The jigsaw puzzle known as the 2023 football schedule for BYU put another piece in place this week.
BYU’s road game against Arkansas will remain on the schedule in 2023. It has been pushed up a week, from Sept. 23 to Sept. 16, but will be played, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
BYU will transition from an independent to the Big 12 in the 2023 season. As a result, it has to remove or reschedule eight or nine pre-scheduled games to make room for a conference slate.
“We are trying to take teams out [of our schedule],” BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe said, noting BYU has scheduled out in advance of the 2026-27 season. “We are still figuring it out.”
BYU has already rescheduled its game against South Florida in 2023. BYU was supposed to host the Bulls as part of a home-and-home series over the course of the 2022-23 seasons. The program will still travel to South Florida in 2022. But the return game has been pushed to 2026.
Holmoe said in his semi-annual address he will prioritize in-state rivalries when it comes to deciding who to keep on the schedule and who to take off.
The language in certain scheduling contracts, though, will play a bigger role in which games can be rescheduled. Some contacts won’t allow BYU to reschedule. Other contracts have language permitting BYU to buy teams out since it entered a Power Five conference.
Currently, there are only two in-state games on BYU’s schedule for 2023: Utah State and Southern Utah.
Other notable games remaining in the 2023 schedule include Tennessee, USC and UCF. Tennessee is a home game while the two others are on the road.
