WVU releases 2016 football schedule

There’s still two games remaining in the 2015 West Virginia football schedule, but Mountaineer fans can already start planning their fall weekends in 2016.

On Tuesday, the university athletic department released the dates of the 2016 schedule, which begins on Sept. 3 when WVU hosts Southeastern Conference foe, Missouri.

The out-of-conference schedule also includes Youngstown State, a Missouri Valley Conference member form the Football Championship series ranks, and the first-ever meeting with BYU. That game will be played at FedEx Field, home of the Washington Redskins.

"“It’s good to be able to release the schedule early so that our fans have time to plan their fall weekends,” Director of Athletics Shane Lyons said. “Adding Missouri, Youngstown State and BYU to an already powerful Big 12 slate gives us one of the more challenging schedules in the country. I also like the fact that we will be able to play another game in the Washington, D.C. area, where we have a large and faithful fan base. Not only does the schedule play out nicely for our team, but also for our fans.”"

Of course, the schedule includes nine games against fellow Big 12 Conference opponents. The Mountaineers will begin Big 12 play at home against Kansas State on Oct. 1.

Every game, home and away, will be played on Saturday, as of now. Start times for games and a television schedule will be released at a later date. For the second-consecutive year, the Mountaineers will play seven home games at Milan Puskar Stadium.

This year’s schedule, which saw out-of-conference games against Georgia Southern Liberty and Maryland, as well as the Big 12 slate, was regarded as the 8th toughest in the country.