PROVO, Utah, Sept. 28, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — BYU and Notre Dame announced Tuesday the two schools will face off in football in 2022 in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders.
The game will be played on Saturday, Oct. 8 and will be televised nationally on NBC, said a news release from BYU. Game time, ticketing and other details will be announced at a later date.
“We are really excited about the opportunity to return to Allegiant Stadium and face Notre Dame,” said Tom Holmoe, BYU director of athletics. “This has been a process, with a lot of back-and-forth, to be able to find a return game in this series that would work for both sides. We feel very good about playing this game in Las Vegas, where Cougar Nation always shows out, and look forward to an incredible matchup and atmosphere.”
The matchup will be the ninth meeting between the two schools and the first contest played at a neutral site in the series that began in 1992, the news release said. Notre Dame holds a 6-2 advantage in the series, including wins in the previous three matchups, all in South Bend, including the most recent game in 2013. BYU last defeated the Irish in Provo with a 20-17 victory in 2004. The Cougars also won 21-14 in 1994 at Notre Dame after dropping the first two games of the series.
The Fighting Irish and BYU are both currently ranked among the top-15 teams in the country. Notre Dame is number seven in the USA Today AFCA Coaches Poll and number nine in The AP Top 25, while the Cougars are ranked number 13 in AP and number 15 by the coaches. Both schools have been among the nation’s winningest programs over the past 50 seasons. BYU ranks number eight in total wins with 425 and Notre Dame is number 17 with 392 in that time span.
BYU will be returning to Allegiant Stadium for the second-straight season. The Cougars opened the 2021 season with a 24-16 win over Arizona in the Vegas Kickoff Classic. Under current BYU head coach Kalani Sitake, the Cougars have played seven games in NFL stadiums since 2016, earning a 4-3 record.
With the Notre Dame game finalized for next season, BYU now has agreements with all 12 opponents for its final season of independence in 2022 before the Cougars officially join the Big 12 Conference in 2023.
In addition to the neutral-site game with Notre Dame, BYU will play road games at Oregon, Stanford, Boise State, South Florida and Liberty, while hosting Arkansas, Baylor, Utah State, East Carolina, Wyoming and Dixie State in LaVell Edwards Stadium. Dates and ticketing information will be announced at a later date.
