Apparently, next year the NCAA will allow schools to schedule 12 games in the regular season. I don’t know if this is a permanent change or just an experiment.
However, several teams (Nebraska, Oklahoma, Louisville, Syracuse and perhaps some others) have 12 games scheduled this year. And they aren’t playing at Hawaii which is one legitimate way to get an extra game. Nor does this count the league championship game.
So what’s the deal? Are these guys jumping the gun or what?
Some games are played early and they are not counted toward the 11-game total. They are called “exempt” games. There are similar games in basketball. The NCAA is trying to cut back on these in both basketball and football.
Games in Hawaii and Alaska never count toward your total games, even if they are conference games.
BYU could play 14 games this year:
11 normal
1 exempt
1 at Hawaii
1 Bowl
The NCAA is going to allow 12 games only in some years - 2002 and 2003 are 2 of the years. There has to be enough Saturdays between Sept. 1 and Dec 1 for them to allow everybody to play 12. I think the next one after 2003 is 2008. My guess is that soon they will want 12 games every year because they always want more money.