Cosmo Participates In Winter Conditioning With BYU Football Team
Jan 18, 2023, 6:11 PM | Updated: 8:02 pm
Cosmo the Cougar pictured with Kedon Slovis, Jake Retzlaff, Cade Fennegan and Cole Hagen from BYU Football (Photo courtesy of Cosmo Cougar's Twitter)
(Photo courtesy of Cosmo Cougar's Twitter)
PROVO, Utah – Cosmo joined the BYU football team for a workout on Wednesday. The BYU mascot posted up with Kedon Slovis, BYU’s new transfer QB, and others in a picture posted to Twitter.
Cosmo has been up to a lot recently. Including a ‘Top Gun’ inspired performance at halftime of the men’s basketball game against Gonzaga.
gym bros 🤝 pic.twitter.com/ODqixwUKW1
— Cosmo Cougar (@byu_cosmo) January 19, 2023
Cosmo is shown giving handshakes and embracing members of the Cougars football team.
BYU football’s last game was a 1-point win in the New Mexico Bowl on December 17. On a brighter note, the Cougar’s basketball team has been on a great stretch of late. They are currently 9-2 in their last 11, only suffering losses to No. 6 Gonzaga and the Loyola Marymount Lions.
BYU’s Move To Big 12 Impacted 2023 Pac-12 Football Schedule
BYU was scheduled to take on USC in a regular season finale on November 25, 2023. The move to cancel that third game in a three-game series was announced last April, leaving the Trojans with some challenges in their final Pac-12 season.
The Los Angeles Times reported that after the BYU game went away, USC was facing 12 consecutive weeks without a bye.
On Wednesday, the Pac-12 Conference released the 2023 schedule. Sure enough, USC’s bye week lands on Thanksgiving weekend, where the BYU game was originally going to be played.
The Trojans got creative and scheduled a game against San Jose State for Week Zero on August 26. That move allowed USC to break up its 12-game grind, giving them an early bye week on September 16.
BYU will open its 2023 schedule against Conference-USA’s Sam Houston on September 2, Southern Utah on September 9, then a trip to SEC Country to face Arkansas on September 16 before facing nine yet-to-be-announced Big 12 games.
BYU Football Always Played Pac-12 Teams As An Independent
When BYU was an FBS Independent, the Cougars helped fill late November dates for Pac-12 programs. Due to the Pac-12 allowing programs like USC and Stanford to play mid-season rivalries at Notre Dame, BYU was the perfect filler at the end of the regular season.
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BYU closed out four Independent regular seasons against Pac-12 teams: Cal (2014), Utah (2018), USC (2021), and Stanford (2022).
The next time BYU is scheduled to play a team from the Pac-12 is in 2024. That’s when they renew their rivalry with two-time Pac-12 Champion Utah again. Utah is scheduled annually from 2024 to 2028. BYU also has games scheduled against Arizona in 2026 and 2027. Plus a home game against Stanford in 2031.
Chandler Holt is a Digital Sports Producer for KSLSports.com, specializing in all things basketball and football. Follow Chandler on Twitter at @ChandlerHoltKSL.
