The short wait before the longer one is almost over. BYU knows who and where they will play this fall in the Big 12. Tuesday morning, it will find out when, and that includes the rivalry game against Utah at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

TCU, UCF and West Virginia join the Utes with games in Provo. The Cougars will travel to Arizona, Colorado, Iowa State, Cincinnati and Texas Tech. The Big 12 will announce the much-anticipated dates Tuesday at 9 a.m.

The big question to be answered is whether the conference will put BYU-Utah where it belongs — on the last Saturday of the regular season, or will they repeat the disservice to rivalry history like it did last year?

Special Collector's Issue: "1984: The Year BYU was Second to None"
Get an inclusive look inside BYU Football's 1984 National Championship season.

Putting the game on Nov. 9 felt three weeks premature as most of the classic rivalries, including Ohio State-Michigan, Alabama-Auburn, USC-UCLA, Texas-Texas A&M, South Carolina-Clemson and Oregon-Washington waited until Nov. 28 to stage their showdowns.

Despite getting pushed to the end of an uneventful Saturday, the Cougars and Utes delivered their traditional thriller at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Will Ferrin’s 44-yard field goal with nine seconds remaining gave No. 9 BYU a 22-21 victory.

As members of the WAC and Mountain West Conference, BYU and Utah traditionally met on the last Saturday of November; however, when the Cougars went independent and the Utes joined the Pac-12, the game shifted mostly to September. The only late November clash in the last 14 years was in 2018.

Related
For BYU football, good news comes in sets of 3

Another trend has taken rivalry to late in the day. The previous five meetings started after 8 p.m. The last afternoon kick (3 p.m.) in Provo was on Nov. 28 in 2009 and even that one finished under the lights with BYU winning 26-23 in overtime.

As it expanded to 16 teams, the Big 12 made it clear that it wanted to spread out the rivalry games to spread spice throughout the regular season, which is why they put BYU-Utah on Nov. 9.; however, ending the month with the Cougars hosting Houston and the Utes at UCF was a miss — even with Utah struggling.

Kickoff times aren’t expected to be announced until later in the summer. Like last year, most Big 12 starts won’t be determined until a week or two before the game due to Fox and ESPN television commitments.

Living in Mountain time will likely keep several BYU and Utah games in the late TV window — which makes logistical sense. Scheduling the Cougars and Utes against each other in the middle of the season — not so much.

25
Comments

BYU begins spring practice later this month. The Cougars already know the dates of their nonconference games – Portland State (Aug. 30), Stanford (Sept. 6) and at East Carolina (Sept. 23). With Sept. 13 open, BYU will either have an early Big 12 game or a bye that week.

Kansas State-Iowa State is the only conference game already announced. The two Big 12 contenders will open the season Aug. 23 in Dublin, Ireland. The rest of the schedule will be revealed Tuesday morning.

The short wait will be over and then the longer one can begin.

BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff leaps over Utah cornerback Smith Snowden during a game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City early on Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.

Join the Conversation
Looking for comments?
Find comments in their new home! Click the buttons at the top or within the article to view them — or use the button below for quick access.