BYU and Stanford scheduling three-game football series beginning in 2020?

By Kevin Kelley -

According to comments made yesterday by Utah athletics director Chris Hill, the BYU Cougars are scheduling a three-game football series with the Stanford Cardinal beginning in 2020.

Hill’s comment on BYU-Stanford came while talking to reporters after he announced that Utah and BYU were close to completing a contract to play in 2017 and 2018.

Neither BYU or Stanford have made an official announcement yet, so it’s not clear if the two teams have a signed contract or are in discussions for a series.

If it’s a three-game series as Hill mentioned, it would certainly be a 2-for-1 in Stanford’s favor.

BYU and Stanford have met twice in their history, a home-and-home series played in 2003 in Provo and 2004 in Stanford. The Cardinal beat the Cougars 18-14 and 37-10, respectively.

Last month, BYU announced a similar 2-for-1 series with the USC Trojans. The Cougars will host USC in 2019 and will travel to Los Angeles in 2021 and 2023. The two road games are both on Thanksgiving weekend.

With USC lined up for 2019, 2021, and 2023, some are speculating that the Cougars will likely play Stanford in 2020, 2022, and 2024.

Football Schedules

Comments (37)

What is most interesting is that for months Utah claimed they couldn’t play BYU because of scheduling rules. Just after the BYU-USC series was announced things seemed to get rolling with Utah making real effort to appease the entire state.

The real reason Utah doesn’t want to keep playing BYU is that it’s a home and home series. Utah is better off playing other MWC team in a 2 for 1 basis. BYU plays other Pac12 teams 2 for 1. It’s all about the money folks.

Utah is trying to act like Texas A&M and show off like they’re the more important team in the state, when the opposite is true.

BYU should move on. They don’t need Utah. Utah is going to be a Pac-12 bottom-feeder forever. BYU has better aspirations.

http://stholeary.blogspot.com

Independence has been good for BYU. I can watch their games and they play a better variety of teams. The November schedules are now better.

The only issue I have is that in the past, UCLA, USC, Penn State, Washington, FL State, Texas…. used to schedule a home and away. It now appears that more schools (AZ, Wisconsin, USC, Stanford, Texas…) are now asking for 2 for 1s and other schools are too lame to visit BYU at home (Michigan and Nebraska).

I guess, when BYU wins more of the bigger games, then they can start demanding home and home again. Hopefully, it starts again with the 2013 season.

Go Cougars.

Hmmm, another wrench in ending the season with USC-UCLA & Cal-Stanford! Seems like those games will get relegated to the second-to last week, with maybe Cal-UCLA becoming a last weekend game, and USC and Stanford rotating with Notre Dame and BYU to end the season.

The biggest thing that boggles my mind is USC, Stanford, Utah, Arizona, and Washington State are all willing to schedule BYU, so why is there an issue in inviting them into the PAC-12? Certainly Cal doesn’t hold that much weight in blocking them?

My understanding was BYU cannot get Pac 12 invite because they won’t play sports on Sunday

You all at BYU have been duped into believing the only reason BYU doesn’t get into the Pac12 is that Cal and Stanford are blocking BYU from the league because of politics or religion. Nope! Both Cal and Stanford regularly play BYU in many sports, and would welcome BYU as a member if inviting them made financial sense to the Pac12. Right now it doesn’t. In the future? Maybe.

I heard people talking about BYU filling in the “Notre Dame” bye week for USC and Stanford in November 2 years ago. Glad that it is finally coming to pass. Until recently, I would have been fine if BYU passed on a Stanford game. Now that they are good, I’m excited to watch.

Scheduling a school to play football and inviting them to join the conference are two completely different things. All these upcoming exemptions to the September only Pac12 rule are a result of giving one to ND in the beginning. It threw a predicted wrench into future schedules, allowing schools to play BYU in November helps smooth things out. Win, win.

