BYU Football Schedule: Teams With Less Than 10 Games In 2020

PROVO, Utah – Can we put to bed the notion that college football teams such as BYU need to schedule games decades in advance?  This shotgun approach to scheduling leading up to the 2020 season amid the pandemic is proof games in college football can come together quickly.

Love this game 💙 pic.twitter.com/xZagQK1F8g

— BYU FOOTBALL (@BYUfootball) August 16, 2020

Right now some teams have four games on the schedule (BYU) and there are others who have a full 12-game schedule. Not everyone will be lucky enough to have 12 games this season after so many cancellations. So maybe 10 games is a more reasonable target this fall, allowing for more bye weeks and opportunities to reschedule games if needed.

When asked how close he thinks BYU’s schedule is to being finalized for the upcoming season, head coach Kalani Sitake said, “If it were finalized it’d be done (already), you know, but I think I have a lot of confidence that he’s (Tom Holmoe) getting the right people on the phone and talking to a lot of people and trying to organize it. He’s called me and every time he’s asked about me about any opponent, I’ve said, yeah, let’s go. Whatever can be the easiest to get them on the schedule.”

The “easiest” teams to possibly add on this year’s schedule might be the ones with fewer than 10 games, you would think. Who are those teams currently? Let’s take a look.

College Football teams with less than 10 games scheduled in 2020

As of August 18th, 2020

BYU

BYU’s scheduling is well-documented here on KSL Sports. The Cougars lost 10 of its original 12 games and has built the schedule up to four games as of now, with a reported fifth game looming in Army West Point. BYU wants to play as many teams as they can.

American Athletic Conference

• Cincinnati (Nine games)
• Temple (Eight)
• UCF (Nine)
• USF (Nine)

Conference-USA

• Florida Atlantic (Nine)
• UAB (Nine)
• UTEP (Nine)
• UTSA (Nine)
• Western Kentucky (Nine)

Sun Belt Conference

• Louisiana (Nine)

FBS Independents

• Liberty (Eight)

That’s the list of teams with less than 10 games. Each one of them has openings on their schedule that could fit into BYU’s schedule. Keep in mind, the AAC, Conference-USA, and the Sun Belt are allowing their members to schedule up to four non-conference games. So teams like Tulane, who currently have 11 games on its schedule, could maybe be an option. But if the teams with less than 10 games want to get to 12, time is ticking and it’s time to bring some games together in a hurry.

What’s challenging with this list is that all these teams will likely want a home-and-home with BYU if a game is scheduled. The AAC teams, great. Schedule them to home-and-home’s. Is it worth it for BYU after 2020 to have another game with old WAC foe UTEP?

Other opportunities to fill out BYU Football Schedule

There are some ACC teams that still need to fill out their one non-conference date. Those teams include Boston College, Clemson, Pitt, Wake Forest, Virginia, Notre Dame, and Florida State.

The other avenue to pick up games is turning to the Football Championship Subdivision. All of the FCS conferences have postponed fall football, but some are allowing their league members to play up to four non-conference games this fall. The Big South, Missouri Valley, NEC, Ohio Valley Conference, SoCon, and Southland are all giving the green light to non-conference games this fall. Which is probably code for, go get those big paydays. BYU has a game scheduled on November 21st against North Alabama from the Big South Conference in Provo.

The NCAA approved teams to play two games against FCS counting towards bowl eligibility this year. Bowl games seem so out of sight and out of mind right now but it’s something to chew on as BYU tries to pick up games for an unprecedented 2020 campaign. BYU has never played a football season with two FCS teams on the schedule. But the Cougars have also never played through a pandemic.

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.