BYU is bringing its “Cougs Care” tailgate initiative back to Provo in 2026, giving the service project a home stop while it continues to travel across the Big 12 and beyond.
The school announced Thursday, in partnership with BYU Continuing Education and First Down Provo, that the home event will be held Friday, Sept. 11 at the Old Courthouse County Grounds in downtown Provo. Fans are being asked to bring canned food for Community Action Services and Food Bank, which helps local families dealing with food insecurity.
Cougs Care has grown into a major part of BYU’s road-game routine since local chapters of the BYU alumni association began leading it in 2019. Last season, the effort helped collect more than 70,000 pounds of food, 7,000 books, and 1,000 coats and pairs of shoes as fans gathered the night before or the morning of games away from Provo.
The 2026 slate includes literacy drives, food drives and shoe drives in Colorado, Texas, Florida, Kansas and Utah, along with the Provo event set for the night before BYU’s Big 12 opener against Arizona, a game scheduled for 1:30 p.m. MT on FOX.
The first road stop comes Sept. 19 at Colorado State. BYU’s tailgate will run from 2:30-4:30 p.m.
MDT at 951 Meridian Ave outside the CSU Rec Center in Fort Collins, where fans are encouraged to donate new children’s books for the Children’s Speech and Reading Center, a nonprofit that offers literacy and speech services to children and families in northern Colorado. Donations can also be made online through an Amazon wishlist.
Next up is the Oct. 3 trip to TCU, with the tailgate set for Friday, Oct. 2 from 6-8 p.m. at Josey Ranch Athletic Complex, 1440 Keller Springs Rd in Carrollton, Texas. BYU said the DFW-area event is being held on Friday because of General Conference weekend of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, when the Cougars play in Fort Worth. Fans are being asked to bring new children’s books for Literacy United, which works to improve literacy rates and education in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
The program has already shown it can draw big-name help in Texas. The last time BYU played there, the alumni association partnered with former offensive lineman Andy Reid and Texas Tech alum Patrick Mahomes on a literacy drive for Literacy Lubbock in west Texas.
From there, the schedule moves to Orlando. On Oct. 24 at UCF, fans are encouraged to bring nonperishable food items for Knights Pantry, the on-campus resource that provides food and other essentials to UCF students facing financial hardship.
The Utah stop is set for Nov. 7, with tailgate time listed as TBA but scheduled for three hours before kickoff. The event will be held at the BYU Salt Lake Center, 345 W North Temple, 3 Triad Center, Suite 300 in Salt Lake City. BYU fans and alumni will again join forces with University of Utah supporters in a service tailgate collaboration between the BYU School of Education and the University of Utah College of Education to help children build strong reading habits and foundations.
BYU’s final listed road event is Nov. 21 at Kansas. More information about the service tailgates and alumni projects is available at alumni.byu.edu.
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