Breaking news:Kalani sitake has announced his departure and flip to Texas tech over Alabama and Tennessee Vols…..
If BYU’s second season in the Big 12 taught us anything, it is that predicting how the league race will go is a futile exercise.
Teams that were supposed to be good weren’t, and teams that were supposed to struggle — such as BYU — rose to the top of the standings. The finish was almost exactly the opposite of predictions, as BYU, Arizona State, Colorado and Iowa State tied for the regular-season championship with 7-2 records (only Iowa State was picked to finish in the top half of the league, among those schools) and expected contenders such as Utah, Arizona and Oklahoma State won a combined four conference games.
So any examination of BYU’s league schedule in its third season in the Big 12, a schedule that was released Tuesday morning, has to begin with the caveat that we really don’t know on Feb. 4 whether it will be extra difficult, fairly easy or somewhere in between
Speaking of in-between, the biggest shocker from the nine-game announcement is that BYU and Utah won’t play the rivalry game in November as a regular-season ender.
Rather, the Utes and Cougars will square off on Oct. 18 in Provo, right in the middle of the season. That’s a bummer. Sure, it is BYU’s homecoming game, but homecoming games are not a big deal anymore — even in Provo.
Looking on the positive side, at least the weather should be more favorable in October along the Wasatch Front. And the in-state game should get a prime TV slot.
Last year, the game was played at 8:30 p.m. on Nov. 9 in Salt Lake City, which wasn’t optimal. But it was better than this. The only true rivalry game in the Big 12 to be played on either Nov. 28 or Nov. 29 will be the Territorial Cup pitting Arizona State and Arizona. That’s a big fail on the part of the league.
The Baylor-TCU rivalry game is also on Oct. 18.
Hey Brett Yormark, play the rivalry games on rivalry weekend, and forget about spreading them out in an effort to provide compelling games weekly for the television partners.
Coincidentally, the Big 12 televised the schedule reveal and had Chief Football and Competition Officer Scott Draper on the show to discuss the schedule, but Draper was never asked the question that was on everybody’s mind: Why not play more rivalry games on rival
ry weekend?
There are many that believe BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe should have bought his way out of that game against the Pirates in Greenville, N.C., but he didn’t. East Carolina leads the series 2-1, and has won the last two matchups — 27-24 in Provo in 2022 and 33-17 in North Carolina in 2017.
BYU’s second bye week comes in Week 10, after the Cougars play at Iowa State on Oct. 25, and before they play at Texas Tech on Nov. 8. Optimally, the bye would come after the BYU-Utah game on Oct. 18.
Why?
Remember what happened last November, after the Cougars edged the Utes 22-21 in Salt Lake City? Both teams played uninspired football the following week, with BYU losing 17-13 at home to Kansas and Utah losing 49-24 at Colorado.
How difficult is this league schedule for BYU? It’s hard to tell at this point, but generally it does not appear insurmountable. The toughest games seemingly start with that mid-October game against the Utes — who will surely have revenge on their minds after the way last November’s game went — and continue from there.
The Oct. 25 game at Iowa State, the Nov. 8 game at Texas Tech and the Nov. 15 game at home against TCU — which always gives BYU fits — mark the most brutal stretch of the 2025 slate. Five of BYU’s opponents played in bowl games last year: Colorado, West Virginia, Iowa State, Texas Tech and TCU. Three of those are aw
ay games.
