BYU and Southern Miss Agree to Series in 2014 & 2015
By Mitch Harper
One week ago was BYU’s National Football Media Day. Many Cougar faithful were hoping to hear some sort of scheduling announcement from that event. BYU didn’t announce any scheduling news and didn’t need to. When was the last time a Media Day had breaking news taking place?
Flash forward a week later, it has been announced that BYU has scheduled a home-and-home with Southern Mississippi from Conference USA for the 2014 & 2015 seasons.
The Golden Eagles have been one of the more consistent programs in the so-called “Non-BCS” tier of College Football. Southern Miss has had 17 straight seasons with a winning record, and has appeared in a bowl game 12 of the last 13 seasons.
The first meeting in 2014 will take place in Provo. Which is great news. There was no scheduled home games for 2014 yet. While the Cougars travel miles will be racking up points as they visit Texas, Boise State, Central Florida, and Georgia Tech. A road game against Utah is possible as well if the two schools continue their annual series. When it comes to Utah though, the game must be scheduled within the first three weeks of the season according to Pac-12 rules. BYU already has one of those first three slots occupied in Texas on September 6th.
Hawaii, Utah State, and Notre Dame are possible home games in 2014 as well. Nothing official on dates however with those scheduling agreements at this time. Louisiana Tech is a possibility in 2014 at home. BYU and Tech were originally scheduled to play a home-and-home in 2011 and 2012, but that series was canceled to allow BYU to face TCU in the Dallas Cowboys Stadium this season. There is a possibility the agreement resurfaces and 2014 is one of those years.
The only element to this series with Southern Miss that is unknown is when the games take place. Many are hoping these are late October or early November games. Which would work out nicely having a quality opponent in the Golden Eagles on the backhalf of the season.
Conference USA is entering a TV agreement with FOX starting in 2011 that runs through 2015 (year BYU faces USM in Hattiesburg). When BYU travels to Hattiesburg the game could end up on network FOX, FSN, or FX.
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