There’s a billboard heading south on I-15 that says, “The fewer the facts, the stronger the opinion.”
That line fits social media perfectly, especially when the subject is BYU football. Everybody wants a scorching take. Nobody wants to sit in the middle.
So let’s separate the buzz from what actually makes sense.
Kelly Poppinga taking over as defensive coordinator comes with plenty of optimism, and there’s reason for that. He’s put in the work under both Bronco Mendenhall and Kalani Sitake to get his first shot as the play caller.
Poppinga says he’s a numbers guy, and the number he’s chasing is points allowed per game. His target is 19 or fewer.
BYU gave up 19.1 last season under Jay Hill, who is now at Michigan. With an offense that should be solid, that kind of defense should keep the Cougars in the mix every week.
Still, calling a defense is about more than math. There’s feel, timing and instinct involved, and Hill had that.
The question now is whether Poppinga does, too.
The same kind of gap exists when people talk about BYU “learning” how to win close games. The Cougars are 8-2 in one-score games over the last two seasons, which is a real number, not just a slogan.
The losses stand out: the strange punt-bounce disaster against Kansas in a 17-13 loss, and the Hail-Mary-just-short game at Arizona State in a 28-23 loss in 2024. But close-game confidence is only part of the picture.
Complementary football will matter, and special teams is a huge piece of that. BYU is replacing everything there - kicker, punter, snapper, holder and returner.
That’s a lot of moving parts to sort out.
Bear Bachmeier is another spot where the hype has a real foundation. He won the starting quarterback job as a true freshman after roughly two weeks of fall camp, and he did it without any spring football.
Now he’s had a year in the system and time in the weight room. Offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick has said Bachmeier is one of the most accurate passers he’s ever coached.
He’ll also have LJ Martin back behind him, and Martin was the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year last season. The offensive line should be strong, too.
The big question is at receiver, where there’s a lot of change. Who becomes Bachmeier’s trusted target?
And how quickly does that chemistry come together when games are tight late?
As for the Big 12 race, the favorite label has shifted to Texas Tech. The Red Raiders lost their best defensive players to the NFL and remain a little shaky at quarterback, but their schedule is easy enough that they look like the team most likely to cruise to the conference title game.
BYU, meanwhile, has to keep one eye on the league and another on Oct. 17, when Notre Dame comes to LaVell Edwards Stadium. That’s a massive opportunity.
The Cougars are also one of the most under-ranked teams in the polls, and the case for them starts with the data. Being No. 14 is a strong place to begin.
BYU has plugged holes with quality transfer portal additions, and returning an experienced quarterback always helps. The 23-4 record over the past two seasons says Kalani Sitake has the program headed in the right direction.
Even so, last year’s two lopsided losses to Texas Tech were hard for national observers to forget.
The wide receiver and tight end group is another area where the public is eager to declare victory before the games start. The problem is that fall camp only gives the media a small window into what’s actually happening.
Coaches and players say Jo Jo Phillips and Kyler Casper are the leading WR1 candidates, and the tight end pairing of Walker Lyons and Roger Saleapaga is expected to be dangerous. But replacing Chase Roberts, Parker Kingston and Carsen Ryan is no small task.
That trio combined for 166 catches, 2,350 yards and 14 touchdowns last season, and Kingston also mattered in the punt return game. They were key pieces on third downs, too.
It’s hard to imagine this year’s group topping that production. Still, if the run game stays strong and Bachmeier stays accurate, the offense should have plenty of firepower.
Then there’s the playoff conversation, the one that always gets people dreaming loudest. BYU has come close the last two seasons and seemed positioned to take that next step.
But the Cougars still aren’t judged the same way Big Ten and SEC teams are judged, and the committee has shown it will lean on whatever metric it wants. If BYU wants to get in, the path is simple in theory: win big and beat Notre Dame.
Margin of victory shouldn’t matter, but last season’s 29-7 and 34-7 losses to Texas Tech became a talking point anyway. The safest route is the one teams always prefer, even if it’s the hardest one to take: leave no room for anyone else to decide.
In Other News...
BYU Just Joined A College Football Hype Trend Fans Are Loving
Herbie Hunkele has suddenly become one of the more recognizable names in college football hype culture, and BYU is now part of the growing list of programs leaning into his trumpet work. The attention started when his solo over Lil Waynes 2008 track A Milli caught fire on Instagram and TikTok, giving his performance style a reach well beyond the usual marching-band audience.
Mississippi State, BYU, Nebraska and UCLA have all used Hunkeles trumpet performances in their hype videos, and several of those schools have also invited him to perform live. The posts have drawn strong engagement from fans and band directors alike, which helps explain why this trend keeps spreading from one program to the next. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Has A Scheduling Edge The Big 12 Desperately Needs
The Big 12s nonconference calendar has become a harder sell as SEC and ACC scheduling patterns shift, and the leagues recent lack of College Football Playoff success has only made it tougher for its teams to line up the kind of Power Four games that once came more easily. Several programs, including Texas Tech and Arizona State, have already seen future series with SEC and ACC opponents disappear, leaving the conference with a thinner menu of marquee matchups to point to in coming years.
BYU and Utah have managed to secure some of those future Power Four dates, which gives the Cougars and Utes a little more visibility than some of their league peers as the Big 12 keeps searching for ways to stay relevant in the national scheduling game. Big 12 officials know the problem and have openly supported expanding the College Football Playoff as a way to create more opportunities for their teams, but for now the conference is still trying to hold onto the value of the games it can actually get on the books. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Faces A Make-Or-Break Season With Playoff Hopes Rising
BYU heads into another pivotal stretch with expectations rising fast in its new Big 12 home, where a strong recent run has only sharpened the sense that the Cougars are no longer just trying to belong. The program has put itself in position to matter in the playoff conversation, and with a demanding schedule ahead, there is plenty of intrigue around how this season will define the next phase of the move into the league.
The buildup also comes with familiar tension for a team that has enjoyed big records without yet breaking through to a College Football Playoff berth. Fans and analysts are already looking ahead to 2026 with high hopes, but the path there still runs through a slate of games that will say plenty about how close BYU really is to joining the sports top tier. [Read more 🡒]