PAYDAY HOME GAMES - My first scheduling wish is that Holmoe could delve into BYU's AD annual profits to attract better payday home game opponents. P5 programs often buy 2 or 3 home games against G5 opponents. The price is often in the $1-1.5 million range. Instead of throwing $500K at Savannah St. or Wagner, let's throw $1.5 million to Toledo, Buffalo - or San Diego St. or Wyoming or New Mexico - to play in Provo. This instantly gives a boost to BYU's home schedule. While not a marquee opponent, you get rid of the lame FCS matchups but maintain the home-road balance and flexibility that the payday games provide. I'll take Toledo or Buffalo or Wyoming over Wagner or Savannah St. any day of the week - except Sunday, of course.

PIONEER SERIES - My scheduling wish here is that BYU hosts an annual neutral-site game as part of the PIONEER Series (or better name, as developed by the marketing folks). PIONEER games mostly held in NFL stadiums in California, Arizona, Texas (and hopefully new Vegas stadium) against P5 opponents and military academies. BYU could be willing to share the gate and TV revenue for these games to get quality opponents, but the games would be part of BYU's PIONEER Series and TV deal.

THREE PAC 12 GAMES - I would love to see three PAC 12 opponents each season. Utah would be the most frequent PAC 12 opponent, but not necessarily every year - may be 2 out of 4. The last game of the season would always be in California over Thanksgiving weekend against USC, Stanford, UCLA, or Cal. In fact, I could see the BYU-PAC 12 game airing most seasons right before or right after the Notre Dame-USC/Stanford game.

SEC/ACC/NOTRE DAME - It would be tremendous to see an annual game against an SEC or ACC opponent or Notre Dame in November. We have two November games currently scheduled with Missouri. The two Mississippi St. games are scheduled for October. We played Georgia Tech twice in October and Notre Dame once in October and once in November. We played Wisconsin in November. So, I don't think it's outside of the realm of reasonable wishes.

UTAH STATE OVER GENERAL CONFERENCE - The USU game needs to move back to Friday night before General Conference. This a great local tradition and allows the BYU team and staff to be at home or close to home with family for this weekend.

BOWL AFFILIATIONS - BYU lands a multi-bowl relationship where BYU is ELIGIBLE for selection from any of the following bowls up to twice in a 6-year period (in order of selection):

Holiday Bowl - v. P12 or B1G
Cactus Bowl - v. P12 or B12
Las Vegas Bowl - v. P12
Armed Forces Bowl - v. B1G, B12, or American or Army
Poinsettia Bowl - v. MWC or American or Army
Hawaii Bowl - v. MWC or American

Of course, BYU would still be eligible as always for the CFP or an NY6 bid if selected.

I firmly believe that BYU could land a nice TV deal upgrade if the lineup includes SEVEN games (including the PIONEER neutral-site game) - with no FCS opponents - and at least three P5 opponents, plus Boise St. and better teams from the MWC and American. Even if BYU's profits took a hit because we would need to pay to have the G5 home game and the PIONEER neutral-site game, the TOTAL revenue earned from the TV deal will increase and so will BYU's national perception. Most P5 programs don't turn a profit anyway - the media and national perception looks at the gross number, not profits.

If BYU makes about $15 million per year from its TV deal (gross revenue) because it has more games to broadcast and at least 3 P5 opponents on the broadcast schedule - plus some better G5 teams - and is paying $1+ million for G5 home opponents, and hosts the PIONEER series, there will no question that BYU is part of the upper group of college football - regardless of whether BYU is technically P5 or not.

So, BYU's schedule template looks like:

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER
P12 (CA schools)
MWC/American
P12 (Utah, AZ/OR/WA schools)
P5 (B1G/B12/SEC/ACC)

OCTOBER
Utah St. (GC Friday)
PIONEER (v. P5 or military)
American
Boise St.

NOVEMBER
SEC/ACC/ND
PAYDAY - MAC/Sun Belt/CUSA/MWC/American
MWC/American
P12 (Utah, CA schools)

* when BYU plays AT Hawaii, always play the 13th game, even if it's a second Payday home game.

OVERALL (12)
Home: 6
Road: 5
Neutral: 1

HOME/TV CONTRACT GAMES (7)
P5: 3-4
Boise/USU: 1
MWC/American/Military: 1-2
Payday: 1

ROAD GAMES (5)
P5: 2-3
Boise/USU: 1
MWC/American: 1-2