The BYU Cougars will open the 2017 season against the Portland State Vikings, the school announced on Monday.
BYU will host Portland State at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017. The Cougars’ season-opener was previously scheduled to be against LSU at NRG Stadium in Houston on Sept. 2.
The BYU-LSU game will still be played as scheduled, but it will now be the second game of the season for BYU and the first game of the season for LSU.
Portland State is the 13th opponent scheduled for BYU in 2017. Per NCAA rules, BYU can play the additional game because they play at Hawaii (Nov. 25). Additionally, a new exception added this season allows the Cougars to play the weekend prior to Labor Day weekend.
The NCAA rule that was modified, effective Aug. 1, 2016, was 17.10.3 First Contest. An exception was added (17.10.3.1) allowing teams that play a regular-season game in Hawaii to play their first contest the Saturday prior to the Thursday preceding Labor Day.
The new playing date exception has was first used in 2016 when California and Hawaii opened at ANZ Stadium in Sydney, Australia. Next season, San Jose State is taking advantage of the exception and will host USF on Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017.
BYU now has six home games scheduled for the 2017 season: Portland State, Utah, Wisconsin, Boise State, San Jose State, and UMass.
In addition to playing LSU in Houston, BYU will travel to Utah State, Mississippi State, East Carolina, Fresno State, UNLV, and Hawaii.
For now, all 13 BYU games have dates and the Cougars should be off on Sept. 23. The school plans to officially announce the schedule at a later date.