BYU wasted little time setting the tone at LaVell Edwards Stadium, and the Cougars kept answering when Notre Dame tried to climb back into the game in a 28-24 upset on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026, in Provo, Utah.
The Irish scored first in the second quarter, took the lead late in the fourth, and still couldn’t finish the job. BYU’s final touchdown - a 10-play, 55-yard march after a Notre Dame punt - put the game away after the Irish had briefly moved in front.
It started with BYU striking on the opening possession. Bear Bachmeier finished an 11-play, 75-yard drive with a 5-yard run at 9:21 of the first quarter, with Matthias Dunn adding the extra point. The Cougars’ drive was helped by a targeting call on Boubacar Traore, which led to the defensive end’s ejection, and BYU mixed runs and passes well all the way down the field.
Notre Dame answered with a field goal after a 9-play, 46-yard drive that took 4:15. CJ Carr threw for 31 yards and Nolan James ran for 15 on the way to scoring range, but a potential touchdown slipped away when Carr overthrew Jordan Faison on third down, forcing the Irish to settle for three.
The Irish finally got into the end zone in the second quarter. A 12-play, 84-yard drive over 5:45 ended with Nolan James scoring from 8 yards out at 10:37, and Spencer Porath converted the kick. Micah Gilbert’s one-handed grab on third down kept that series alive, and Faison added a sideline catch that helped push Notre Dame into the red zone.
BYU grabbed the lead back in a hurry. After Notre Dame’s touchdown, the Cougars answered with a 10-play, 75-yard drive that ended when Bachmeier caught a 15-yard pass from Kasper at 5:52, followed by Dunn’s extra point. The biggest gain on that series came on a 19-yard completion from Bachmeier to Legend Glasker.
Then BYU widened the gap before halftime. The Cougars needed just 2:50 to go 73 yards in 8 plays after a Notre Dame punt, and a trick play that was initially ruled a touchdown by Legend Glasker was overturned. Even so, the play set BYU up at the half-yard line, and a 23-yard run by Preston Rex helped fuel the drive early.
Notre Dame had a shorter field in the third quarter after a muffed BYU punt, and it cashed that in with a 31-yard Spencer Porath field goal at 3:17. The Irish converted a fourth down on a pass from Carr to Nolan James, who fought through contact for the first down, but the offense gained only four more yards after that.
The special teams swings kept coming. After BYU failed on a fake punt, Notre Dame turned that mistake into another Porath field goal, this one from 39 yards at 0:11 in the third. That drive lasted only 1:29 and covered 3 yards, but it trimmed the deficit again.
Notre Dame finally pushed ahead in the fourth. The Irish covered 68 yards in 4:40 after a BYU punt, and Jonaz Walton scored from 3 yards out at 9:31.
Walton then ran in the 2-point conversion. Carr helped keep the drive moving with a key designed quarterback run on fourth-and-1, and the big play came when he hit Jaden Greathouse for 38 yards against busted coverage.
BYU, though, had the last answer. The Cougars went 55 yards in 3:56 after Notre Dame’s punt and finished the night with the game-winning score.
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The mistake not only erased a potential scoring chance, it handed BYU a huge lift at the exact moment Notre Dame needed something clean to settle things down. In a game already leaning against the Irish, the blunder made the halftime margin feel even heavier and left Notre Dame with a bigger hole to climb out of after the break. [Read more 🡒]