Saturday’s BYU-Notre Dame game is more than a marquee matchup for the Cougars. It is the kind of result that could ripple far beyond Provo and right into the Big 12’s playoff case.
BYU has had only one game that clearly towers over the rest of its 104-year football history: the 1984 Holiday Bowl win over Michigan, the victory that delivered the program’s only national championship. A good argument could have been made for the 2025 Big 12 championship game joining that list, since a win there would have sent the Cougars into the College Football Playoff for the first time.
But the blowout loss to Texas Tech changed that. Now, the spotlight shifts to a different stage.
Enter No. 2 Notre Dame.
The Saturday evening meeting in Provo is being billed as the biggest home game in BYU history, and it arrives with extra weight because of what it could mean for the Big 12 as a whole. ESPN’s “College GameDay” will be on site, marking the show’s first stop at a Big 12 campus this season.
The timing is notable, too: the 4:30 p.m. Pacific kickoff has been given the spotlight while the marquee SEC games are set for earlier in the day.
There’s even a strange twist in the stakes. Utah fans, who usually have no reason to cheer for BYU, have a case for rooting hard for the Cougars this week. If BYU wins, it could help the undefeated Utes’ own path to the CFP.
The conference angle is hard to miss. The Big 12 has an image problem, and the numbers have not helped.
In the two seasons of the 12-team playoff format, the league has not landed an at-large team. Only its champions - Arizona State in 2024 and Texas Tech in 2025 - have gotten in.
BYU has twice been the highest-ranked Big 12 team left out as the league’s top non-champion, and last season’s disappointment was especially sharp. The Cougars’ two chances against a playoff-level opponent, both against Texas Tech, ended in blowouts, leaving the selection committee with little reason to push them through.
Notre Dame gives BYU a fresh chance to look like a playoff team.
A win would give the Big 12 something it still lacks: a victory over a ranked team. The conference is 5-7 against the ACC, Big Ten and SEC in non-conference play, but has not yet logged a ranked win this season. Oklahoma State’s upset of Oregon no longer carries the same weight because Oregon is not currently ranked.
If BYU beats Notre Dame, that changes quickly. The committee would have a result it can’t ignore when it sizes up the Big 12 and its at-large candidates.
It would also hit Notre Dame’s playoff path. The Irish have a built-in advantage in the selection process because of their Independent status and on-field success 60 years ago: if they finish in the top 12, they are guaranteed an at-large bid. But a loss to BYU would leave them with only two remaining chances in November - against Miami and SMU - to build the kind of resume that justifies that spot.
And if Notre Dame falls short of the top 12, the door opens for another team from the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten or SEC.
That team could be BYU.
There is another layer here, too, one that could matter if the Cougars lose to Utah and miss the Big 12 title game. In that case, a win over Notre Dame would still give BYU the sort of resume strength it would need to stay in the at-large conversation.
The ideal setup for the Big 12 is easy to map out: BYU beats Notre Dame, then loses in the conference championship game to Texas Tech, Utah, Arizona, Houston or Oklahoma State. The opponent doesn’t matter. The point is that the league champion gets the automatic bid, while BYU still carries a head-to-head win over a team worthy of the playoff.
That kind of result would give the Cougars something they did not have last season: proof, in the committee’s own language, that they belong.
Even a competitive loss Saturday could still help. What BYU absolutely cannot afford is a blowout. That would hand the committee exactly the kind of evidence it can use to keep treating the Big 12 like a step behind.
In Other News...
BYU Faces A Program Defining Test In A Brutal Top 10 Showdown
Brigham Young steps into one of its biggest regular-season stages in years Saturday night, hosting Notre Dame in a clash between two unbeaten teams at LaVell Edwards Stadium. The setting alone gives it weight, but the matchup adds even more intrigue: the Irish arrive with the nations top total defense, while BYU is trying to keep rolling in front of a national audience on ABC.
The Cougars will have to navigate the game without their top running back because of injury, a challenge that makes the offensive approach even more important against a defense like Notre Dames. For BYU, this is the kind of top-10 measuring stick that can shape how the season is viewed long after Saturday night ends. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Fans Should Hate Where This Playoff Debate Is Headed
Nick Sabans latest College Football Playoff idea is the kind of proposal that gets plenty of attention because of who is saying it, not necessarily because of where the sport seems headed. He has floated a 16-team field instead of 24, and for BYU fans, the debate matters because the size of the playoff will help determine whether programs outside the traditional Power Four can realistically keep breaking through or whether the safest path stays mostly inside the same familiar lanes.
The bigger issue is that playoff expansion is no longer just about competitive balance, it is about money and leverage, and those forces usually push the conversation beyond the tidy version of the sport that coaches prefer. A 24-team format would create more openings for teams like BYU and would reshape the value of conference championship games across the country, but the push and pull around the final number says plenty about how college football is choosing to organize its future. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Faces A Tougher Notre Dame Test If Two Defenders Return
Notre Dame may look a little closer to whole when it meets BYU, and that matters for a Cougars offense that has to navigate a defense still built around speed and depth even after injuries. Head coach Marcus Freeman said cornerback Leonard Moore and defensive lineman Jason Onye have taken practice reps and are trending toward playing, which puts both players in position to be available after missing significant time.
Moore sat out the previous game with a concussion, while Onye has been sidelined since the season opener with an ankle injury. If both are back on the field, it gives Notre Dame a welcome boost on the back end and up front, and it raises the degree of difficulty for BYU in a game that already figures to demand clean execution. [Read more 🡒]