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MSU football announces home-and-home series with BYU to be played in 2016 and 2020

January 22, 2015
<p>Junior quarterback Connor Cook looks to pass the ball Jan. 1, 2015, during The Cotton Bowl Classic football game against Baylor at AT&amp;T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Spartans defeated the Bears and claimed the Cotton Bowl Victory, 42-41. Erin Hampton/The State News</p>

Junior quarterback Connor Cook looks to pass the ball Jan. 1, 2015, during The Cotton Bowl Classic football game against Baylor at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Spartans defeated the Bears and claimed the Cotton Bowl Victory, 42-41. Erin Hampton/The State News

Photo by Erin Hampton | The State News

The Spartans, who will host the national championship runner-ups, Oregon in East Lansing for the second week of the season in 2015, is set to bring in BYU as their third non-conference opponent on the 2016 schedule on October 8. 

The second game of the series is scheduled to take place on Sept. 12, 2020, when the Spartans travel to LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah for their first-ever appearance in the Rocky Mountains. 

“I’m excited about this series with one of the best programs in the Big Ten,” Cougars Director of Athletics Tom Holmoe said in a press release. “We haven’t played many games in the Great Lakes region and I like scheduling schools like Michigan State that we’ve never played in football. It’s fun for Cougar Nation and it’s exciting for our coaches and players.”

Furman and Notre Dame are the two remaining opponents not in the Big Ten who will do battle with MSU inside the white lines in 2016. 

Eastern Michigan was originally slated to travel to Spartan Stadium that same year but the matchup was bumped in replacement of the BYU series. 

MSU athletic director Mark Hollis told the Detroit Free Press on Wednesday that it was the Eagles who took the first step in trying to get out of the contract between the two programs. 

"Eastern Michigan initiated getting out of two of the remaining four years of the contract," Mark Hollis said. "In the end, it created a great opportunity for MSU." 

Other home-and-home series scheduled for MSU include BYU (2016, 2020), Arizona State (2018-19), Miami-Fla. (2020-21), Boise State (2022-23) and an extension of their series with the Fighting Irish (2016-17, 2023, 2026-27). 

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