Cosmo Participates In Winter Conditioning With BYU Football Team

PROVO, Utah – Cosmo joined the BYU football team for a workout on Wednesday. The BYU mascot posted up with Kedon Slovis, BYU’s new transfer QB, and others in a picture posted to Twitter.

Cosmo has been up to a lot recently. Including a ‘Top Gun’ inspired performance at halftime of the men’s basketball game against Gonzaga.

gym bros 🤝 pic.twitter.com/ODqixwUKW1

— Cosmo Cougar (@byu_cosmo) January 19, 2023

Cosmo is shown giving handshakes and embracing members of the Cougars football team.

BYU football’s last game was a 1-point win in the New Mexico Bowl on December 17. On a brighter note, the Cougar’s basketball team has been on a great stretch of late. They are currently 9-2 in their last 11, only suffering losses to No. 6 Gonzaga and the Loyola Marymount Lions.

BYU’s Move To Big 12 Impacted 2023 Pac-12 Football Schedule

BYU was scheduled to take on USC in a regular season finale on November 25, 2023. The move to cancel that third game in a three-game series was announced last April, leaving the Trojans with some challenges in their final Pac-12 season.

The Los Angeles Times reported that after the BYU game went away, USC was facing 12 consecutive weeks without a bye.

On Wednesday, the Pac-12 Conference released the 2023 schedule. Sure enough, USC’s bye week lands on Thanksgiving weekend, where the BYU game was originally going to be played.

The Trojans got creative and scheduled a game against San Jose State for Week Zero on August 26. That move allowed USC to break up its 12-game grind, giving them an early bye week on September 16.

BYU will open its 2023 schedule against Conference-USA’s Sam Houston on September 2, Southern Utah on September 9, then a trip to SEC Country to face Arkansas on September 16 before facing nine yet-to-be-announced Big 12 games.

BYU Football Always Played Pac-12 Teams As An Independent

When BYU was an FBS Independent, the Cougars helped fill late November dates for Pac-12 programs. Due to the Pac-12 allowing programs like USC and Stanford to play mid-season rivalries at Notre Dame, BYU was the perfect filler at the end of the regular season.

BYU closed out four Independent regular seasons against Pac-12 teams: Cal (2014), Utah (2018), USC (2021), and Stanford (2022).

The next time BYU is scheduled to play a team from the Pac-12 is in 2024. That’s when they renew their rivalry with two-time Pac-12 Champion Utah again. Utah is scheduled annually from 2024 to 2028. BYU also has games scheduled against Arizona in 2026 and 2027. Plus a home game against Stanford in 2031.

Chandler Holt is a Digital Sports Producer for KSLSports.com, specializing in all things basketball and football. Follow Chandler on Twitter at @ChandlerHoltKSL.