BYU Is Only College In State Of Utah Still Planning To Play Fall Football

PROVO, Utah – Independence isn’t perfect, but it’s allowing BYU to choose its own path. Something a program such as Nebraska would have liked to do instead of crawling back to its league.

With Dixie State announcing they are postponing their inaugural FCS season to the spring, BYU is now the only program in the state of Utah that is still planning to play football in the fall.

The Pac-12 ended Utah’s season and the Mountain West Conference quietly faded away thus ending the first year of life without quarterback Jordan Love at Utah State.

We will fight, day or night, rain or snow.#BYUFOOTBALL #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/CwVn3bTCeW

— BYU FOOTBALL (@BYUfootball) August 11, 2020

Will BYU actually play games this fall? That’s anyone’s guess. This COVID-19 pandemic is no joke as it continues to take out leagues every single day. But the fact that BYU is doing everything in their power to land games is fun to watch.

The Cougars have four games scheduled for the 2020 season with Troy University added on Thursday.

Usually, a game against Troy would be an afterthought during a typical Saturday in College Football, but now it could gain a ton of exposure by being on an ESPN network. Also, doesn’t hurt that the appetite for college football is as large as ever.

BYU head coach Kalani Sitake said, “We’re going to go until they tell us to stop and our mindset is to just get better every day.” The perks of Independence, you could say.

Kalani addressing the uncertainty of the season: "We're going to go until they tell us to stop and our mindset is to just get better every day."#BYU @kslsports

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) August 10, 2020

Those perks have created a unique opportunity for BYU if they pull off these games amid the Pandemic. The Cougars are the only team in the Pacific and Mountain time zones that has college football scheduled this fall.

Could they become the favorite team for fans out west yearning for football? Probably not. Especially with the history, BYU has with many of the Mountain West programs. But, they would probably tune in in hopes of BYU taking a loss. Bring on that exposure.

With players coming out and expressing the #WeWantToPlay movement, BYU is listening to them and doing everything they can to create a safe environment that allows them to play ball this fall. Let’s just hope we actually get to see those games happen in a safe environment.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.