The decision
Earlier this week, the First President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that there will be no more Saturday evening sessions of General Conference. This has a potential impact
The impact of the Friday night game
BYU has had difficulty getting and opponent for the first week of October. The Cougars have insisted on having that date open. College coaches have been unwilling to schedule BYU on the first week of October. It is not only the short week in which coaches would have to get their teams prepared. There is someplace else that they would rather be on a Friday night. In the stands at a nearby high school. Friday nights have been for high school football. Not having to insist on a Friday night game will help the Cougars diversify their schedule.
High schools in the area, particularly in the heavily Latter-Day-saint suburbs, for years have been willing to move the first week of October game to Thursday night to not interfere with the Cougars. They want Cougar coaches, and those from the visiting teams, to come to their games and see the kids play. The high schools will likely want BYU to return the 1st week in October games to Saturday to give the kids more time to prepare for that game.
Yes, there has been a willing participant for BYU to play on Fridays, which I will discuss later. There have also been ways to not have a conflict in General Conference, particularly having a game on the West Coast. This happened frequently when BYU was in the MWC as road games vs. San Diego State or UNLV were common on the first Saturday in October. In 2023, BYU has a game against Fresno State scheduled for the first Saturday in October. Games on the West Coast and in Hawaii, which will kick off at night, have been scheduled. BYU will likely, however, avoid scheduling Hawaii on the first weekend of October, as these games, mountain time, will often go past midnight. (Hawaii prefers an 8:00 pm Hawaii time kickoff, which is 10:00 pm mountain time.)
More flexibility
The Saturday afternoon session of General Conference ends at around 4:00 pm Mountain Time, or 6:00 pm Eastern. BYU will now be able to schedule Saturday games on the East Coast as long as the kickoff is after this time. Likely, it would be 8:00 or 8:30 pm Eastern time, which is prime time on the East Coast. This will give General Conference goers time to get something to eat and be in front of the TV in time for kickoff. This could give BYU a chance to schedule return games for Western Kentucky, Louisiana Tech, UTSA and Texas State, who kindly gave BYU a home game during the COVID-19 pandemic. (None of those teams have openings in 2022--BTW) It will also help BYU have a less murderous opening schedule and perhaps some of those P5 games which dominate BYU's September schedule can be moved to that first Saturday in October.
The series with Utah State
The Aggies have been a willing Friday night opponent for the Cougars. After all, a significant portion of their fanbase are church members as well. The series with Utah State is officially on the schedule until 2026. Not all of those games are the Friday before General Conference. The 2023 match (inferred to) is one of them, where the Aggies and Cougars will knock heads mid-September in a year where neither has the Utes on their schedule.
The kickoff for this year's match, as of this writing, is still set for Friday night in Logan at 7:00 pm. It is scheduled for the CBS Sports Network. CBS could move the Fresno State at Hawaii game to later (currently set for a 5:00 pm Hawaii time kickoff. But TV networks do not like to do what Hawaii prefers and Hawaii needs TV games.) and move BYU at Utah State to Saturday at 7:30 PM Mountain Time. But, it should be noted that BYU/USU is not the only Friday night game CBS Sports network has scheduled this year. There is at least one Friday night game on the CBS schedule every week.
The other games on the schedule 2022 and 2024-2026 are currently set for the first Friday in October. Don't be surprised if they move to Saturday or to another week.
For example, 2022. The game is currently set for September 30, technically the first weekend in October. (October 1 is Saturday) BYU has two other games set for October, including a home date with Arkansas on the 15th. If I were Kalani Sitake, I would want a bye week before taking on the Razorbacks. BYU also has the last Saturday in October and the 2nd week in November free. They also only have 11 games. There is a home date against East Carolina that has not been scheduled. BYU has 6 home and 5 road games scheduled. BYU may move the Aggies to get a road game in on the first week of October, or perhaps a 7th home game.
If the Aggies will move the BYU game to another Saturday, Notre Dame only has 11 games on the schedule in 2022 and has October 1 free. Not that I wish to start any rumors. Never on this site. (wink.) If I write any more, it won't happen. But you see the impact that freeing up one Saturday can have for the BYU schedule.
The final impact
The decision of the First Presidency will have an impact on BYU football. It will give the Cougars more flexibility in scheduling football games in the future. It will impact future games with the Utah State Aggies. It will help high schools in the state of Utah. It will have a positive impact on BYU football.
