2022 BYU Football Schedule Includes Long Stretch Without Bye Week
Feb 17, 2022, 3:34 PM
SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA - DECEMBER 18: Head Coach Kalani Sitake of the BYU Cougars on the sidelines during a game against the UAB Blazers during the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl at Independence Stadium on December 18, 2021 in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Blazers defeated the Cougars 31-28. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
(Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
PROVO, Utah – The final BYU football schedule of the Independence era is coming up this fall. Once again, the scheduling challenges as an FBS Independent are highlighted with BYU’s 2022 slate.
BUILDING 🧰 pic.twitter.com/yeBtOKpI6E
— BYU FOOTBALL (@BYUfootball) January 25, 2022
BYU will go 10 consecutive weeks without a bye in the 2022 season. They played through the same gauntlet in 2021, and it took a toll on their depth as injuries piled up, leaving BYU with an underwhelming conclusion at the Independence Bowl, to what was a special 10-win year for Kalani Sitake’s program.
BYU’s bye week in 2022 falls on Saturday, November 12, one week after playing a road game at Boise State.
BYU vs. East Carolina gets an official date
This stretch was confirmed when the American Athletic Conference released its 2022 schedule on Thursday. The Group of Five league’s schedule included a non-conference matchup between BYU and East Carolina in Provo on October 29. Reports had indicated that BYU’s game with the Pirates would land on October 29, but it didn’t receive an official date until now.
BYU’s 10 weeks without a bye in 2022 don’t include any FCS teams. Last year, BYU faced Idaho State before going into a much-needed bye week. The annual FCS contest in 2022 doesn’t occur until November 19, when BYU faces Dixie State for the first time on November 19. One week, BYU closes the season at Stanford on the Farm during Thanksgiving weekend.
Our 2022 football schedule. #AmericanPow6r pic.twitter.com/4sPQHnuuEu
— American Football (@American_FB) February 17, 2022
In 2023, BYU will be a member of the Big 12 Conference. These unique scheduling quirks that come with Independence won’t be a worry for AD Tom Holmoe anymore after this season. Each team in the Big 12 Conference for the 2022 season, has a bye no later than October 29. BYU hosts the defending Big 12 Champion Baylor Bears in its home opener this fall on September 10.
Baylor is one of five Power Five opponents on BYU’s 2022 schedule. Four of those five teams are ranked in KSL Sports’ Way-Too-Early Top 25 entering spring practices. In 2021, BYU finished with a program-best 6-1 record against Autonomous Conference teams.
2022 BYU Football Schedule
September 3 – at USF Bulls
September 10 – Baylor Bears
September 17 – at Oregon Ducks
September 24 – Wyoming Cowboys
September 30 (Friday) – Utah State Aggies
October 8 – vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (Las Vegas)
October 15 – Arkansas Razorbacks
October 22 – at Liberty Flames
October 29 – East Carolina Pirates
November 5 – at Boise State Broncos
November 12 – BYE
November 19 – Dixie State Trailblazers
November 26 – at Stanford Cardinal
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.
