BYU football coach Bronco Mendenhall said after practice Wednesday that BYU's 2011 football schedule "is basically done." Mendenhall said that athletic director Tom Holmoe will announce the final two (or three) additions in the next few days after all the contracts have been signed. We know about 10 of those games, assuming that Utah and BYU work out an agreement to continue playing as the athletic directors at both schools have said they would. "I have agreed to the teams that we are going to play that [Holmoe] was trying to solidify," Mendenhall said. Right now, the 2011 schedule includes Hawaii, Utah, Oregon State, Texas, Central Florida, Utah State, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, San Jose State and Idaho. If the Hawaii game is at Hawaii, as expected, then the Cougars would be able to play a 13th game in 2011, per NCAA rules for teams agreeing to play a game in the islands. That additional opponent will most likely be from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) formerly Division I-AA. Mendenhall said there are three "criteria" that he asked Holmoe to look for as the athletic director tries to fill out the schedule. It sprouted all the openings when BYU announced it was going independent in football in 2011. "I like the idea of playing a national schedule and that we cover the country to make sure our fans and church members around the country can see us play in person," Mendenhall said. "I like the idea of having natural rivalries and intriguing matchups. I have already mentioned Hawaii, Notre Dame, possibly Boston College. Games like that are intriguing. Then the third component I like has to do with schools that have a very unique campus, or traditions, which would be a great place to go play a college football game." Those would most likely be military schools such as Army, Navy and Air Force. In a radio interview last week, Mendenhall also mentioned Michigan as a team the Cougars would like to play a time or two in the near future. And he said he likes the idea of playing Hawaii every year, "with so many Polynesian players and the ancestry on our team."———————————- Mendenhall said in Tuesday's MWC coaches teleconference that he would like to continue the rivalry with Air Force "because of the respect I have for the academy. I think it's a good game to have on the schedule. We're hopeful we can work something out on a nonconference basis." However, Air Force already has eight conference games per year, a number that could grow with the probable additions next year of Nevada, Fresno State and Boise State (to offset the loss of BYU and Utah). Throw in the traditional games against Army and Navy, and that doesn't leave much wiggle room for a nonconference game against BYU, or anyone else.

Curiously, Mendenhall hasn't mentioned any other MWC schools that he would like to continue to play. An already-scheduled series with Boise State begins in 2012 in Boise.