INDEPENDENCE DAY
Today is the day Cougar fans have been anticipating for 303 days, since BYU announced it would leave the Mountain West Conference and become a college football independent. During the press conference last summer, televised live on BYUtv, Athletic Director Tom Holmoe announced an eight-year deal with ESPN, making BYU the first school to sign an exclusive broadcast agreement with the Worldwide Leader in Sports. (Holmoe, ESPN Vice President Dave Brown and WCC Commissioner Jamie Zaninovich also appeared on the 2010-2011 season premiere of True Blue the same day).
In the last five seasons, BYU has had 10 games broadcast on the ESPN family of networks. Five of those were bowl games. Under the new eight-year deal, ESPN will broadcast a minimum of three BYU football games on ESPN, ESPN2 and/or ABC. Additional games may also be carried on ESPNU. As of today, seven of BYU’s 12 contests on the 2011 schedule will be televised on ESPN or ESPN2, including each of the first five. Once the television schedule is finalized, BYU will likely appear on ESPN as many times, if not more times, in 2011 as it has in the past five years combined.
The new BYU-ESPN relationship is a reunion of sorts. BYU defeated #3 Pittsburgh on ESPN’s first live college football regular season broadcast, on September 1, 1984. The Cougars finished the season 13-0 to capture the national title, the last non-BCS school to win a national championship.
The new agreement also allows BYU football broadcasts to return to BYUtv. The Home of BYU Sports will broadcast at least one live football game exclusively each season. BYUtv will also produce side-by-side broadcasts with its new partner, ESPN, and rebroadcast games the same day.
BYU FOOTBALL MEDIA DAY ON BYUtv
In its inaugural season as a football independent, BYU will host its own Football Media Day on July 12 at the BYU Broadcasting Building. BYUtv will bring you live coverage. Be sure to tune in on this historic day, with coaches, players, media personalities and BYU football legends all gathered together to discuss BYU Football.
Follow @byutvsports on Twitter for the latest BYU sports updates and the chance to win prizes on BYU Football Media Day.
BYUtv Sports in also on Facebook. "Like" BYUtv Sports on Facebook and post your questions for the online Fan Q&A Webcast, held during BYU Football Media Day on July 12.
In coming weeks, we will have additional exciting announcements relating to BYUtv’s coverage of BYU sports, so stay tuned.
FUTURE SCHEDULE
In the aftermath of BYU’s “Declaration of Independence”, Tom Holmoe and his staff orchestrated a 2011 football schedule featuring opponents from seven different conferences. BYU has also announced the following opponents for future schedules:
BOISE STATE
2012 in Boise
2013 in Provo
2014 in Boise
2015 in Provo
BYU announced a four-game series with Boise State back in 2008 when BYU was in the MWC and Boise State was in the WAC. That agreement is still intact, despite the Cougars and Broncos both changing conference affiliations. Boise State leaves the WAC for the MWC this season.
GEORGIA TECH
October 13, 2012 in Atlanta
October 12, 2013 in Provo
October 11, 2014 in Atlanta
October 14, 2017 in Provo
BYU announced a four-game series with Georgia Tech roughly a month and a half after announcing it would go independent in football.
HAWAII
2012 in Provo
2013 in Honolulu
up to nine games through 2020
BYU announced a home-and-home series with Hawaii in 2008, but just like Boise State, Hawaii will be joining the MWC (for football only), only a year later in 2012. BYU has since contracted with the WAC for games in 2011-2012, so the 2012 game in Provo will be a return game for the 2011 game in Honolulu. BYU also announced the two teams could play up to nine games through the 2020 season, which means they could play every year.
LOUISIANA TECH
home-and-home
The home-and-home series with Louisiana Tech scheduled for 2011 and 2012 was cancelled, but could be rescheduled.
NEW MEXICO ST.
2012 in Las Cruces
This is a return game for the Aggies trip to Provo in 2011 as part of the scheduling agreement with the WAC.
NOTRE DAME
October 20, 2012 in South Bend
November 16, 2013 in South Bend
four more games (two in Provo, two in South Bend) to be played through 2020
The first two meetings have been announced in what is a six-game agreement through 2020.
OREGON STATE
September 1, 2012 in Provo
The Beavers will make a return trip to Provo after the Cougars visit Corvallis this season.
SAN JOSE STATE
2012 in San Jose
This is a return game for the Spartans trip to Provo in 2011 as part of the scheduling agreement with the WAC.
TEXAS
2013 in Provo
2014 in Austin
BYU and Texas will meet in Austin this season in a separate, single game agreement. The two teams later announced a home-and-home agreementto play in 2013 and 2014.
UCF
2014 in Orlando
UCF come to Provo in 2011 and BYU will return the favor in three years in this home-and-home agreement.
UTAH
September 15, 2012 in Salt Lake
The Deseret First Duel rivalry series continues, albeit a few months earlier than usual. The Utes come to Provo in 2011 and the Cougars travel to Salt Lake in 2012. No dates have been announced for the rivalry game beyond 2012.
UTAH STATE
2012 in Provo
BYU and Utah State are in the middle of a three-game series. Although Utah State is in the WAC, this series was previously scheduled and is not included in the scheduling agreement between BYU and the WAC. The Aggies come to Provo in 2011 to complete the home-and-home portion of the agreement and return to Provo in 2012 in exchange for a fatter wallet.
WEST VIRGINIA
September 24, 2016 at FedEx Field
BYU will face West Virginia in a neutral-site game in Landover, Maryland at the home of the NFL’s Washington Redskins.
2012 SCHEDULE
Home: Hawaii, Oregon State, Utah State
Away: Boise State, Georgia Tech, New Mexico State, Notre Dame, San Jose State, Utah
That leaves three opponents needed to fill out the 2012 schedule. All three will need to be home games to give BYU a balance of six home games and six road games.
BOWL AFFILIATIONS
In addition, BYU has also announced its bowl affiliation for each of the next three seasons (2011, 2012 and 2013). A bowl-eligible (six wins) non-BCS bound BYU team will participate in the following bowl games:
2011 Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl Gerald J. Ford Stadium
Opponent: Conference USA University Park, TX
2012 San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl Qualcomm Stadium
Opponent: Mountain West Conference San Diego, CA
2013 Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl AT&T Park
Opponent: Pac-12 Conference San Francisco, CA
HEAD COACH BRONCO MENDENHALL
None of this – independence, ESPN, scheduled opponents, bowl affiliation – would have happened if not for the recent success of the BYU football program. Now entering his seventh season, Bronco Mendenhall took over a team coming off of three consecutive losing seasons, and has led them to a bowl game in each of his first six seasons—the only BYU coach to do so. Here are some other statistics from his first six seasons:
56 career victories: BYU record through first six seasons
.731 win pct.: BYU record through first six seasons
ninth nationally among all active coaches
50-15 in last five seasons: ninth most wins in the nation
Four bowl victories in five seasons: One of 11 teams
* BYU has never won five bowl games in six seasons
ON TO INDEPENDENCE
I hope you are as excited to venture into football independence as I am. As an off-the-field note, BYU had six Academic All-Americans in the last three years, which ranks second behind only Penn State in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Just take a minute and think about what prominent academic institutions are beneath BYU on that list. Pretty impressive.
See you in Oxford, Mississippi in 62 days.
