Potential Top 10 Holy War Between BYU and Utah Set for Morning Kickoff

A BYU-Utah rivalry game in the morning? That's the schedule for a potential top 10 showdown between BYU and Utah on November 7th. BYU and Utah will kickoff at 10 AM Mountain Time. The game will be broadcast on either ESPN or ABC.

ESPN will decide whether to place BYU-Utah or Texas-Missouri in the 10 AM window on ABC. If both BYU and Utah win this weekend, it's like that the Holy War will be broadcast on ABC since it would be a top 10 matchup.

Why is a potential top 10 showdown going to kickoff in the morning? The Big 12 made a head-scratching decision to place BYU-Utah on November 7th. That weekend is loaded with elite college football games. Notre Dame and Miami play that day. Alabama-LSU, Kentucky-Tennessee, Georgia-Ole Miss, and Oklahoma-Florida play each other in the SEC. In the Big Ten, Oregon and Ohio State will face off, although that matchup isn't what it was expected to be in the preseason. The Ducks are a mediocre football team in 2026.

If BYU-Utah would have been played an a different weekend, it's likely the game would have been a primetime matchup. Instead, the Cougars and the Utes get the early morning window.

This will be the first time BYU and Utah will have kicked off at 10 AM since the 1996 game when BYU beat Utah 37-17. That was the last time BYU beat Utah by double digits.

Does an Early Kick Favor the Road Team?

For BYU, an early kickoff might not be the worst thing. It's a challenge for home fans to wake up, get to the stadium, and be loud from the opening kick.

BYU experienced that the last time it played a 10 AM kickoff in Utah. BYU kicked off at 10;00 AM local time against Oklahoma in 2023. The Cougars went wire-to-wire with the Sooners before a Jake Retzlaff pick-six flipped that game in OU's favor. The environment was good for that game, but it wasn't the same as games being played at night.

This is a somewhat familiar spot for Utah. The Utes played their biggest home game of the 2025 season at home against Texas Tech. The Red Raiders eventually pulled away in that game and dominated Utah. This will be the second time in as many seasons that Utah will play its biggest home game of the year in the morning.

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