BYU/Utah Football Rivalry Game From 2020 Season Rescheduled
Sep 22, 2021, 4:47 PM | Updated: 4:51 pm
Utah Utes safety Brandon McKinney (28) and Utah Utes linebacker Hayden Furey (54) try to get to Brigham Young Cougars quarterback Jaren Hall (3) as BYU and Utah play an NCAA football game at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. BYU won 26-17, ending a nine-game losing streak to the Utes. (Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News)
(Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY – The BYU/Utah football rivalry paused in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That game which had to be postponed now has a new scheduled date.
The 2020 game is rescheduled for the 2030 season, according to Utah’s official future non-conference schedules. As a result, BYU will travel to Rice-Eccles Stadium on September 7, 2030, to conclude the two-game series that was supposed to be played in 2019 and then 2020.
This season, the two rivals began a six-game agreement, with BYU defeating Utah 26-17 to end a nine-game losing streak. What makes the game interesting moving forward is that BYU will no longer be an FBS Independent beginning in 2023. The Cougars are moving into the Big 12 Conference. Whenever going into a conference, it could create some challenges with maintaining rivalries.
The Pac-12 Conference with their newly formed Alliance with the Big Ten and ACC plans to drop down to eight conference games, freeing up another non-conference spot. However, it’s not clear if the Big 12 will play nine or eight out-of-league games when BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF matriculate into the league.
Both ADs have expressed a desire to continue playing
BYU and Utah ADs Tom Holmoe and Mark Harlan have publicly expressed a desire to maintain the rivalry.
When asked about the future of the series at BYU’s Big 12 announcement press conference on September 10, Holmoe said the following, “In the last couple of years, you’ve seen a relationship between BYU and Utah where it’s a little bit more open and we’re transparent with each other’s needs. Being now in two separate conferences in football -not being Independent- we’ll have needs and desires like Utah has had being a member of the Pac-12.”
Holmoe added, “We’re going to have to see what it looks like in our conference who we play, where we play, when we play, and what the scheduling windows look like. We’ve had a full four months of scheduling to do as an Independent. But now we could be restricted to certain times of the year like some conferences are and maybe there are certain openings. Those are discussions I look forward to having.”
Here are the future dates for the BYU/Utah football rivalry, with the 2020 game rescheduled for 2030.
Future BYU/Utah football rivalry dates
- 2024: September 7 at Utah
- 2025: TBD at BYU
- 2026: TBD at Utah
- 2027: September 18 at BYU
- 2028: September 9 at Utah
- 2030: September 7 at Utah
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for KSLsports.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.
