This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Provo • Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive ruffled some feathers around Provo last summer when he declared that BYU would not be considered a Power 5-caliber football opponent. But one of the SEC's newest members apparently doesn't care.
BYU and SEC newcomer Missouri announced Thursday that they have agreed to a two-game football series, with the first game scheduled to be played at a technically neutral site, Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, and the second in Provo.
The 2015 game will be played on Nov. 14 next year, forcing BYU to push its return trip to UNLV (the Cougars host the Rebels on Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium) back to 2016 or 2017. It appears that Idaho State will play at UNLV next season in BYU's place, and Missouri will help find a team to replace the FCS Bengals on BYU's 2015 schedule. That game was set for Oct. 24.
The Tigers will visit BYU on Nov. 7, 2020.
Missouri athletic director Mike Alden said it is similar to a home-and-home deal in that Missouri will get the gate receipts for the Kansas City game and BYU will get the gate receipts for the Provo game. The home team will pay the visiting team a "guarantee fee" in the ballpark of $250,000 in each game.
He also said ESPN and Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, a former player and assistant coach at BYU and assistant coach at Missouri, played roles in getting the deal done. Despite the SEC and ACC's June statements that games against BYU don't count toward their nonconference P5 opponent quotas, Alden said the Cougars are a formidable opponent.
"In our mind, they're a Power-5 opponent," Alden said. "There are a lot of programs that will shy away from scheduling BYU, but … it will absolutely present a challenge to our program. We recognize that you need to be playing those types of opponents as you try to vie for playoff contention, things like that."
The last and only time BYU and Missouri met, Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young caught a trick-play touchdown pass from Eddie Stinnett in the final seconds to give BYU a 21-17 win in the 1983 Holiday Bowl.
BYU's road schedule in 2015 now includes games at Nebraska (Sept. 5), UCLA (Sept. 19), Michigan (Sept. 26), San Jose State (Nov. 7) and Utah State (Nov. 28). Home games in 2015 are against Boise State, UConn, East Carolina, Cincinnati, Fresno State and whichever opponent replaces Idaho State.
Briefly
BYU punter Scott Arellano is a candidate for the 2014 Burlsworth Trophy, which honors a player who began his career as a walk-on and became a major contributor. Arellano received a scholarship last winter and had a school-record 81-yard punt two weeks ago at Middle Tennessee. … UNLV quarterback Blake Decker, who tried out for BYU unsuccessfully in 2013, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal this on Wednesday: "It's weird now that it's BYU week, the team that cut me, that told me I wasn't good enough to play for them."
Twitter: @drewjay —
UNLV at BYU
O Saturday, 5 p.m.
TV • ESPNU