It’s Not You, It’s Me: A Utah, BYU Break (Up) Letter Ft. The Pac-12

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – In a mutually agreed-upon decision, the Utes and the Cougars are taking a break from playing each other in the 2022 and 2023 seasons, but could the Pac-12 be a third party involved in the split?

Fans of the rivalry game need not worry – the missed games will be moved to 2024 and 2025. After 2025 the Utes and the Cougs will meet every year until 2028.

The Gainesville Sun reported Utah had scheduled a home-and-home series with the University of Florida from the Southeastern Conference, meaning they will play once in The Swamp and once at Rice Eccles.

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While BYU hasn’t completely filled the holes in their schedule, they did add games against Rice and Central Flordia. They’ll face off against Central Florida in 2023 and 2024, while they’ll play Rice in 2023 and 2025.

BREAKING: BYU/Utah football rivalry will take a two-year break for the Utes to schedule a home-and-home series with an SEC team, reported to be the Florida Gators.https://t.co/NseHinDboq

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) September 24, 2019

Utah already had BYU on its schedule for those two seasons, and head coach Kyle Whittingham has said in the past that they would not schedule another Power 5 non-conference game with the Cougars already on the schedule, which is one reason Scott Mitchell, former Utah quarterback, thinks the Pac-12 had something to do with the breakup.

When the news broke Monday evening, many heartbroken fans of either team simply wondered why.

Pac-12 Interference?

The Pac-12 has struggled to keep up with other Power-5 Conferences when it comes to football, with the exception of USC, who has no problem recruiting top talent.

From their near-constant officiating woes to the lack of representation in the College Football Playoff, its no surprise to most fans that the conference experienced a revenue dip between 2017 and 2018.

Since the introduction of the College Football Playoff system in 2014, the Pac-12 has only made two appearances. Things aren’t looking good for a Pac-12 team to make it this year either.

“I think the Pac-12 needs an image change,” said Mitchell on Rivals Podcast.

Per sources, Florida has scheduled non-conference games against @Utah_Football with game in Gainesville in 2022 and Salt Lake City the following year. Plan accordingly.

— Pat Dooley (@pat_dooley) September 23, 2019

He predicted that in a behind-the-scenes move the Pac-12 “strongly recommended” that in order to gain credibility on a national scale the teams should schedule more SEC or Big-10 opponents. Opponents like Florida would help the Utes and the rest of the conference gain respect nationally – which would not only help with the playoff system, it would eventually help with recruiting.

Mitchell also pointed out that playing on the East coast will get more eyes on the TV watching these teams play. Currently, a lot of Pac-12 games happen later in the evening on the West coast, meaning college football fans on the East coast are likely already in bed, hence the trending hashtag #Pac12AfterDark.

If the rumors are true and Utah is playing the Florida Gators, Mitchell’s co-host, former BYU Cougar Jason Buck pointed out that losing to Florida looks a lot better than losing to a non-Power-5 team.

The Future Of The Rivalry

While the schedule change may disappoint local fans in the upcoming season, it seems that relations between Utah and BYU are still good. Mark Harlan and Tom Holmoe, the schools’ athletic directors, both had positive things to say about the relationship.

“We appreciate the tremendous relationship and cooperation we have with Tom Holmoe and BYU to work together to not only ensure the future of this rivalry but to demonstrate the strong partnership that is in place,” said Harlan. “We each share the intention to continue this great rivalry in football and across all of our teams for many years to come.”

Official: BYU and Utah are taking a two-year break in the rivalry in the 2022 and 2023 seasons. But they also announce four additional games.

The four additional games will be added to the series in 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028 @kslsports

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) September 24, 2019

Holmoe assured fans both schools will take care of the rivalry and keep it strong.

“I appreciate the great working relationship we have with Mark Harlan and many others at Utah,” Holmoe said. “We have a responsibility to take care of the future of this great rivalry, not just in football but across all of the sports. There may come a time in the future where we need to ask Utah to make an adjustment for us. That’s how a relationship works. Utah approached us about an opportunity they have and we agreed to work with them.”

You can listen to Scott Mitchell and Jason Buck’s full conversation about the break below on Rivals Podcast. 

Rivals is hosted by a former Utah quarterback and a former BYU defensive lineman. For all of the interesting debates about the Cougars, the Utes and the NFL subscribe wherever you find podcasts or on kslsports.com.