Southern Illinois to Play BYU, Not Kansas in 2024

Southern Illinois’ schedule got tweaked a little earlier this week but it wasn’t anything in the immediate future. It was announced on Tuesday afternoon that the Salukis will open their 2024 season against BYU. The team will make a trip to Provo, UT to take on the Cougars on August 31, 2024.

The contest will occur in place of a previously scheduled game that SIU had with Kansas on that same date. The Jayhawks were originally to pay the Salukis $500,000 for the game and will now buy out part of BYU’s cost for the game. Kansas will dole out $135,00 while the Cougars will pay out $425,000 meaning that in total Southern Illinois will receive $560,000 for the future game.

By that time, BYU will no longer be an independent and will have joined the ranks of the Big 12 (they are set to make the move in 2023). SIU is no stranger to playing top tier FBS competition. All time they are 2-19 against P5 programs including a 31-24 win they picked up over the Big Ten’s Northwestern earlier this year.

Over the next two seasons, BYU is the only FBS program that Southern Illinois currently has on its schedule. There are, however, games down the line against Illinois (2026) and Wisconsin (2027) on the slate. The meeting with the Cougars will be the first for both schools.

Right now, BYU is currently 3-1 and ranked #19 in the AP Top 25. SIU is 2-2 and ranked #19 in the STATS Perform FCS poll.