Notre Dame has owed BYU a home game for years as part of an old scheduling agreement that they have yet to fulfill. However, according to the BYU SB Nation website Vanquish the Foe, that game could come next year. Yesterday they reported that there have been discussions between the two programs about playing next year in Las Vegas.
The game that Notre Dame owes BYU is supposed to be in Provo, Utah after the Cougars traveled to Notre Dame in 2012 and 2013, but they reportedly approached Notre Dame about that potential game being played in Vegas with both schools in need of a twelfth game in 2022.
The report did say that they were unsure what Notre Dame’s response was to BYU’s outreach, so things are in the early stages here, but Notre Dame does need a game for 2022, and there isn’t a lot of time – scheduling wise – to add one.
The original agreement called for a total of six games but was later amended. Notre Dame and BYU played in 2013, with the Irish winning 23-13 in Notre Dame Stadium. A year earlier, the 5th ranked Irish eeked out a three-point win over the Cougars on their way to a perfect regular season.
The two programs have only played each other eight times over the years despite both programs being faith-based institutions and both being independent programs – Notre Dame historically and BYU since 2010.
There is a contingent of the fan base that typically opposes any neutral site game – even games like the Wisconsin game at Lambeau – but it will be interesting to see how the reaction would be to a game in Vegas – a city that a lot of people look for excuses to visit.
Ohio State and Clemson headline Notre Dame’s 2022 schedule with USC, North Carolina, and Stanford making up the second-tier contests.
Notre Dame currently has three weekends open in 2022, and two of them overlap with open dates for BYU – October 8 and October 29. Notre Dame plays Clemson in Notre Dame Stadium on November 5th, though, so the Irish will likely want to keep that bye week to prepare for the Tigers. If Notre Dame did play BYU on October 8th, they’d have a bye week before with a home game against Stanford a week after.
