PROVO, Utah — Brigham Young University today announced that future football games have been scheduled with UNLV and North Alabama.
BYU and UNLV have agreed to a two-game series with matchups in Provo in 2023 and Las Vegas in 2024. The Cougars will host the Rebels in LaVell Edwards Stadium on Nov. 4, 2023, and face UNLV in Las Vegas Stadium on Nov. 2, 2024.
BYU and UNLV have played 20 times since 1978 with BYU holding a 17-3 advantage in the series. The former conference foes were both members of the Western Athletic Conference and founding members of the Mountain West Conference.
The two teams played last season in Las Vegas with the Cougars earning a 31-21 victory at Sam Boyd Stadium. The last game in Provo was a 42-23 BYU victory in 2014. The first meeting between the two institutions was a neutral site game played in Yokohama, Japan, on Dec. 2, 1978. Future All-American BYU quarterback Jim McMahon was injured in the first half, but Marc Wilson came in and threw for three touchdowns in the second half to give BYU a 28-24 victory.
The Cougars will host the University of North Alabama at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Nov. 21, 2020. The Lions are competing as a member of the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as an independent in 2018 before joining the Big South Conference as a member in 2019. Before its current transition to Division I, North Alabama won three national championships on the NCAA Division II level to go with 21 playoff appearances and 22 final Top 25 rankings from 1980-2017. The scheduled game with BYU will mark UNA’s first game against a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponent since 1997 when the Lions, then NCAA Division II members, stunned Louisiana-Lafayette 48-42 in four overtimes in Lafayette.
North Alabama has had 17 players drafted by National Football League teams, another 55 have signed NFL free-agent contracts and five former UNA Lions have gone on to play in the Super Bowl. In addition to a lengthy NFL career, former UNA linebacker Ronald McKinnon is also a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
BYU has played varsity football since 1922 and over the past four decades ranks No. 6 among all FBS programs in total victories with 352. The Cougars captured the 1984 national championship and have earned 35 bowl invitations and won 23 conference titles during their history. The program boasts 75 All-Americans and 13 Consensus All-Americans along with seven members of the College Football Hall of Fame and 10 recipients of major individual awards, including the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, Sammy Baugh Trophy, Davey O’Brien Award, Outland Trophy and Doak Walker Award.
Kickoff times and broadcast plans will be determined at a later date. For more information on BYU football, visit BYUcougars.com.