BYU football: Holmoe tries for balance in schedule

PROVO — As BYU's athletic director, Tom Holmoe has many responsibilities, including formulating the Cougars' non-conference football schedule.

It's not an easy task — creating a balanced slate that isn't too tough or too soft.

"It's funny. People will criticize your program for playing teams that aren't good enough and they'll criticize you for playing teams that are too good," Holmoe said. "They want you to play the exact, perfect schedule. It's hard to do that."

That's why Holmoe, like many of his counterparts around the country, has turned to ESPN for assistance.

The all-sports cable network has hours of airtime to fill in the fall and is always searching for attractive games. Holmoe credits ESPN for help in scheduling the Cougars' first two contests of 2009 — Saturday's season-opener against Oklahoma and a visit to Tulane on Sept. 12 — which essentially are made-for-TV games.

Dave Brown, the vice president of programming at ESPN, is college football's resident matchmaker. Holmoe said he and Brown have been longtime friends. Brown played a key role in helping BYU schedule the Oklahoma game, which will be televised on ESPN, as well as the game at Tulane, which will be broadcast on ESPN2.

Because of the Mountain West Conference's television contract, which gives The mtn., Versus and CBS C exclusive rights to televise all of BYU's home games, the Cougars are always trying to find ways to play on ESPN.

"We'd been talking about getting BYU into some ESPN games because obviously our home games are not on ESPN," Holmoe said. "We're always looking for games, and Dave's one of the best in the business to put people together on games."

Last fall, Brown assisted Holmoe in setting up the Tulane contest. "It ended up being a game we really needed," Holmoe said. "I know the AD down there at Tulane and it ended up being a good matchup for us."

Tulane was originally scheduled to play Alabama, but the Crimson Tide backed out of that game so they could play Virginia Tech. Alabama and the Hokies meet next Saturday in Atlanta in another made-for-TV showdown on ABC.

Then Brown and Holmoe started talking about another possible game — playing in the Dallas Cowboys' new, billion-dollar stadium in Arlington, Texas.