BYU football schedule 2020: Predicting every BYU Cougars game

Predicting every game on the BYU Cougars football schedule.

Life as a member of the Independents is starting to take its toll on the BYU Cougars football team. In their first six seasons as an independent BYU went 52-26, including three bowl victories but have since gone 18-21 in the last three seasons. As an Independent, you can create your path to the Playoff (as Notre Dame has done) with scheduling a good amount of games against Power Five schools to bolster your resume. In these past three seasons, BYU has gone 4-7 against Power Five Schools, which isn’t terrible given the teams they have played.

Well, the 2020 season might be the toughest schedule the BYU Cougars have had as an Independent. The Cougars start the season with four straight games vs. Power Five teams, Utah, Michigan State, Arizona State and Minnesota and three of these games come on the road. The Cougars also play two other Power Five opponents, Missouri and Stanford, at the halfway point of the season and in their last game.

The rest of their schedule consists of home games against Utah State, Houston, San Diego State and North Alabama, while going on the road to take on Northern Illinois and Boise State. So based on their given schedule, BYU is going to have a tough time getting to .500 at the season’s end. But if they can string off a couple wins early on in the season over their Power Five opponents, BYU could finish with eight to nine wins, giving them a chance for a 10th win in their bowl game.

But what will BYU do? Will they stand up to the challenge their schedule gives them? Or is their schedule too much, and the Cougars not only miss out on a winning season but miss out on a bowl for the second time in four years?