This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
If reports are true, and BYU has given us no reason today to believe they aren't, the Cougars' 2016 football schedule is going to be as difficult as any in recent memory.
Thursday, ESPN's Brett McMurphy reported that BYU and Mississippi State have agreed to a home-and-home series, with the 2016 game in Provo and the 2017 game in Starkville, Miss.
Attempts to get confirmation or denial from BYU were unsuccessful.
However, athletic director Tom Holmoe, responding to a mention of the series on Twitter, wrote "You can pass along, "I like it."
Later Thursday, this newspaper in Mississippi reported that "a source inside the MSU athletic department" confirmed that the schools have reached an agreement to play each other.
As was noted in a previous blog, McMurphy reported Thursday that the SEC, to which MSU belongs, will now count games against BYU as fulfilling a mandate beginning in 2016 that SEC teams must play one nonconference game per season against a Power 5 opponent.
BYU and MSU have played twice previously, with the Bulldogs winning in Provo in 2000 and the Cougars winning in Starkville in 2001.
BYU will play Arizona, Utah, UCLA, West Virginia, Michigan State, Boise State, Cincinnati, Utah State and Mississippi State in 2016.