Notre Dame’s trip to Provo suddenly looks a lot less straightforward.
What had seemed like a clean scheduling upgrade - replacing USC with BYU on the 2026 slate - now comes with an entirely different kind of question. Instead of just weighing the Cougars as a possible College Football Playoff contender, the Fighting Irish may be walking into a program dealing with real internal strain.
Earlier this week, BYU announced a major shakeup in its athletic department structure. The football program, the school’s biggest revenue source, will no longer report directly to athletic director Brian Santiago. Instead, head coach Kalani Sitake will answer to University VP Keith Vorkink.
The timing matters. BYU opens the season in one week, with hopes of making the CFP for the first time, and Notre Dame visits Provo just seven weeks from now. That leaves a simple but uncomfortable question hanging over the matchup: will the Irish face a team pushing toward the playoff, or one still wrestling with turmoil at the top?
The change followed Sitake’s public complaints about what he viewed as a lack of support from Santiago. That’s a notable development on its own, especially after Sitake signed an extension with BYU last winter after nearly taking the Penn State job that Matt Campbell eventually landed as their Plan Z.
Sitake’s frustration was already out in the open earlier this month, when he went on a long radio rant that centered on feeling like he was being asked to “do the most with the least.” It was not the kind of message most coaches are putting out three weeks before the season begins, and it appears to have triggered the restructuring.
That doesn’t mean the issue is solved. If anything, some around the situation believe the new reporting line is only a temporary fix. One source reportedly told On3’s Brett McMurphy that, in the end, it may come down to BYU choosing Sitake or its AD.
And there’s another wrinkle: now that Sitake has gotten this change, there’s no guarantee the tension disappears. If anything, the opposite could happen. The more he presses, the messier things could become for BYU football.
For Notre Dame, the calendar may be working in its favor. If this game were being played in early September, the situation might not carry much weight. But with the meeting coming later in the season, the Irish could catch BYU after a rough stretch or a couple of frustrating losses, if that kind of slide hits before October.
That’s the kind of opening serious teams are supposed to exploit. If Notre Dame is chasing a national title, it will look for every edge it can find - and BYU may have handed it one.
In Other News...
USC Is Getting Mocked For The Optics Notre Dame Fans Saw Coming
USCs season-opening win over San Jose State came with an image the Trojans would rather not have put on display: a Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum that looked far more open than full. Large sections of the stadium sat empty, and the sight quickly turned into the kind of social media punchline that travels fast, especially when it involves a blue-blood program trying to project relevance on a big stage.
For Notre Dame fans, the reaction probably felt familiar. The debate around USCs turnout did not stay on the level of a one-off opener, either, as critics compared the crowd to programs that draw better week after week and questioned the excuses being offered about heat and shade. In a rivalry that already comes with plenty of side-eye, the optics gave the Irish crowd plenty to point at. [Read more 🡒]
Notre Dame Faces One Huge Question Before Wisconsin And CJ Carr
Protection up front was one of Notre Dames quieter strengths last season, and it loomed large enough to help the offense stay on schedule even while injuries shuffled the offensive line. The Irish gave up only 12 sacks in 12 games, a figure that speaks both to the units sturdiness and to the way reserves held up when called into action. Now the challenge is keeping that edge intact as the staff sorts through the best combination in front of quarterback CJ Carr.
The timing matters because Wisconsin is already waiting, and the Irish are still working through uncertainty in how the line will be arranged. Notre Dame has been tweaking the setup to find the best answer for Carrs protection, which makes this one of the most important lineup decisions on the board before kickoff. If the group settles in quickly, it could look a lot like last years dependable front. If not, it becomes the kind of early-season question that can follow an offense into a tough matchup. [Read more 🡒]
Marcus Freeman Showed Notre Dame Fans Exactly Why Players Trust Him
When former Notre Dame walk-on Chris Salerno suffered a seizure and spent nearly three days in a medically induced coma because of congenital hydrocephalus, the football side of the story quickly gave way to something much more important. In the middle of that frightening stretch, Marcus Freeman made the trip to the hospital to check on Salerno and his family, a gesture that fit the way the coach has tried to build his program around trust as much as results.
Salerno has since spoken glowingly about Freemans support, saying the head coachs concern felt real and extended to everyone in the building, not just the players who grab the headlines. For a program that sells itself on brotherhood, moments like that matter, and they help explain why Freeman has been able to earn buy-in from so many different corners of the roster, including former walk-ons who know how easy it can be to get overlooked. [Read more 🡒]