You are correct that scheduling to play a school and inviting them to a conference are two different things. However, the argument has been that BYU’s religion & politics don’t sit well with some of the liberal-minded institutions of the PAC-12. Why does it sit well with those institutions to schedule BYU regularly then? If it’s an issue to invite them to the conference, then it should be an issue to play them! Seems like they would be a natural fit in the PAC-12 since they already have or will play three quarters of the league!

University presidents determine conference membership. Scheduling is the job of the athletic director. If it were up to the athletic directors BYU would have been in the PAC many years ago. If it was all about money, BYU would have been in the PAC years ago, as they always help to pack the stadium wherever they go. Religion may play a part in it, but there is also the fact that BYU is almost exclusively an undergraduate school with very few graduate degree programs. While several of the PAC schools are not as good academically as BYU is, they are still all classified as very high research universities by the Carnegie Institute because of the number of graduate programs that they have.

It’s probably a 1-1-1 where we will play the “neutral” game somewhere close to Stanford. Holmoe will then falsely claim that the “neutral” site location far from Provo and close to Stanford somehow gives BYU an advantage.

BYU’s fan base is large and broad, especially in the west.

A neutral site game, in a storied stadium, is indeed home away from home for BYU. Wherever it may be. 1-1-1 games are becoming quite fashionable for many programs.
Coupled with a home and home, it’s a nice setup.

Don’t fret, BYU’s scheduling is coming along just fine.

2018 & 2020-2024 are 14 week seasons. But so are 2015-2017. We could see an ASU or another school schedule BYU (or Army or MAC-13 team league) Thanksgiving weekend.

Don’t do it USC and Stanford. BYU offers little to nothing to the PAC-12 being an independent.

Um, I know that you are trolling, but:
1) BYU fills a need for both USC and Stanford. Both teams would have a bye in their November schedule because of ND. BYU fills that bye spot.
2) BYU adds strength to their schedules.
3) BYU adds importance to the game, which equals TV and fans in the seats (+ BYU fans)
4) Many BYU undergrads go to Stanford afterwards. Helps with recruiting.

Win/Win for all schools involved.

they just want to play BYU as payback for BYU stealing Kevienga (USC) and Taysom Hill (Stanford)

Why won’t any of these Pac 12 south schools schedule Boise State? Only Oregon, OSU, Washington and WSU have played or scheduled them.

Wouldn’t the correct question be why does the northern Pac12 school schedule Boise State? However to be fair and answer your question: 1) 67K is larger than 37K, 2) it’s easier for southern Pac12 fans to get to SLC (Provo) than Boise, 3) as pointed out, BYU is willing to do 2 for 1s.

They won’t schedule Boise State because they don’t see them as ‘traditional’ equals, and fear losing to them. Can you imagine the ‘shame’ USC alumni would feel losing to BSU? They don’t want to be in the same conversation as Boise State vs Oklahoma.

Is BSU willing to give 2-for-1’s? If Boise is willing to do so (like BYU evidently is), I’m sure plenty of Pac schools would schedule Boise.

It actually makes more sense for BYU to be in the Pac 10+2 than Utah simply because BYU brings a much bigger TV base to the Pac than does Utah.

Utah has also scheduled Boise St in the past. They were in the middle of a qB injury adnd a 2nd year coach, and got killed by the Broncos. Playing BYU does nothing for your team. The PAC 12 should cut all ties with the little ZOOBS. If you beat them, you were supposed to. If you lose, it is a huge knock against you. Since 2009 that little team in Provo has only 6-7 wins vs teams that finished the year .500 or better. They lose all of their top qulaity games, or games vs teams that have decent speed or talent. They cannot compete at all. It is a joke. That is why they went Irrelevant, I mean Indy. They are a Indy WAC school. Nothing more.

Dave sounds bitter. Did BYU kick your dog as a kid?

Seriously, do you even want to compare the football (and basketball) relevance of BYU to that of Utah (or even half of the current PAC teams)? I actually got my bachelors at BYU and then attended Utah. Have you spent any time on the U of U campus?

