BYU adds Toledo to 2016 home schedule in Media Day announcement


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PROVO — In Bronco Mendenhall’s 10 years with BYU football, the Cougars have made a road show of the different states and places they’ve added for games.

Add another home-and-home game with an Ohio-based team to the big board.

The Cougars added a home game with Toledo to the 2016 schedule, slotting the Rockets into Sept. 30 next season along with a return game at the MAC school in 2019. The home date with Toledo bridges the gap between a neutral site contest against West Virginia in Landover, Maryland, and a road date with Big Ten power Michigan State.

BYU made the scheduling announcement during its annual State of the Program to kick off its annual Media Day on campus in Provo. The addition of the Rockets puts BYU’s 2016 schedule at 11 games, with a road contest at UNLV to be determined but tentatively on the schedule for that year.

The growth into Ohio in 2019 highlights head coach Bronco Mendenhall’s philosophy on road games, which the Cougars will play seven times in 2015.

“We’re interested in growth, in progress and in a challenge,” Mendenhall said. “We’ll go after anyone who will play us where ever they will play us.”

The Cougars are scheduled to play five home games, four road games and two neutral site games in 2016. While the lack of home games isn’t ideal, Mendenhall said the return legs to Provo will come against bigger opponents as BYU plays — and wins — on the road.

2016 BYU football schedule

Date Opponent Location
Sept. 3 Arizona Glendale, Ariz.
Sept. 10 Utah Salt Lake City
Sept. 17 UCLA Provo
Sept. 24 West Virginia Landover, Md.
Sept. 30 Toledo Provo
Oct. 8 Michigan State East Lansing, Mich.
Oct. 15 Mississippi State Provo
Oct. 22 Boise State Boise, Idaho
Oct. 29 OPEN TBD
Nov. 5 OPEN TBD
Nov. 12 Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio
Nov. 19 UMass Provo
Nov. 26 Utah State Provo
FBschedules.com

“Provo is a fantastic place. Our fans deserve those home games,” he added. “The only way to get them to come here, though, is to go there and beat them, and that will put pressure on them.”

Still, more work could be coming to get BYU at least one more home game in 2016, according to athletic director Tom Holmoe.

“I don’t want us to go to five home games,” he said during the State of the Program. “Our fans deserve at least six.”

Overall, Mendenhall expressed satisfaction with his current team, schedule and potential for a special year in 2015.

“I love our team. A lot of things have to come together to have a great season,” the head coach said. “A few things: a healthy, senior quarterback; a senior running back; an offense that scored the most points since 2001 comes back and only misses three players.

“But leadership and key pieces at the right places and the best opponents? It’s the key ingredients for something special.”

Future scheduling announcements weren’t the only thing on the agenda during Media Day. BYU also announced kick off times for two of its home games in 2015. The Cougars will kick off at 8:15 MT in their home opener against Boise State on Sept. 12, and follow with an 8:15 p.m. kick in its next home game Oct. 2 against Connecticut.

Both Mendenhall and Holmoe also expressed the condolences on the recent passing of former BYU coach Tommy Hudspeth. The coach of BYU’s first-ever conference championship football team passed away at 3 a.m. Tuesday morning.

“I try to learn from anyone who has ever been at BYU,” Mendenhall said of Hudspeth and his predecessors. “Some of his principles of leadership and schematics still apply. If I can continue to use those same principles and have success with them, it will be a great tribute.”

Hudspeth is a name that most people connect to BYU should know, Holmoe added.

“They won the first championship in 1965,” he said, “and there’s a big reunion this year that he’ll unfortunately miss.”

The Cougars also unveiled new strength and conditioning coach Frank Wintrich to the public for the first time. The native of Seminole, Florida, comes to BYU after spending four years as the director of football performance at North Texas.

“Coach Wintrich likes guys to do things exactly as he asks them to do it,” Mendenhall said. “He’s very demanding, very exacting. They aren’t only getting better physically, but they are very sharp (mentally) to get through a workout.”

Wintrich also has experience on the Wasatch Front as the assistant strength and conditioning coach at Utah State from 2004-05.

“This is a special place. It’s exciting to be here,” Wintrich said of BYU before jumping into his drill sergeant-like training philosophy. “If we don’t define who we are now, someone else will define who we are later. Nebraska will do it for us Sept. 5.”

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