PROVO — While BYU's non-conference schedule, including the 2009 season-opener against national powerhouse Oklahoma on Sept. 5, has been known for months, the Mountain West Conference released the league schedule Thursday.

The Cougars open MWC play at home on Sept. 26 against Colorado State. It appears BYU has a more favorable conference schedule than last season, with the four other MWC teams that went to bowl games last season (CSU, TCU, Air Force and Utah) visiting Provo.

Eleven of the Cougars' 12 games will be played on Saturdays, with the one exception being the traditional Friday night pre-LDS General Conference contest against Utah State.

For the first time since 2005, BYU and TCU will not play on Thursday and the Cougars' bye comes on Halloween, Oct. 31.

Most of BYU's games will be played in the early or late afternoons. There are only two night games on the schedule (Utah State and UNLV).

e-mail: jeffc@desnews.com

Below is BYU's entire 2009 schedule:

Date Game Time TV

Sept. 5 BYU vs. Oklahoma TBD TBD

Sept. 12 BYU at Tulane 2:30 p.m. (CT) ESPN2

Sept. 19 Florida State at BYU 5 p.m. (MT) Versus

Sept. 26 Colorado St. at BYU 4 p.m. (MT) Mtn.

Oct. 2 Utah State at BYU 7 p.m. (MT) Mtn.

Oct. 10 BYU at UNLV 7 p.m. (PT) Mtn.

Oct. 17 BYU at San Diego St. 3 p.m. (PT) Mtn.

Oct. 24 TCU at BYU 5:30 p.m. (MT) Versus

Nov. 7 BYU at Wyoming 12 p.m. (MT) Mtn.

Nov. 14 BYU at New Mexico 12 p.m. (MT) Mtn.

Nov. 21 Air Force at BYU 1:30 p.m. (MT) CBS-C

Nov. 28 Utah at BYU 3 p.m. (MT) Mtn./CBS-C