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In a move to make the BYU Cougars 2015 schedule even more daunting, the Cougars will now have a chance to face off against the Missouri Tigers from the SEC in Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs. Arrowhead Stadium and Missouri made the game official Thursday morning, scheduled for Nov. 14.
In possibly bigger news, if the game can stand on the schedule, Missouri has agreed to play in LaVell Edwards Stadium on Nov. 7, 2020. In November!
Missouri will join Nebraska, UCLA, Michigan, and Utah State in "hosting" the Cougars with San Jose State being the 6th road game, barring any more changes.
Likely scenarios will may have the game at UNLV rescheduled, cancelled, or pushed to a later year. November 14th was the date scheduled for BYU at UNLV. It may also include some movement or cancellation of the game against Idaho State. **UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF POST**
Chiefs president Mark Donovan: Chiefs began meeting with BYU AD Tom Holmoe two years ago. Chiefs coach Andy Reid helped with discussions
— Dave Matter (@Dave_Matter) November 13, 2014
Donovan says Andy Reid (BYU grad & former Mizzou assistant) worked behind the scenes to make this game happen
— Dave Matter (@Dave_Matter) November 13, 2014
This will be the second meeting between the schools, with the first game being played in San Diego for the Holiday Bowl. Many fans have a soft spot for this game, but for those that aren't familiar with it, think about Eddie Stinnet to Steve Young for the win 21-17, or you can just look at the video below.
Now that you have looked at a few times, welcome back to the article. Want to catch up on the Tigers?
The University of Missouri resides in Columbia, MO and has an enrollment of almost 27,000. It was founded in 1839, but didn't start a football program until 1890. With two NCAA National Championships, 15 Conference Championships, and 30 bowl appearances, the Tigers have a proud and established program. The Tigers play on Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium, which currently seats 71,168. Before 2014, the Tigers had played 88 seasons there and held a 271-173-20 record. Gary Pinkel is the current head coach, he owned a 102-63 records coming into this season and is the winningest coach in Mizzou history.
The current team has a balanced offensive attack and will be returning their sophomore QB and their top running back who is a junior. They will lose some key receivers, but should be a strong, experienced team by the time the two teams play.
If the schedule ends up staying as predicted, the Cougars will host Boise State, UConn, East Carolina, Cincinnati, Idaho State, and Fresno Sate. Not a bad schedule as far as quality opponents, just a little road heavy. Ideally you would like one or two of the big names in Provo, but Tom Holmoe is working with independence and doing a pretty good job of it. BYU will play teams from the Big Ten (2), the PAC 12 (1), SEC (1), Mountain West (4), AAC (3), and an FCS school. With a number of good teams, a few lesser programs and an easy win or two, the Cougars are set up to make some noise if they can come out strong.
The first trip to play at Missouri will be a battle and should be exciting for the players and fans. Football heals everything and so this might be the first time anyone has seen a mass congregation of Mormons in the state of Missouri since Lilburn W. Boggs was the Governor. Hopefully this game turns out better than the last time a huge group of Mormons decided to go to Missouri.
UPDATE
The 2015 road game against UNLV will be rescheduled:
Just announced: #UNLVFB will host #BYU in either 2016 or 2017 instead of 2015.
— Mark Wallington (@UNLVFBSID) November 13, 2014
This is the easiest solution, as any rumored involvement in changing the Idaho State game would have put BYU behind on the home-road balance. So the 2015 slate looks like this, with 6 home games, 5 road, and 1 road-neutral:
9/5 - at Nebraska
9/12 - Boise State
9/19 - at UCLA
9/26 - at Michigan
10/2 - UConn
10/10 - East Carolina
10/17 - Cincinnati
10/24 - Idaho State
11/7 - at San Jose State
11/14 - vs. Missouri
11/21 - Fresno State
11/28 - at Utah State