One day earlier, No. 23 BYU to put unbeaten start on line against West Virginia

PROVO — By 2 a.m. Sunday morning after a 24-21 win over Colorado, the BYU football team was approaching home and moving on to next week.

Just over 24 hours later, they were back on the practice field looking to improve to 5-0 a day earlier than usual.

The 23rd-ranked Cougars are plenty accustomed to playing late under the lights, but Friday night will set the stage when BYU hosts West Virginia (8:30 p.m. MDT, ESPN). Get the ESPN App and an extra Diet Coke ready, because team sources have indicated the game is scheduled to kickoff no later than 8:36 p.m. That means there won't be an additional TV slide for the Worldwide Leader in Sports that will air Game 1 of the WNBA finals between the Phoenix Mercury and Las Vegas Aces immediately prior to Big 12 football.

During the age of independence, death, taxes and BYU kicking off after 10 p.m. on the east coast were among the surest things in college football. So much so that the Cougars earned an unofficial nickname of "Vampire Cougs" as they thrived on nocturnal victories.

"I think we love it," BYU wide receiver Parker Kingston said earlier this week. "Our sport scientists do a great job of getting us prepared, telling us when to wake up, when to take naps, even getting food at the right time."

BYU won as many as 21 straight games that kicked off at or after sunset from 2020 through last year. And when it comes to Friday night, the Cougars are 10-4 before the weekend in 14 such regular-season contests during Kalani Sitake's 11-year coaching tenure.

That includes a pair of Friday night games in 2024, when BYU beat SMU 18-15 in Dallas and pulled past Oklahoma State 38-35 at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

Of course, playing a day before most of the country isn't always advantageous. Sure, BYU players will have an extra day of recovery during the Latter-day Saints' general conference weekend, but the quick turnaround from late-night Saturday against Colorado to late-night Friday against the Mountaineers isn't ideal, either.

"Everybody's a little sore from the last game, so you have to be smart about how much you practice," offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick said. "We probably won't have as much volume in this game plan as we normally do.

"It's about finding the balance of being healthy for the game, but also getting enough practice reps to be ready to play," he added. "We've kind of got a system over the years of playing Thursday and Friday games, and we'll find out if it works."

Roderick and the rest of the BYU coaching staff acknowledged that both teams are playing under the same conditions, and West Virginia also has to fly across the country for the Friday night tilt. Mountaineers quarterback Jaylen Henderson, who threw for 22 yards and ran for 28 more in last week's 48-14 loss to Utah has been downgraded to "Out" on the visitors' Big 12 availability report, leaving the starting job up to former third-stringer Khalil Wilkins, as first reported by WVU Sports Now.

The redshirt freshman completed 3-of-6 passes for 63 yards and a touchdown last week, and added 39 yards on nine carries. BYU will also have to keep in check Rich Rodriguez's unique, well-regarded 3-3-5 defense that has allowed 26.6 points per game.

"RichRod is a heckuva of a coach," Roderick said of Rodriguez, who is the only active FBS coach to go against BYU legend LaVell Edwards, "and he'll have those guys ready to play."

Regardless of the quarterback, West Virginia has played similarly en route to a 2-3 record, including an 0-2 start to Big 12 play.

"We've watched all their games to this point; I don't think they'll venture too far off. They'll have some wrinkles for us, too," BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill said. "But they've got to go in on a short week, too, and execute their offense.

"I don't necessarily know that the quarterback they choose is going to be the biggest issue."

The Cougars (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) are off to a 4-0 start for the third consecutive season and one of just 20 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision still undefeated. A win would push BYU to 5-0 for just the ninth time in program history, including 5-0 starts under Sitake in 2020, 2021 and 2024.

But if the game goes late enough, it very well could end in the early hours of Saturday morning — a normal college football game day for most teams.

"When we play late Friday night, it's basically like playing a Saturday morning game, honestly," Kingston said. "We're going to attack the week like we normally will.

"And it will be nice having a longer week going into next week."

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