Army, Air Force, Appalachian State, and a mix of AAC, Sun Belt or Big 12 teams, that would be better than no football at all.

Regardless, it stinks that we have this virus right now and that it not only affects our every day lives, but our passion of sports too. We may not get any college football this fall, but BYU will hang on until the last possible second.