It’s Notre Dame week in Provo, and the matchup has the feel people expected when the season began. BYU and Notre Dame were both tagged as playoff-caliber teams in the preseason, and now the showdown is set up as the first top 10 game ever played at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
BYU got through Iowa State in a game that looked strange on the scoreboard but still showed how much better the Cougars were than the final margin suggested. Even so, the win left behind a list of problems that need attention fast, because Notre Dame is coming in as a top five opponent and BYU can’t give away anything easy.
The biggest issue starts in the red zone. Before facing Iowa State, BYU had been the best red zone offense in college football, scoring 13 touchdowns in 13 trips when garbage time and kneel downs were taken out of the equation.
Then LJ Martin went down, and the whole operation changed. Without him, BYU had a much harder time running between the tackles, and that showed up in the finishing moments of drives.
Against Iowa State, BYU went into the red zone five times and came away with only two touchdowns. The Cougars also turned it over on downs twice inside the ISU five-yard line and settled for one field goal.
That wasn’t a one-off, either. The last time Martin was out, against Georgia Tech in the Pop Tart’s Bowl, BYU had similar trouble closing drives.
That has to improve if BYU wants any shot at upsetting Notre Dame. Aaron Roderick and the staff will need to find ways to manufacture red zone touchdowns, because it’s clear that none of BYU’s running backs will be ready to run between the tackles against Notre Dame.
There’s also the matter of the pass interference calls, or the lack of them. BYU’s two failed red zone possessions might have ended differently if some questionable contact had been flagged.
If even one of those calls had gone the Cougars’ way, the Iowa State game would have felt a lot more comfortable, and this wouldn’t be such a central talking point. BYU tried to lean on its size in the passing game, and Iowa State answered with physical defense.
The Cyclones were fortunate not to be flagged for pass interference.
Special teams brought its own problems. Tiger Bachmeier had a rough day fielding punts against Iowa State, muffing two at key moments and making shaky decisions deep in BYU territory.
That wasn’t an isolated issue, either. He struggled in the same role against TCU and Colorado, the previous two games in which he was the primary punt returner.
That has to get settled during the bye week. If starting punt returner Cannon DeVries is healthy, he should take the job back and solve the problem.
If he can’t go, BYU needs another answer. Mistakes like muffed punts and bad return decisions are the kind that can tilt a game against a team like Notre Dame.
Penalties are another recurring headache. In the first half against Iowa State, BYU’s flags were a major reason the Cyclones got on the board at all. The Cougars were penalized six times for 65 yards, and they now rank 67th in penalty yards this season.
That’s not usually something a team cleans up in October. Those habits are generally built in fall camp, and BYU may be past the point of a full fix. But the Cougars still need to eliminate the procedural mistakes as much as they can.
That matters even more this week, because Notre Dame is one of the three least penalized teams in college football. BYU can’t walk into that game handing over yards with self-inflicted mistakes.
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BYU Gets A Clear Warning From UCF Before Provo Showdown
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The Knights will now have a bye week before hosting No. 8 BYU, and that stretch of time gives them a chance to clean up the kind of mistake that flipped the game in the fourth quarter. Linebacker Cole Kozlowski was back on the field after receiving an additional year of eligibility, another note of stability for a group that will need every bit of it when the Cougars arrive in Provo. [Read more 🡒]
BYU's Win Exposed Two Risky Problems Kalani Sitake Can't Ignore
BYUs 24-10 win over Iowa State came with the kind of clean result that can mask a few uneasy truths, and Kalani Sitakes staff has some film to sort through before the next kick. The Cougars handled enough business to keep moving, but the game also put a spotlight on two areas that felt less settled than the final score suggests: how aggressively BYU wants to live on fourth down, and how much field-position volatility comes with Tiger Bachmeier working in the punt return game.
There was also a different kind of pressure on the offense once LJ Martin was out of the running game, because the Cougars had to lean harder on Bear Bachmeier at quarterback to keep drives alive. Bear delivered enough to help BYU win, but the balance of the attack looked different without Martins presence, and that is the sort of thing a staff notices fast in a league where the margins shrink every week. [Read more 🡒]
BYUs National Standing Just Got More Real Before Its Biggest Test
BYUs place in the national conversation keeps getting harder to ignore as the latest AP ballot starts to separate the contenders from the pretenders. With Texas falling to Oklahoma and Georgia taking down Alabama, the top of the college football picture got reshuffled again, and teams like Miami, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Indiana also continue to shape how the race looks week by week. BYU sits right in that mix now, no longer just a feel-good note in the rankings but a team being judged alongside the sports biggest names.
The challenge, of course, is holding that position when the schedule stiffens and every week starts to feel like a referendum. The ballot also reflects how quickly other programs can climb or slip, with UCLA, Utah and Ole Miss part of the broader debate over who belongs where right now. For BYU, the next step is about more than just staying ranked. It is about proving the rise is real when the biggest test arrives. [Read more 🡒]