Beginning next season, BYU will enter a new, exciting era of football. Although it seems like the gap between the SEC + B1G and the rest of the country is growing, BYU finally has a home in the power structure of the sport. This is good. While this will result in a massive bump in revenue, recruiting and resources, there is one massive consequence of our new conference affiliation that we should probably brace for: more frequent day games. This is bad.
“They’re not in the afternoon anymore!” And good riddance. No one enjoys cooking in the sun when it’s hot out. While you’re locked in on a third and short, your kids or other family members are complaining and asking when it will be time to go.
But the truth is, the sun isn’t the only thing that sucks about day games. Since the start of the 2019 season, BYU is just 9-10 in games that have kicked off before 6 p.m. local time. It is 21-1 in all other games during that same span.
BYU is 30-11 since the start of the 2019 season. This is already a solid record, but when you take in account that BYU was 7-6 in 2019, it’s actually pretty incredible.
Ten of the 11 losses BYU has suffered since 2019 came in games that kicked off before 6 p.m. local time. It’s easy to assume that this is because the TV decision makers wanted the better matchups to air earlier, but this wasn’t the case. BYU has played four ranked teams before 6 p.m. and six ranked teams after 6 p.m., but we’ll dig into those games a little later.
First, let’s take a look at the 10 teams BYU has lost to in day games since 2019:
And now for the nine teams BYU has beat in day games since 2019:
BYU is 21-1 in all games that have started after 6 p.m. local time since 2019, with the lone loss coming to Utah in 2019. BYU has handled tough and scrappy Houston, Utah State, Virginia and Arizona State teams at night without any real issues. Not only have they won tough games, but they’ve avoided any blowouts and have been able to pull off upset wins against Boise State (2019), Utah (2021) and Arizona State (2021).
In just four games against ranked opponents in games that kicked off before 6 p.m., BYU is 1-3. BYU eeked out an overtime win over #24 in USC but fell one yard short to #14 Coastal Carolina and were blown out by #22 Washington and #25 Oregon. However, BYU has dominated matchups against ranked teams at night with wins over #14 Boise State, #19 Boise State, #18 Utah, #19 Arizona State and, most recently, #9 Baylor. The only ranked team to defeat BYU at night came in the first game of the 2019 season against #14 Utah.
When it’s all said and done, BYU just simply plays better at night. It’s hard to know why that is, but it is. And it may be something to keep an eye on as kick times against #10 Arkansas, Liberty, Boise State and Stanford are announced in the coming weeks.
Highlights:
