Four Things to Watch For When the 2025 BYU Football Schedule is Released

On Tuesday morning, the Big 12 will unveil the 2025 Big 12 football schedule. Here are four things BYU fans need to watch for when the schedule is released.

1. Where will the Big 12 place the rivalry game?

No surprise here, the most important thing to watch for will be where the Big 12 will place the rivalry game between BYU and Utah.

Last year, the Big 12 put the rivalry game on November 9th and both teams had bye weeks leading up to the game.

The idea behind playing that game on November 9th was to draw a larger audience. From this author's perspective, that plan backfired. The BYU-Utah game got the late ESPN kickoff window since that day was crowded with high-profile SEC matchups.

It's also worth noting that both teams lost their games the following week after the rivalry. BYU was beat up and lethargic against Kansas after beating Utah in an emotional game. Utah got blown out by Colorado the week after losing to BYU.

Perhaps the conference will put the game back on rivalry weekend. Or maybe the league will look at 2024 and decide it is better to give both teams a bye after the rivalry game instead of before the rivalry game.

2. What will happen on September 13th?

BYU's non-conference schedule is locked in. The Cougars will play Portland State and Stanford at home before traveling to take on East Carolina on September 20th. The only issue? There is an empty week between BYU's game against Stanford and the game against East Carolina.

BYU might have a conference game that weekend. Or they could have a bye that weekend if other teams in the conference are not available to play each other that weekend.

3. Bye Weeks

Like 2024, teams will have two bye weeks in 2025. Last year, the Big 12 gave teams a bye week around the start of October and the start of November. The placement of BYU's bye weeks is something to watch out for when the schedule is released.

4. The November Slate

BYU is still building the roster depth to compete for championships in a Power Four conference. Last year, BYU stumbled in November after a perfect 9-0 start. In 2023, BYU was winless in November. In two years in the Big 12, BYU is 2-6 in November.

The November schedule is something to look for when the schedule is released. The more favorable the November schedule the better for BYU.