Let me see if I've got this straight.

BYU is scheduled to play Oklahoma?

On the road?

In Cowboys Stadium?

In a season-opener?

Against a Heisman Trophy winner?

And the No. 3-ranked team in the country?

Any questions?

Yes. Whhhhhaaaaat was BYU thinking?

Maybe they don't mean THAT Oklahoma? Maybe it's the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma? Or Northeastern Oklahoma A&M? Not the school of Wilkinson and Switzer and Stoops and Sims and Bradford and Peterson and five Heisman winners and five Heisman runners-up and 148 All-Americans and seven national championships.

They don't mean THOSE guys, do they?

I know they're trying to run an elite football program in Provo and play quality opponents, but playing Oklahoma in the temple of Texas football just sounds like a bad idea. Couldn't they have scheduled someone else — a second- or third-tier top-25 school, a team ranked in, say, the 11-to-25 range? Iowa? Kentucky? Oregon? Georgia? Notre Dame?

Are the Cincinnati Bengals busy?

This is not the same thing as Utah State playing Oklahoma or Nebraska or Whomever State. The Aggies have nothing to lose, and they've got to find a way to pay the bills. They can serve themselves up as a sacrificial lamb and they're probably better off for it.

But BYU? The Cougars are a perennial top-25 team. They don't need this. They're trying to take the next step into top-10 territory. This doesn't make sense. They should pick their spots. This sounds like the football equivalent of starting a land war in Asia.

There are some guidelines to follow in scheduling preseason football games, especially season-openers. BYU has pretty much ignored all of them.

1. Under no circumstances do you play the following teams on the road: Florida, Ohio State, Texas, Oklahoma, USC, LSU.

2. Do not play on the road unless you get a home-and-home arrangement, and maybe not even then. Other than playing the likes of Northern Iowa or Utah State, the Cougars' preseason road ventures have been brutal, with losses to UCLA, Tulsa, Arizona, Boston College, Stanford, Boise State, NEVADA and Georgia Tech, with only wins over Cal and Washington to show for it.

3. Especially do not play your season-opener on the road. In the last 13 years, BYU has played only three of them — and lost all three: at Arizona (2006), at Alabama ('98) and at Air Force ('95). The last time they won an opener on the road was a 13-12 escape in Hawaii.