Future Schedules

http://www.loyalcougars.com/future-football-schedules/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Taking each year schedule and counting the games I like vs dislike

2015 8-4

2016 8-2 2 openings

2017 5-5 2 openings

2018 8-2 2 openings

2019 7-1 4 openings

2020 8-0 4 openings

2021 5-0 7 openings

2022 3-0 9 openings

2023 3-0 9 openings

If Holmoe can get Utah on the future schedules consistently, I really like what he's doing.



Most years feature:



1) Utah-USU-Boise St. triumvirate



2) 2 or 3 other PAC 12 opponents (excluding Utah)



3) 1 Big Ten



4) 1 SEC or ACC



5) 4 or 5 other G5 (excluding USU and Boise St.), including a good mix of MWC, AAC, UMass, and N. Illinois



The result is that most future years have a pretty decent home schedule and a great balance between rivalries, regional and national intrigue, and tough v. solid v. decent v. easy games.



It should ensure that BYU is consistently bowl-eligible but have the type of schedule that can be sold as NY6-worthy when BYU has a great season.

This schedule confirms the rumor I just made up that Tom Holmoe has negotiated BYU's re-entry into the MWC beginning in 2022, contingent upon BYU still being independent at that time. If we find something better, great. If not? Que sera...

Speaking of a future Utah series:



This story is interesting because it 1) provides info about why the 2018 Utah-BYU game is at the end of the season and why future games won't be there and 2) shows Utah's thoughts on a Utah-Utah State series in the future:



http://www.sltrib.co....csp?id=2203391" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



BY MATTHEW PIPER

THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

PUBLISHED: FEBRUARY 20, 2015 07:43PM

UPDATED: FEBRUARY 20, 2015 08:06PM



A recent email exchange between the two schools’ athletics directors suggests Utah and BYU are working toward continuing their football series through 2020, but that Utah plans to keep booking Colorado for its season finale.

The exchange was obtained Thursday by The Tribune in response to a records request. BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe was not immediately available for comment, and Utah athletic director Chris Hill said he preferred to let the emails speak for themselves.

This past season was the first interruption in the annual series since 1945. The teams will next meet Sept. 10, 2016, in Salt Lake City. They are then slated to play Sept. 9 the following year in Provo and Nov. 24, 2018, in Salt Lake City.

On Feb. 4, Hill emailed to Holmoe: “I wanted to check with you about doing another contract for football in 2019 and 2020. The date we have in 2019 is Sept 14th. In 2020 it looks like the 2nd or 3rd week would be the best.”

To which Holmoe responded: “We had talked about November 30, 2019 in Provo and September 5, 2020 in Salt Lake City? Let me know your thoughts.”

Wrote Hill: “One of the reasons that we agreed to play the last game of the year in 2018 was that it helped the league so that no teams in the league had to play 12 games in a row that year. I know that you mentioned the late date in 2019 but we are not interested playing that game at the end of the year. We want to continue to play Colorado at the end of the year.”

Holmoe answered: “I do remember you talking about making your Colorado game your last game of the season, but didn’t know that was finalized.”

He then tells Hill that BYU has 2019 openings on Oct. 26, Nov. 6, Nov. 9 and Nov. 16, and that they play USC on Sept. 14 and Washington on Sept. 21.

Hill would not say whether discussions have continued since The Tribune’s records request was dated Feb. 6.

Hill also received an email query — this one from a fan —about the Utes’ series with Utah State.

The emailer asked if Utah has anything “in the works” to play USU again beyond their scheduled 2015 game. Hill responded “What do you think of alternating two games series with USU. On two years off two years.”

His response doesn’t reflect any existing plan, Hill said.

mpiper@sltrib.com

Twitter: @matthew_piper

What I read there is that the 2018 Utah game to end the season is an anomaly and we shouldn't plan on it regularly at all. Also, they are going to have a hard time finding a date in 2019 that Utah finds acceptable. Here is the calendar from 2019



Thu, Aug 29 Wisconsin

Sat, Sep 7 @ Virginia

Sat, Sep 14 USC

Sat, Sep 21 Washington

Sat, Sep 28 Not listed as open?

Fri, Oct 4 @ Utah State

Sat, Oct 12 Not listed as open?

Sat, Oct 19 Boise State

Sat, Oct 26 OPEN

Sat, Nov 2 Not listed as open?

Wed, Nov 6 OPEN **a weird Wednesday night game--does that mean 11/2 is a scheduled Bye? I can't imagine they would play on Wed, Nov 6 after playing on Sat, Nov 2.

Sat, Nov 9 OPEN

Sat, Nov 16 OPEN

Sat, Nov 23 @ Umass

Sat, Nov 30 OPEN**the original date targeted by Holmoe



TBA @ Washington State

One of those dates not listed as open could be the Washington State game but there must be other games not yet announced in a couple spots.

Utah is obviously trying to stack their 3 non-conference games at the beginning of the season with 2018 being the odd year to accommodate Pac12 scheduling:



2015

09/03 - Michigan

09/12 - Utah State

09/19 - at Fresno State



2016

09/01 - Southern Utah

09/10 - BYU

09/17 - at San Jose State



2017

08/31 - North Dakota

09/09 - at BYU

09/16 - San Jose State



2018

08/30 - Weber State

09/08 - at Northern Illinois

11/24 - BYU



2019

08/29 - Idaho State

09/07 - Northern Illinois



2020

Nothing scheduled yet



but BYU has these dates filled:

09/12 - Michigan State

09/19 - at Arizona State

Of course the rumor circulating now is that Dr. Hill tipped off the Tribune reporter to do a records request so he could see the email exchange about how it was Dr. Hill contacting Holmoe about scheduling a game and that BYU isn't cooperating with the dates that Utah has available. Never mind that there had been a previous conversation about late in the season and BYU had already publicly announced the games that filled Utah's desired date.

My hunch is that Holmoe lists the open 2019 dates from end of October through November because that is when Holmoe would prefer the game be scheduled. He also lists the USC and Washington games to help Dr. Hill see that we are already playing other PAC 12 teams in September - ie, we don't need Utah.



Of course we would all prefer the Utah-BYU game be held in November. But, a September game isn't so bad. 2019 could be one of BYU's all-time best home schedules if we had:



8/29 -Wisconsin

9/14 - USC

9/21 - Washington

9/28 - Utah

10/19 - Boise St.



And, personally, I prefer September and early October home games much more than November home games. The gameday weather is usually much better, which makes the games much more enjoyable.