BYU Football: The 2018 home slate stinks, but future home schedules will rock
By Shaun Gordon
Let’s face it, the 2018 home schedule for BYU Football stinks. Have a little patience, though, since 2019 and beyond will get much, much better.
There’s a very real possibility that BYU Football may set record lows in attendance this year.
Part of it stems from last year’s struggles. When you lose at home to teams like UMass and look mediocre in an FCS home game against Portland State, you’re not likely to attract many fans.
But that’s only half of the equation.
The other half is that the 2018 home schedule stinks. There’s really no debating that. The Cougars will play the following six teams at home:
- Cal
- McNeese State
- Utah State
- Hawaii
- Northern Illinois
- New Mexico
Ouch.
Cal will be a pretty good game. They’re not a powerhouse program, but at least they’re Power Five.
Utah State is an in-state game, so people will show up to that one.
After that it’s pretty pathetic. There’s nothing in the other four games to convince the casual football fan to show up at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
BYU has drawn good crowds with bad schedules before. They’ve drawn good crowds after bad seasons before.
But put both together, and this could be the perfect storm of empty seats.
Looking to the future, though, things will get better.
Whether or not the Cougars can turn things around on the field remains to be seen. But win or not, more fans will flock to Provo in future seasons thanks to vastly better schedules.
Hopefully fans prove doubters wrong in 2018 and fill the stands against McNeese State and New Mexico. Contrary to social media and message boards, most BYU fans are still loyal.
But it’ll be a lot easier to justify weathering the weather and the cost to come to games starting in 2019.
Let’s look ahead to who will invade LaVell Edwards Stadium in future seasons.