SOUTH BEND - Saturday night in Provo is the kind of stage Notre Dame signed up for, and the kind of test this season has been building toward.
No. 2 Notre Dame heads west to face No.
8 Brigham Young, a 5-0 team, under the lights in a sellout setting at LaVell Edwards Stadium. It is the Irish’s first road game against a Top 10 opponent since 2012 at Oklahoma, and the first time Marcus Freeman has coached Notre Dame against a Big 12 team since his debut as head coach on Jan.
1, 2022.
That made this week feel a little different for everyone around the program, even if the routine inside the building never changed.
Cornerback DJ McKinney’s smile on Tuesday said plenty. The first six weeks in a Notre Dame uniform helped get him here, to a game like this one - the sort of matchup he had in mind when he committed last winter. McKinney has already lived through big atmospheres at Colorado and Oklahoma State, but he made it clear this one lands differently.
"As soon as the Stanford game was over, we were on to the next," McKinney said. "(A) lot of us were looking forward to it. We're on to next week, the next opponent."
That next opponent is a road challenge unlike anything Notre Dame has seen this season. The Irish haven’t played in southern Utah since 2004, and they haven’t had a regular-season trip to the Mountain Time Zone since 2013 at Air Force. Freeman hasn’t coached in Provo before, and nobody on this roster has played there.
Still, the week inside the program stayed locked into its usual cadence. Sunday looked like Sunday.
Monday and Tuesday followed the same track. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday carried the same work.
The opponent may have changed, but the process did not.
"Just another week to us," McKinney said. "Another week to prepare and go out and show the country who we are."
Notre Dame enters at 6-0, and the feeling around this team is that it can hang with anybody. That belief comes with a little extra weight now, because this is the first real chance in 2026 to prove it in the kind of game people circle when they look for answers about the Irish.
The opponent may be unnamed in some players’ media sessions, but nobody inside the building is treating it like a mystery. Senior tight end Cooper Flanagan said the key is keeping the same rhythm and not dressing up the week to make it feel bigger than it already is.
"It's really about us," Flanagan said. "We all know how good the opponent (who went nameless in his media session) we're facing is. The challenge is not trying to do anything different or feel like this is something we have to change our routine in how we work."
Right tackle Guerby Lambert put it even more bluntly: "Not in a cocky way at all, this is Notre Dame," he said.
Freeman echoed that feeling while also acknowledging the pull of a road game like this one. He said home games at Notre Dame Stadium matter deeply to him and to his players, but he also lit up talking about the edge that comes with heading into a hostile environment.
"There's something about going on the road when it's us against everybody," Freeman said. "It makes you say, we've got to do this thing together.
I love it. We want to play against the best.
"Let's go do it."
Notre Dame will get that chance Saturday at 5:30 p.m. in Provo, with the skeptics waiting and a national audience watching to see whether the Irish can finally deliver a road win over a top-10 opponent.
In Other News...
Notre Dame Defense Faces A Threat It Hasn't Seen Yet
Notre Dames defense is heading into a different kind of test this weekend, one built less on flash than on patience and physicality. BYU brings a sturdy offensive line, a quarterback in Bear Bachmeier who can keep plays alive, and an attack that has been especially efficient at piling up yards per play and creating chunk gains. For the Irish front, that means the usual margin for error is slim, because winning first down and controlling the line of scrimmage will matter just as much as any highlight-reel stop.
The matchup also stretches beyond the trenches, with Notre Dames safeties likely to have a major say in how much damage BYU can do through the middle of the field and against tight end Walker Lyons. Preventing the Cougars from turning routine snaps into explosive ones is the real challenge here, and it is the kind of test that can expose even a defense that has looked comfortable most of the season. The Irish may be prepared for power football, but BYUs ability to stress all three levels gives this one a different edge. [Read more 🡒]
Notre Dame Defense Is Earning National Respect At The Perfect Time
Notre Dames defense has spent the first six games of the season building a reputation that now carries national weight, and the Associated Press took notice at midseason. Cornerback Leonard Moore landed on the AP Midseason All-America first team, while edge rusher Boubacar Traore earned second-team honors, a tidy reflection of how much the Irish have leaned on that side of the ball while climbing the rankings.
Moore has been steady on the back end with four pass breakups and eight solo tackles, while Traore has brought the disruption up front that changes games, leading the team with 3.5 sacks and flashing in big moments with a strip sack and an interception in the same contest. For Notre Dame, the recognition is more than just individual praise, it is proof the defense is playing at a level that can travel deep into the season. [Read more 🡒]
Bryce Dortch Could Solve A Notre Dame Frontcourt Concern
Notre Dames frontcourt picture for 2026-27 may end up looking a little different if Bryce Dortch develops the way the staff believes he can. The junior from Somerville, Massachusetts is projected as a backup power forward, but what makes him interesting is not just where he fits on the depth chart. Last season at Rutgers, Dortch averaged 2.1 points and 3.2 rebounds per game, and the Irish are expecting him to bring a blend of defense and lineup flexibility that can help cover some of the needs around the basket.
Micah Shrewsberry has already pointed to Dortchs versatility and the progress he has made since joining the program, which matters for a team looking for dependable options in the frontcourt. A player who can handle multiple roles and hold up defensively gives Notre Dame more ways to manage rotation concerns, especially if the season forces the staff to adjust on the fly. Dortch may not arrive with headline numbers, but his value could come in the places that are easiest to overlook until they are needed most. [Read more 🡒]