I spent 4 years working up at the U of U on their campus for a local credit union. I also went to UVSC for a couple of years, and lived in apartments right across from LES with some friends that went to yBu. I personally believe that Utah has a much nicer and more complex campus than yBu does. If I did have a dog as a kid, I would let a Y fan kick it and would not care. I am not an animal lover. PETA, that was a joke. Don’t come after me for animal abuse.

Utah is down in basktball right now, but they still have as many Sweet 16 appearences as yBu does in the last decade which says as much about how bad their basketball program really is at winning big games. In football, they also cannot win the big games. Everyone across the nation can see that. The UTES keep beating them when they are ranked, or favored in the games. They cannot compete with talent and speed that other teams have.

As someone who’s graduated from both BYU and Utah, I can say hands down that BYU’s campus is much nicer than Utah’s. Also, BYU has thousands of fans all across the PAC 10.2; Utah has far fewer fans and they are mostly packed inside the state of Utah. And to suggest Utah’s basketball program is even remotely close to BYU’s basketball program demonstrates extreme ignorance on your part.

Your reply screams jealous wannabe. I bet you could see campus from your deck too just like Palin can see Russia. Hilarious!

Davey, I can now see why you got so bitter. Sorry that your college dreams were dashed. That said, you should be happy that you got into utah and finished up.

Note: utah also has a nice campus, but personally, BYU’s was easier to get around, better kept up, cleaner and the buildings were easier for learning. BYU’s sports facilities are also nicer.

Note2: Are you saying that utah ‘wins the big games’ or ‘more big games than BYU’? Sorry, the answer is now. utah won 1 big game–5 years ago (but, I admit that I rooted hard and loved that victory). Just for your knowledge, only about 10 teams win the ‘big games’ most of the time.

So, you didn’t attend school at Utah and didn’t attend at BYU. OK. You worked on Utah’s campus, but not on BYU’s campus–and didn’t live on either campus. BYU’s basketball program has been solid for many years. Utah’s program has been good for many years (although not lately).

The truth is that I like both schools, but like BYU much better. Only last year did I lose interest in Utah sports. Why? Because the fans (probably the vocal minority) became unbearably annoying and crass. I actually hope that the Utah/BYU football rivalry game ends for good.

I agree with some of what you said Dave. BYU’s basketball program has been to the NCAA tournament a lot as of late, but cannot seem to win once they get there. The last couple of years in the WCC AKA LDS Church League with how small the gyms are, they have not preformed all that well, and continue to get worse and worse in that league. They have yet to beat Gonzaga or St Marys. As far as football goes, this Indy thing seems to be working out. We are playing better teams, and have more exposure as an independent. We get to play on ESPN about 10 times a year. Granted, a lot of those games are on ESPN U and even one I think was streaming live on ESPN 3 online and was not even on TV, yet I get to see every game from my new home in the North East. Also having BYU TV helps out with that exposure. Everyone in the nation has that, but only us Y fans know where it is. Bronco does need to start winning those bigger games vs the teams like Texas, Notre Dame, and even Utah. This year I do not believe that we will beat Texas, Notre Dame, or Wisconsin. I think that we will have a great chance to beat Utah at home, and Utah St on the road with Gary Anderson gone. I guess we will see. Just 50 days until kickoff. I grew up in the shadow of Cougar Stadium, now LES, but I went to the U of U for my Bachelors and Masters degree. It was a great school, and I wish their teams well. They do have a great campus, and I will send all my kids there when they are of age. Even though I am LDS, I don’t like the way BYU runs their school with the honor code. I think that part of the school and their rules is a joke.

One correction– BYU beat Gonzaga at home the first year in the WCC. Went to the game and it was awesome!

Steve — I attended BYU and then Utah. Non-BYU students like to point to the honor code as something that is crazy strict or way out there. Well, most LDS and many Christian kids follow the ‘rules’ in the honor code naturally (don’t do drugs or drink, don’t sleep around,….). The only rule that wasn’t natural for me was to be clean shaven…. and even then, nobody gets on you for scruff unless it is over thet top.