The Next Few Weeks will Provide Answers for BYU Football

Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde outlines the next few weeks for college football decision makers.

Ever since March, the fate of the college football season has been unknown. Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde said in a recent article that "in the final week of July, just over a month from the scheduled start to the season, the battered can has come to rest at a fork in said road. Decisions finally must be made."

Forde states that "this week should provide some answers. Maybe not the final answers, but some plans must be agreed upon - or abandoned."

Here are the decisions to be made this week:

"An Atlantic Coast Conference schedule model, including a proposed starting date and a league championship game date, could be revealed as early as Wednesday."

According to Forde, the ACC is deciding between a few different formats. "a 10-game league schedule, plus one non-conference game; or an eight-game league schedule, plus one non-conference game...Coupled with that decision is how much Notre Dame factors into the mix. The Fighting Irish, a football independent but an ACC member in most other sports, could play 10 league games and those results would count in conference standings."

Depending on the agreement between the ACC and Notre Dame, it could eliminate the Irish as a potential candidate to fill one of the many holes in BYU's schedule. As most BYU fans recall, Notre Dame owes BYU a return trip to Provo.

The Big 12 is punting the decision as long as possible. Forde notes:

 "It was notable that the Big 12 made a couple of scheduling moves over the weekend—Oklahoma moved up its opener against Missouri State to Aug. 29, and Kansas added Southern Illinois to the schedule in place of a canceled game with New Hampshire. That game also is slotted for Aug. 29. If the Big 12 was planning to pare down to 10 games this week, those moves might not have been made. Missouri State seemingly would be the most disposable opponent on the Sooners’ schedule. It makes a little more sense for Kansas, which has a couple of geographically problematic non-conference games—Boston College coming to Lawrence and a road trip to Coastal Carolina—and lost the New Hampshire matchup."

The Big 12 is doing everything they can to keep a complete schedule. If they are able to play non-conference games, BYU is a an excellent candidate to play one or more Big 12 teams. Oklahoma State, for example, is looking for a game on September 26th. With many schools moving their first game to week zero, Forde says other Power-5 schools "could also be looking for a newly schedule Week Zero game."

Grab your popcorn - these will be eventful weeks, for better of for worse.