BYU 2021: 10/13 games (everything besides GA Southern, Idaho St, Utah St)
BYU 2020: 11/12 games (everything besides North Alabama)
BYU 2019: 8/13 (outlier year, but UMass, Idaho St, SDSU, USF and Toledo weren't national)
BYU 2018: 11/13 (UMass and McNeese State)
And so forth

That said, over the last 5 years 71.9% of BYU games have been on national TV. But that's pretty common these days. 68.5% of UCF games were on national TV over the same time span. 72.1% of Boise St games were also. Utah was right around 70% with the PAC12 network being the primary issue for them.

It's no longer about being on a national network. Between ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, FOX, NBC, ABC, CBS, FS1 there's 8 national channels. And then they each do 3 games on Saturday and probably 1 non-Saturday game. So that makes something like 32 games a week that are on national TV or 64 teams.

The big difference is getting ESPN or ABC at 3:30 ET, instead of ESPNU or FS1 at 10:15 ET on a Thursday. As far as those go, here's some thoughts on this schedule

BYU@USF (ESPNU, 4 ET Saturday 3 September): Decent time (almost certainly wasn't going to be a late game since it's in Tampa and from a performance standpoint likely don't want the noon kickoff), but disappointing on the channel (also an earlier time would have likely drawn more viewers).  ESPNU has only barely even broken 1M viewers a few times and there were some predictions this could end up on ABC, so it hurts to miss that.  Going up against Georgia/Oregon (on ABC) or even Cincy/Arkansas (ESPN), this isn't going to get a lot of casual viewers tuning in.  Arizona/SDSU (an objectively worse matchup) will probably draw a lot more, just since it got picked up for FOX.

Baylor@BYU (ESPN, 10:15 ET Saturday 10 September): Nice to be on ESPN, and we're certainly familiar with the 10:15 ET slot.  Couldn't really have expected anything better here, but from a viewership perspective and bringing in eyeballs, that 10:15 is going to hurt since it means that game doesn't end until near midnight in the mountain time zone and not until nearly 2 AM on the east coast.  Realistically, very few folks there are watching that game to the end.

BYU@Oregon (FOX, 3:30 ET Saturday 17 September): This is going to be a huge game, especially if BYU beats Baylor the week before (and USF I suppose, can't take anything for granted).  The biggest 5 BYU non-bowl games of the last 5 years are

1. @Wisconsin 2018 -> 2.97M viewers
2. USC 2019 -> 2.67M viewers
3. Wisconsin 2017 -> 2.27M viewers
4. Boise St 2021 -> 2.24M viewers
5. @LSU 2017 -> 1.76M viewers

Being on Fox, at 3:30 ET, against a marquee name, this could be the first BYU game (non-bowl) to break 3M viewers and is almost guaranteed to be one of the top 5 in that time span.  For comparison, Oregon averages 2.34M viewership per game (3.01M if you include conference championships and bowls).

Competition in that time slot includes Penn St/Auburn on CBS and Ole Miss/GaTech on ABC which are solid games, but not insanely so.  This is going to be the game that will have the biggest impact on how non-BYU fans view us (especially if Oregon upsets Georgia, which isn't likely, but Oregon beating a playoff team early wouldn't be unprecedented)

Wyoming@BYU (TBD ESPN Networks, TBD 24 September):  This one is going to depend greatly on how well we've played.  If BYU loses to Baylor AND Oregon, this is probably on ESPNU and nearly impossible to find.  If we go 1-1 against Baylor + Oregon, it's probably ESPN2.  If BYU beats both and is making a name, then there's a slightly chance it gets ABC/ESPN late night slot.  That's the difference between 1.5M-2M viewers and 400k-600k.  Obviously lots TBD with this one if it's a good spot or not yet.

USU@BYU (ESPN, 8:00 ET Thursday 29 September):  Some good, some bad.  Not a high-profile opponent, but a big network.  Not a great timeslot or day though.  Realistically speaking, Thursday and Friday night games generally don't draw that well, so I wouldn't expect this one to do so unless BYU is making serious noise.  Also going to be stuck going up against the NFL, but at least it's a weaker game in Dolphins/Bengals.

BYU v Notre Dame (NBC, 7:30 ET Saturday 8 October): Similar to the Oregon game, this is a perfect confluence of events.  Couldn't ask for more.  Huge high profile opponent on a major network in prime time.  The Oregon game should be able to top 3M viewers.  This one will top that number.  Notre Dame draws an average of 3.62M in their non-postseason games.  This will be the most-viewed regular-season BYU game in many years, maybe ever.

Arkansas@BYU (TBD ESPN Networks, TBD Saturday 15 October): See Wyoming game.  Obviously this one has a better opponent so less chance of being stuck on a lesser network, but if it's 3-3 BYU vs 2-4 Arkansas?  Yeah, it's not getting attention. If it's 5-1 BYU vs 4-2 Arkansas?  Then it's a huge game.  Unfortunately Arkansas has a really tough schedule, which hurts a bit.

BYU@Liberty (TBD, TBD Saturday 22 October): Nothing known about this one yet, but it's owned by Liberty, so not holding my breath on it being a great TV situation.  Partly because 22 October is a long time to hold my breath, but also because I anticipate it being a pretty rough situation.  Every home game that Liberty had last season was on ESPN3, ESPN+ or one on ESPNU.  Luckily ESPN works well with BYUtv, so I bet we see it there.

ECU@BYU (ESPN2, 8:00 ET Friday 28 October): Weird Friday night game means that ratings will probably be fairly low.  Especially since ECU isn't a big draw and because the game will go to 11:30 ET on a Friday night. Being on ESPN2 also means it's not even the lead among sports programming that night.  Not expecting a lot of attention this week.

BYU@Boise St (TBD Fox Networks, TBD Saturday 5 November): Huge difference here.  Being @Boise St means FOX owns it, and that generally means FS1, which draws substantially lower than ESPN or ESPN2.  Unless BYU and/or Boise St is having a magical season, in which case it would get thrown on FOX and be a huge spotlight.

Utah Tech@BYU (ESPN3/BYUtv, 3:30 ET Saturday 12 November): Yeah, nobody besides hardcore BYU fans will watch this one, and even many of those will check out when it's 31-3 at half.

BYU@Stanford (TBD, TBD Saturday 26 November): This game is owned by Stanford, so it's useful to look at them.  Over the last 5 years, 70.2% of their games have been on FOX, CBS, NBC, ESPN, ESPN2 or FS1.  That said, over the last few years as they've been bad, more and more of their games have ended up on the PAC12 Network or FS1.  Only games against teams like USC or Notre Dame have gotten onto bigger channels.  Given that I don't expect them to be much better this year, my guess is that this is a late night game on FS1 or the PAC12 Network... so don't anticipate much viewership for this one.

Overall, it's a great schedule and there are two HUGE games (Oregon, Notre Dame) and two more that have possibilities (Baylor time isn't great but otherwise nice, and Arkansas TBD), but it's also disappointing that (if we lose to Notre Dame) we probably won't have any big showcases the rest of the way with the last 5 games all very non-ideal.