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PROVO — The season before "The Season" became real Tuesday for BYU.
No, the BYU football team isn't jumping for the Big 12 Conference this fall, nor did the Cougars make any last-minute scheduling additions for the 2022 football season. But they did set in stone the upcoming fall 2022 season, which will be their last as an FBS independent before joining the Big 12 in most sports in July 2023.
To quote the urban philosopher Ice Cube, it's on like Donkey Kong.
"I'm focused on '22, but I know '23 is right around the corner, too," BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. "I think my approach is that we get going on '22, do a great job, and that will only help '22.
"Everybody's really excited about '23, and I almost have to remind them that we have a 2022 season first," Sitake added. "And that's OK — it's OK to be excited about more than one thing. It's happening; things are moving. There's still a lot of work to be done, and it's just starting."
There were few surprises Tuesday; BYU will still open the season Sept. 3 at South Florida, with the home opener one week later against future Big 12 rival Baylor and ex-BYU offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes in Provo.
No longer is rival Utah on the schedule, but road games against Oregon and Stanford, a home visit from Arkansas, and a neutral-site tilt with Notre Dame at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas also highlight the schedule, in addition to regional rivals Utah State and Boise State.
Once again, the Cougars will open the season with 10 consecutive games before a bye, currently sandwiched between a Nov. 5 trip to Boise State and a Nov. 19 home date against Dixie State, which will be formally rebranded to Utah Tech some five months before kickoff.
The only changes were minor: BYU's previously scheduled Friday night clash with Utah State was shifted from Friday, Sept. 30 to Thursday, Sept. 29. The game — which is usually played on general conference week to better serve members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that line both rosters, coaching and support staffs, and fans — will be the only Thursday night game of the year.
A previous Saturday game was also flexed to Friday night, when East Carolina visits Provo on Oct. 28. It will be the Cougars' first home game on a Friday over two years.
In all, BYU's schedule includes five Power Five opponents, two returning New Year's Six bowl participants, five teams ranked in last year's Associated Press Top 25, and 12 games against teams that finished 87-55 a year ago with nine bowl appearances.
So as BYU prepares for life in the Big 12 and Sitake tries to prepare for his players to get bigger, faster and stronger to compete in among the Power Five. To get there requires short-term goals to prepare for the long-term now.
"I can't even see through to the fall right now; I'm just trying to make it to Tuesday when we have practice again," BYU linebacker Pepe Tanuvasa said. "I'm just trying to make it to another day. I think that's what a lot of guys are thinking right now. Spring ball is such a grind, hitting now.
"I think that's where a lot of guys' focus is right now, and they don't really get pulled away from it."
One of the few downsides of the schedule is opening with 10 weeks without a bye. But the Cougars did the same thing a year ago — and in fact, opening with long stretches of back-to-back football has been more common than not in the independence era.
Perhaps that will change in the Big 12; we'll find out when the conference releases its 2023 schedule in the fall.
Until then, the team will work with what it has — and try to lessen the onslaught of injuries that followed a similar schedule last year.
"Playing 10 games in a row without a bye — that's tough," Sitake admitted, adding that 'so many things' go into the injury element. "We're doing a lot of things that not a lot of people are doing. … We just have to approach it in a different manner.
"It's a violent sport; injuries will happen. We talked about how we good we felt about our depth last year — and then our depth got tested."
