The 2020 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University in the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cougars were led by fifth-year head coach Kalani Sitake and played their home games at LaVell Edwards Stadium. This was the 10th year that BYU competed as an NCAA Division I FBS independent.
Contents
Before the season
Coaching changes
Running back coach A.J. Steward took a position on the University of Arizona coaching staff and was replaced by former BYU fullback Harvey Unga.
Schedule
BYU's games against Michigan State, Minnesota, Utah, Arizona State, Stanford and Missouri were all canceled before the season started. These were moves by the Pac-12, Big Ten and SEC related to COVID-19 in order to
reduce the spread of the virus through travel restrictions. Any other changes to the schedule will be made in accordance with these restrictions. On August 8, 2020, the Mid-American Conference suspended their season taking Northern Illinois off of BYU's schedule. On August 10, 2020, Mountain West Conference suspended their 2020 season removing Utah State, Boise State and San Diego State from the Cougars’ 2020 schedule. The game at Army, scheduled for September 19 as part of the replacement slate of games, was postponed indefinitely on September 12 with both the academy and BYU pledging to attempt to reschedule the game for a later date. Subsequently, the Mountain West Conference announced that both Boise State and San Diego State would be permitted to play BYU late in the season.
Broadcasting team
The NuSkin BYU Sports Network is owned and operated by BYU Radio. The network features Greg Wrubell (play-by-play), Riley Nelson (analyst), Mitchell Juergens (reporter/sideline analyst), and Jason Shepherd (host). The network is in charge of producing and broadcasting all BYU Football pre- and post- game shows, coaches shows, and live broadcasts. The network also does the radio portion of BYU Football Media Day, but the 2020 Media Day was canceled due to COVID-19.
Affiliates
These affiliate stations broadcast the shows live as part of the network simulcast.
BYU Radio – Flagship Station Nationwide (Dish Network 980, Sirius XM 143, KBYU 89.1 FM HD 2, TuneIn radio, and byuradio.org)
KSL 102.7 FM and 1160 AM – (Salt Lake City / Provo, Utah and ksl.com)
KSNA – Blackfoot / Idaho Falls / Pocatello / Rexburg, Idaho (games)
KSPZ – Blackfoot / Idaho Falls / Pocatello / Rexburg, Idaho (coaches' shows)
KMXD – Monroe / Manti, Utah
KSVC – Richfield / Manti, Utah
KDXU – St. George, Utah
Personnel
Game summaries
Navy
Uniform combination: white helmets, white jersey, white pants w/ royal blue accents
Troy
Uniform combination: white helmets, royal blue jersey, royal blue pants w/ white accents
Louisiana Tech
Uniform combination: white helmets, royal blue jersey w/ white accents, white pants w/ royal blue accents
UTSA
Uniform combination: white helmets, navy blue jersey w/ white accents, white pants w/ navy blue accents
Houston
Uniform combination: white helmets, white jersey, royal blue pants w/ white accents
Texas State
Uniform combination: white helmet, navy jersey w/ white trims and numbers, navy pants w/ white trims
Western Kentucky
Uniform combination: white helmet, white jersey w/ navy trims and numbers, white pants w/ navy trims; pink gloves, socks, and long sleeves optional (Breast Cancer Survivor game)
Boise State
Uniform combination: white helmets, white jersey, white pants w/ royal blue accents
North Alabama
Uniform combination: white helmet (gray facemasks), navy jersey, white pants
Coastal Carolina
Uniform combination: white helmets (grey facemasks), white jersey, white pants w/ royal blue accents
San Diego State
Uniform combination: black helmets, black jersey w/ white numbers and royal blue stripes, black pants w/ royal blue accents
Boca Raton Bowl: UCF
Uniform combination: white helmets, white jersey w/ royal blue numbers and royal blue stripes, white pants w/ royal blue accents