Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images Drew Lerner Mon, October 26, 2026 at 10:00 PM UTC · 2 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Perhaps the most exciting Big 12 game of the year will be played at 10 a.m. local time.
On Monday, the Utah Utes announced that their game against in-state rival BYU, a.k.a. the Holy War, will be played at 10 a.m. local time and air on either ABC or ESPN.
The decision means that a potential top-10 matchup between two rivals with enormous stakes will kick off before the average college kid is even awake on a Saturday morning.
It's the latest scheduling decision to frustrate Utah and its fans. Last week, Utah athletic director Mark Harlan criticized ESPN for scheduling the Utes in the 10:15 p.m. ET window, which is 8:15 p.m. local time, despite College GameDay being on campus. Utah is a regular tenant of the 10:15 p.m. ET window on ESPN, and Harlan urged ESPN to move the Utes around a bit more in comments to the Salt Lake Tribune .
"As happy as I was, quite candidly, about [ College GameDay ], I was equally disappointed that we got another night game on ESPN," Harlan said. "I like our record at night, and I know our players love playing at night. But I know that is a sacrifice, and I just want to acknowledge that. Obviously, we've had four of these. I know one moved up a little bit because of the weather, and certainly one's been on the road. But ESPN is a great partner. We've talked to them. We've certainly talked to [Big 12 commissioner] Brett Yormark about spreading this out."
Now, the Utes face the opposite problem: they have to play their biggest game of the year, and perhaps the biggest Big 12 game of the year, in the middle of the morning. To make matters worse, the game could still end up on ESPN rather than ABC should ESPN decide to put a game like Texas-Missouri on ABC instead.
We can all acknowledge that networks need to make scheduling decisions based on a variety of factors, which can often lead to less-than-ideal situations. But it shouldn't happen. A game that will likely feature two top-10 teams. A fierce in-state rivalry. A conference's biggest game of the year. There's no reason this should be played at 10 a.m. But unfortunately, the teams can't do anything about it.
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Source: Sports
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