Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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4 OCT. 17, 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED W hen the time finally came last winter to start looking ahead to the 2026-27 football sea- son and to free ourselves from the angst of 2025-26 when Notre Dame narrowly missed the College Foot- ball Playoff, all Irish eyes immedi- ately pegged the Nov. 7 matchup with Miami at Notre Dame Stadium as the biggest game of the year. And rightfully so. Deuces will be wild in this battle between the two national runners- up from the last two seasons and two top-five programs hitting on all cyl- inders, with two great coaches and two Heisman-hopeful quarterbacks. This marquee matchup between these longtime and bitter rivals promises to provide as much hype and attention as any regular-season game in the country this year. But before we start chatting about the next "Game of the Century" be- tween Miami and Notre Dame, there's a road trip to Provo, Utah, this weekend for a date with BYU that deserves equal billing, and Notre Dame's full attention. Under 11th-year head coach Kalani Sitake, the Cougars have quietly become one of the most consistent and win- ningest programs in the country. And adding some irony to this battle of similar schools, the primetime game features the first two teams left out of last year's playoff when Notre Dame finished ranked No. 11 and BYU No. 12 in the final CFP rankings. But under the automatic-qualification rules, Tulane and James Madison received berths despite being ranked below both pro- grams, both programs were left out of the 12-team field in lieu of No. 20 Tu- lane and No. 24 James Madison. Following their playoff exclusions, BYU and Notre Dame were invited to play in the Pop-Tarts Bowl as kind of a consolation prize. Notre Dame declined the invitation, while BYU played in the game and beat Georgia Tech 25-21 for its third straight bowl win and its sixth bowl victory in eight tries under Sitake. Both of these top-10 teams headed into their games last weekend — No. 8 BYU as a 10.5-point home favorite over Iowa State and No. 3 Notre Dame as a 38-point home favorite over Stanford — as two of the hottest programs in the country dur- ing the last two-plus seasons. From the start of the 2024 campaign through Week 5 of the 2026 season, Notre Dame was tied for third nationally with 29 wins and BYU was seventh with 27. But beyond their comparable on- field success, these two proud coaches share something equally important away from it, and that's graduating their players, while also building and retain- ing their rosters through recruiting prospects who understand and fit their programs, and are in it for the long haul. That roster retention and deliberate approach to recruiting the "right guys" left Notre Dame with the second-small- est class of incoming players (seven) from the transfer portal in 2026 among all power conference programs, while BYU (nine) was tied for the third fewest. "We have to continue to show recruits why you do certain things differently here [at Notre Dame], and why it's a small school, and the value of it," Free- man said in July when asked to explain his approach to player selection. "And not everybody wants it. That's okay. But we have to make sure they understand that." And when asked the same question by reporters at BYU, Sitake explained how his message to recruits focuses on broader pursuits rather than in- stant gratification and NIL dollars. "I would hope they want to be a part of this experience so that they can see that they're part of something bigger than just themselves," Sitake said. "… It's not for everyone. But it is for the guys who want to be here. And I'm really proud of the guys on our team and what they represent." In a 2026 season in which Notre Dame won its first five games by an average of 29.4 points, an op- ponent upgrade this weekend to better measure the Irish program's talent and national title prospects is refreshing as the regular season crosses the halfway post. Assuming BYU beats Iowa State Oct. 9 and Notre Dame beats Stanford Oct. 10, this true road game for Notre Dame at LaVell Edwards Stadium between two top-10 teams will be played in a setting that Freeman has yet to conquer during his four-plus years on the job. Notre Dame is 0-3 against top-10 teams in a true road setting under Free- man, with losses to No. 10 Miami in 2025, and No. 2 Ohio State and No. 5 Southern Cal in 2022. Mea nwh i l e , BY U h a s wo n n i n e straight and 13 of 14 games at home heading into its matchup with Iowa State and hadn't lost at LaVell Edwards Stadium in almost two years. Given all the program similarities and recent success these two faith-based universities share, the main difference remains that Notre Dame never flies under the radar while BYU rarely even finds the radar. That all could change big-time this weekend, depending on the final out- come. ✦ Head coach Kalani Sitake's BYU squad will pose a formidable road test for Notre Dame. PHOTO COURTESY BYU ATHLETICS Todd D. Burlage has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2005. He can be reached at toddburlage@gmail.com UPON FURTHER REVIEW TODD D. BURLAGE Provo Proving Ground