This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
It looks like landing that home-and-home football series deal with Michigan State has cost BYU football a home game against Arizona.
The Cougars and Wildcats announced today the addition of a two-game football series: Arizona will play at BYU on Sept. 12, 2026 and BYU will play at Arizona on Sept. 11, 2027.
The schools also said that they've changed the three-game series for games in 2016, 2018 and 2020 that they announced back in April of 2013.
The 2016 game will still be played at a neutral site — University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. — and the 2018 game will still be played Sept. 1, 2018 at Arizona.
However, the 2020 game that was scheduled for Provo will now be played on Sept. 4, 2021 in Las Vegas. Perhaps Sin City will have a new football stadium by then and the Cougars and Wildcats won't have to square off at Sam Boyd Stadium, which is, ironically, where they last met. Arizona defeated BYU 31-21 in the 2008 Las Vegas Bowl.
So, BYU loses a home game against a Power 5 opponent in 2020.
Why?
Because Michigan State will be visiting LaVell Edwards Stadium on Sept. 12, 2020, the exact day Arizona was supposed to visit. It appears that the Cougars gave up the home game against Arizona to land the MSU series — which isn't a bad tradeoff, in my book.