BYU, Army ADs Taking Patient Approach To Rescheduling Postponed Game

PROVO, Utah – BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe has always wanted Army on the Cougars football schedule.

There was a verbal agreement for games to be played between the two schools in 2011 and 2012 when BYU was a member of the Mountain West, but a mutual understanding led to that series being canceled in 2008.

Then Holmoe got the Black Knights in a matter of weeks this past August after all of the scheduling hits the Cougars took due to COVID-19.

The BYU-Army football game scheduled for Sept. 19 has been postponed. The two schools will work together to try and reschedule the contest.

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— BYU Cougars PR (@BYUCougarsPR) September 12, 2020

As we’ve grown accustomed to in 2020, COVID-19 derailed that game between the Cougars and Black Knights. BYU had a small number of cases and contact tracing, resulting in the long-coveted game to be postponed with hopes of a rescheduled date taking place this season.

Neither BYU nor Army are ruling out the possibility of playing one another at Michie Stadium this season, but they aren’t committing to it either at this moment.

“We’re trying to stay flexible,’’ Army AD Mike Buddie told the Times Herald-Record. “We certainly know what our open dates are but we also know those could change, and so between Massachusetts (an original foe that opted out of fall play, but has since opted back in) and BYU or whatever other adjustments are out there to be made, we want to put our kids in a position to be ready and capable to win the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy – that’s paramount to us. So everything’s on the table, including BYU, we’ll just continue to monitor the landscape.’’

Options for BYU & Army to reschedule in 2020

BYU and Army’s mutual open dates include November 28th and December 5th. Army closes out its regular season against Navy on December 12th in Philadelphia.

The Commander-in-Chief Trophy could be decided on November 7th when the Black Knights take on Air Force at West Point. Army defeated Navy on October 3rd, and with a win over Army, the Falcons would claim the CIC Trophy for the 21st time in their program history.

Without a CIC Trophy at stake, the Navy game is still a massive deal to Army. BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe is staying patient with the process to try and reschedule the Black Knights.

Tom Holmoe on the possibility of rescheduling Army: "Immediately after the game, we talked about the possibilities. There are some potential open dates. The way things are going right now with the season, I really believe that, take it a week at a time."#BYU @kslsports

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) October 2, 2020

“Immediately after the game [was postponed], we talked about the possibilities. There are some potential open dates. The way things are going right now with the season, I really believe that we take it a week at a time,” Holmoe said to reporters during a Zoom call on October 2nd. “We have good relationships with Army, and we’ll continue to talk, but I’d say it’s a work in progress. I couldn’t put a percentage on it. We both would like to see it happen, whether it will or not, will be told in time.”

BYU added games against Mountain West programs Boise State and San Diego State to its 2020 schedule giving the Cougars 10 games total. Rescheduling Army would bring BYU’s total of contests in 2020 back to 11. An accomplishment no one saw happening after BYU was down to two games after all of the COVID-related scheduling changes.

For Army, rescheduling BYU would give the Knights a full 12-game schedule.

If the game doesn’t get rescheduled, the next scheduled game between BYU and Army is in 2032 in Provo.

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 p.m., KSL Newsradio). Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.