WKU Football: Halloween Trip to BYU added to Schedule
For nearly 2 months we’ve waited for WKU to find a replacement for their trip to Indiana that was canceled due to Covid-19. Today Stadium’s Brett McMurphy finally announced how the Hilltoppers would fill the last nonconference vacancy on their schedule
Back in April, both schools began speaking to each other after their respective mascots ran the table from play in participants to the Championship of Sirius XM’s Best Mascot bracket. Cosmo famously beat Big Red under dubious circumstances but it opened up the dialogue between Todd Stewart and BYU’s athletic director Tom Holmoe.
BYU is an Independent and its 2020 schedule was gutted due to several cancellations across the 2020 season. They went from 12 regular-season games to 2 and have steadily added games against Sun Belt, CUSA, and other independents over the past few weeks. Financial terms haven’t been disclosed yet but I’m sure WKU will get some desperately needed guaranteed money by going all the way out to Provo. Let’s hope a return trip is in the works or a basketball series is tied to the game. This will be the Hilltoppers first-ever matchup against BYU in Football.
The Cougars went 7–6 last season losing to Hawaii in their bowl game. They return their starting quarterback in dual-threat Zach Wilson as well as several impact players on both sides of the ball. This game replaces WKU’s homecoming date on the schedule as conference rival Old Dominion canceled their season last week. Look for WKU to move up the Chattanooga game to October 24th and make that their new homecoming opponent (if CUSA doesn’t move dates around). Todd Stewart recently said that WKU will only play 11 games in 2020 and McMurphy reported yesterday that CUSA East teams will only play 7 conference games.
Here’s a projected schedule* after today’s report:
September 12th- At Louisville
September 19th- vs. Liberty
September 26th- Open
October 3rd- at Middle Tennessee
October 10th- vs Marshall
October 17th- at UAB
October 24th- Open (potentially vs. Chattanooga)
October 31st- at BYU
November 7th- at FAU
November 14th- vs. Southern Miss
November 21st- vs. FIU
November 28th- at Charlotte
December 5th- Potential CUSA Championship game
*Subject to change, the new schedule should be announced next week
Overall BYU is a sexy replacement for the lost Indiana game. This game should get picked up by ESPN or BYU TV and the Cougars have a ton of history including a national championship (1984) & Heisman Trophy winner (Ty Detmer). It’s a shame that fans probably won’t be able to make the trip to this unique destination that wouldn’t otherwise be on WKU’s radar. If WKU’s season lives up to its potential, this game has the ceiling of a high-level matchup that could definitely get WKU resume points compared to its CUSA, AAC & Sun Belt competitors.
