Four Instant Takeaways from the 2025 BYU Football Schedule

The 2025 BYU football schedule has been released. Here are our instant takeaways from the schedule release.

1. The rivalry game placement doesn't make a lot of sense

The BYU-Utah rivalry game will be played in mid October. On paper, the placement of the rivalry game makes very little sense. There isn't a bye weekend before the game or after like we saw last year, it's just in the middle of conference play for both teams.

Perhaps the conference received a guarantee from networks to get a better television slot if it was played this weekend. Time will tell, but as of this writing, it doesn't make sense.

2. The Big 12 did BYU no favors with the Iowa State game

After hosting rival Utah in Provo, BYU has to travel to Ames to take on Iowa State. We saw how beat up BYU was last year after beating Utah and hosting Kansas the next week. This will be a similar challenge, except BYU has to go on the road and take on one of the better teams in the conference in Iowa State.

The Big 12 did BYU no favors here.

3. The middle gauntlet

BYU's schedule has a fairly favorable start and a fairly favorable end, but the middle is a gauntlet. If BYU is going to compete for a Big 12 championship, the middle of the schedule will determine whether BYU is a championship contender or not. BYU hosts Utah in mid October before traveling to Iowa State.

After the Iowa State game, BYU has a bye week. After the bye, BYU travels to Lubbock to take on Texas Tech. After that, BYU returns home to host TCU. BYU will probably need to go 3-1 in those four games to be in Big 12 title contention.

4. BYU should get off to a good start

The start of BYU's schedule is very favorable. BYU will likely be favored in their first six games. Being favored is one thing, winning games is another.

However, BYU at least has a path to 6-0 when they host rival Utah. If BYU gets off to another 3-0 or 4-0 start, they will be in the national spotlight again like they were last year.