I exchanged a couple of emails this week with a good friend of mine who is rabid Georgia Tech fan. He mentioned that he was hoping their defense would improve by 2012. I reminded him that our offense has struggled just as much (if not more) this year. So I guess this one is a race to improvement. The exchange got me thinking about how busy Tom Holmoe has been scheduling opponents for football. I remember when that coach from SDSU, Coach McWhineypants, mentioned that he thought BYU would really struggle scheduling games. I can’t find his exact quote but it was something to the effect of, “We aren’t going to play them. I don’t know who will.” I didn’t reach out to him for a quote here, because I wasn’t interested in addressing Replaygate. What I am interested in doing is taking a look at a few programs that seem excited to get on BYU’s schedule. Pay attention here, there are going to be a few programs that even the head coach at SDSU has heard of.
Georgia Tech – 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017. The two teams have met twice, each win going to the home team. Traveling to Atlanta to play a game is a great thing for the Cougars. BYU made it clear that a big part of the move to independence was about exposure and taking BYU football across the country. Atlanta is a great place for a football game. They have a solid fan base and good tradition. It’s a four game series against a BCS conference opponent and it will be on ESPN. If Georgia Tech plays the kind of offense they have been working the past couple of years BYU will need to be ready to face it early in the year. It moves fast. This appears to be an evenly matched series and a good deal for both teams. Did I mention that I have another friend that completed his undergrad at BYU and attended Georgia Tech for graduate school? He better fall on the right side of this one. I can’t make any crazy predictions here just yet. My Rabid Tech Fan Friend will remember every word I utter here. This game will be a lot of fun for me to watch. 2013 will be in Provo. Keep that in mind, it’s going to be on the quiz at the end.
Notre Dame – 2012, 2013, then four times between 2014-2020. There was some discussion back when independence was announced about whether BYU was willing to play two road games in order to get certain opponents to come to Provo. That is essentially the deal that was made here. What it allowed BYU to do is book six games against an opponent that will garner national exposure. I never thought I would say this, but I am hoping to see some recovery out of Notre Dame in the next year or two. I am hoping that just as some of the young talent is coming of age for BYU, Notre Dame will be a real quality opponent for them. Notre Dame is interested in legitimizing the concept of independent football squads. Some have speculated that independence is Notre Dame’s problem right now. Big recruits want to play for championships. I think they have some recruiting issues, but independence isn’t the problem. They have just as good of a chance as anybody to get to a BCS game or a National Championship. They just need to play better. A good, independent BYU team is good for them. This deal gives both teams a quality opponent in October and November.
Texas – 2011, 2013, 2014. This is another “we’ll come to you twice if you come to Provo once” deal. Everybody wants to pretend that this is two separate deals, but it just isn’t. That’s still okay. I don’t think BYU gives anything up by agreeing to these deals with teams like Notre Dame and Texas. Frankly, I think some players will enjoy the challenge of playing teams like that on the road. These are historical college football settings. Great places for historic BYU wins. The idea of playing Texas next year a la the Oklahoma matchup of 2009 is a great situation for BYU. I see this team making significant improvement between 2010 and 2011. They should be prepared to compete in 2011.
West Virginia – 2016 Fed Ex Field Landover, MD. This is where the Redskins play. While this is billed as a neutral site, Washington DC is clearly closer to West Virginia than it is to Provo. However, the BYU alumni network in the DC area is pretty solid. I should know. I live here. I see BYU traveling very well to this game. I think there will be fans from all over the East Coast present. This is also an opportunity to play at an NFL facility. Who knows what the team will look like in 2016, Heaps could be playing for the Redskins at that point (backing up John Beck). But this is a great deal. Hopefully these kinds of deals at neutral NFL sites will become a staple of the schedule.
Oregon State – 2011, 2012. This series starts in Provo. These teams have met in bowl games before. This is also an interesting matchup because of Bronco Mendenhall’s connection to Oregon State. This is a quality opponent from the PAC-10+ and a matchup that I really like for BYU. It’s a game against a solid opponent that I feel like we can win. Especially at home.
University of Central Florida – 2011, 2014. This also starts in Provo. UCF is not the same level of program as some of the other schools on this list. But they are a competitive team and if we beat them, the win will likely look as good or better than a win against most WAC or MWC opponents. This also gets the Cougars a game in Florida. Playing in Florida is good for recruiting and gets the Cougars back out to the East Coast.
Utah – 2011, 2012. Last but not least, the Utes. What I do like about continuing the rivalry is that this game is going to become about BYU and Utah again. It will be interesting to see what this does to the climate of the rivalry. BYU is forging new ties as an independent and Utah is going to develop other rivalries with new conference opponents. This game is good for BYU as Utah is another PAC-10+ opponent and will look good on the schedule. I love it when BYU wins this game. I hate it when BYU loses it.
While this is not an all inclusive list, this hits some important points and allows us to discuss a couple of things. First, if Jake Heaps does not go on a mission, 2013 will be his fourth year as a starter and we will play Texas and Georgia Tech at home. I am not going to officially make a comparison to 1991 Miami or anything crazy; I think it’s way too soon for it. But I will say that I like how 2013 is shaping up. (Texas and Georgia Tech in Provo as well as Notre Dame in South Bend). Second, the hardest part of operating as a football independent is scheduling consistent quality opponents. Tom Holmoe is forging relationships with quality programs that are signing up to play several times. Holmoe and company are doing an excellent job. This plan clearly came with a great deal of forethought and has been executed with tremendous effort. I applaud them for what they’ve done and I am really looking forward to some of these games.
-Matt
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