What seemed to begin as somewhat of a joke on Twitter could become a reality.
When the Pac-12 announced on July 10 that it will play conference-only games this fall, wiping out the BYU Cougars’ Week 1 football contest against the Utah Utes, some proposed that the Cougars should try to replace the Utes on their schedule with the Alabama Crimson Tide.
According to a report Saturday, that has “a strong possibility” of happening.
AL.com SEC reporter Matt Zenitz wrote Saturday that if the Crimson Tide ends up playing more than conference games this fall (the SEC has not made a decision on conference-only games), it could schedule BYU in Week 1. Like the Cougars, Alabama was also slated to play a Pac-12 team to open the 2020 campaign, the USC Trojans.
BYU was scheduled to play Utah on Thursday, September 3, while Alabama was scheduled to face USC on September 5.
On Saturday before Zenitz’s report, Crimson Tide athletic director Greg Byrne took to Twitter to quell rumors that Alabama would play Notre Dame this season.
Looking forward to our future H&H series w/ @NDFootball.
— Greg Byrne 🥋 (@Greg_Byrne) July 18, 2020
However, contrary to reports, we will not be playing this season. #RollTide 🐘 https://t.co/B3JV24sabb
The Deseret News has not confirmed Zenitz’s report.
The Cougars have seen five games on their 2020 schedule wiped out as a result of decisions from the Pac-12 and Big Ten to play conference-only games this fall, but still on the slate is an October 10 contest at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo against an SEC foe of Alabama, the Missouri Tigers.