BYU Football Adds FCS Team To Open 2024 Schedule

PROVO, Utah – The pieces continue to come together for future BYU football schedules.

BYU has added a non-conference game to open the 2024 season. The Cougars will face the Southern Illinois Salukis in Provo on August 31, 2024. Southern Illinois competes in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).

#BYU schedules a game against FCS Southern Illinois to open the 2024 season. August 31st in Provo.

BYU will pay SIU $425,000 for the game.#BYUFootball @kslsports

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) September 27, 2022

The addition of Southern Illinois gives BYU four non-conference games with scheduled dates during the 2024 season. Those games include SIU on August 31, at Utah on September 7, a road game at Wyoming on September 14, and an east coast trip to East Carolina on October 19.

In 2023, BYU will be a member of the Big 12 Conference. The league is expected to continue playing a nine-game conference schedule, leaving three non-conference dates on future schedules. One of the requirements in the non-conference schedule is to have an opponent from a Power Five league. Utah, members of the Pac-12, would fulfill that requirement on the 2024 schedule.

Last week, BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe confirmed that the Cougars plan to fulfill the contract to make a return visit to Laramie to face the Cowboys.

With the East Carolina game, BYU football put in clauses in all of their game contracts as an Independent that if they left for a Power Five league, they could cancel the games without any financial penalty.

Southern Illinois was previously scheduled to play Kansas to open the 2024 season. However, the Jayhawks bought out of that game and instead are playing Lindenwood. SIU will now travel from Carbondale, Illinois to Provo.

BYU originally had a game against Nevada on August 31, 2024. It was a game scheduled before BYU was invited to the Big 12 Conference. The Wolfpack are now scheduled to play at Troy on that date.

BYU football game against Utah Tech in 2024 moves to 2026

As a result of adding the Southern Illinois game, BYU’s previous FCS contest in 2024 against Utah Tech has now been moved to the 2026 season. As a result, the game against Utah Tech will be played on September 5, 2026, in Provo.

This season, Southern Illinois defeated Northwestern in Evanston from the Big Ten Conference, 31 to 24.

SIU announced they would receive $425,000 from BYU to play the game. It will be the first meeting between the two schools.

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.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.

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