The BYU Cougars will enter year two of football independence with one of the toughest road schedules in program history. Road games at Utah, Boise State and Notre Dame highlight the 2012 schedule for BYU, who will play games against the ACC, Pac 12, Mountain West Conference and WAC.
Washington State, with new head coach and BYU alumnus Mike Leach making his Washington State debut, will travel to Provo, Utah for a battle of cougars in the season opener on Saturday, September 1, 2012. It will be the first meeting between the two schools since 1990, with BYU holding a 2-1 series advantage. The following week BYU will host FCS Weber State, from the Big Sky Conference. BYU owns a 2-0 record against the in-state FCS opponent.
After two home games BYU will take to the road for a difficult set of back-to-back games. BYU visits rival Utah on September 15 and pays Boise State a visit the next week. Boise State could possibly be a Big East member if they can find a way to move in to the conference a year earlier than planned, following a likely early departure of West Virginia to the Big 12. BYU returns home September 29 to play Hawaii, playing their first season in the Mountain West Conference as a football-only member.
BYU will play their only Friday night game on October 5 when they host Utah State. The three-game home stretch concludes on Saturday, October 13 with Oregon State coming to Provo. The Cougars and Beavers are 5-5 in the all-time series. BYU leads Utah State 44-34-3 all-time.
On October 20 BYU will open a six-game series against Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame leads the all-time series 4-2. The two last played each other in 2005, won by BYU. The following week BYU makes a trip in to ACC country for a game against Georgia Tech. The two split a home-and-home series in 2002 and 2003. This will mark the third meeting between the two schools.
BYU gets a bye week the first weekend in November and wraps up their regular season with a home finale against Idaho November 10 and two road games at San Jose State and New Mexico State.
BYU was 10-3 in their first season as a football independent. After leaving the Mountain West Conference BYU looked to thrive as an independent. In year one of the adventure the Cougars finished the season with a 10-3 record, with losses to Texas, Utah and TCU. The season ended with a win against Tulsa in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl, 24-21.
With the bar set at ten wins, and with a tougher schedule on tap for 2012, it will be difficult to match last season's win total. When BYU made the move to become an independent, this was the kind of schedule they wanted to put together though. The bar has been set, giving the program something to shoot for. If BYU can scratch out ten wins on this schedule, it should be considered an improvement from 2010.
With the Mountain West Conference and Conference USA forming a new conference, and the Big 12 still expected to make a move to expand back to 12 members, it remains unknown just how long BYU will remain an independent. The CUSA - MWC merger would like to get to 18-24 members, with 16 currently in discussions forming the new league. BYU could be a program that is invited at some point to the new conference, and they will always be considered a candidate for Big 12 expansion, realistic or not.
Click here for more on the BYU 2012 football schedule.
BYU opens their spring football schedule on March 15. A date fr the spring game has not been confirmed.
Kevin McGuire is a national college football writer for Examiner.com and the host of the No 2-Minute Warning podcast. He can be reached at cfbexaminer@gmail.com.
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