USA TODAY Sports
Oct 6, 2026 12:46 AM
The undefeated Cougars host the Fighting Irish under the prime-time lights, with massive College Football Playoff implications on the line.
The 3rd-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish will make the trip to Provo to face the No. 8 BYU Cougars on Oct. 17. The kickoff time and TV assignment were announced on Monday.
One of the biggest games in BYU history is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC. The prime-time slot in front of a national audience will have all eyes on Kalani Sitake's team as they try to derail the Irish's perfect season. This is considered the network’s premier television window for college football, typically drawing the highest viewership with reports in the 10 million-plus range.
This matchup clearly merits the prime time slot as one of the best non-conference games of the 2026 season. The winner will put themselves in a position to be College Football Playoff bound. Not bad for a "fill-in" game. Notre Dame was originally set to face the USC Trojans, but conference scheduling halted the long-standing rivalry between the two powerhouse programs.
BYU picked up the game and moved it away from the traditional non-conference weeks in the season. This actually set up both teams to have a top 10 matchup and many implications to follow. This was the Cougars' most highly-anticipated contest in 2026. Needless to say, BYU hosting the Irish will be the program’s most important regular season outing in decades.
Notre Dame and BYU have previously met nine times over the years. The Irish won the most recent meeting and hold a 7-2 advantage in the all-time series. This will be one of the biggest tasks on Notre Dame's schedule.
BYU had the luxury of this game being first in the home-and-home agreement. The Cougars we'll be in South Bend next year. Expect the matchup to be top-notch in each of the next two seasons.
Going into Week 6, the Irish are 5-0 and a favorite to make the postseason bracket. As for the Cougars, they're right there, but have a better path to try and make the Playoff. Both teams are expected to be undefeated for this top 10 showdown.
The biggest question is the status of ESPN College GameDay for next week. Could college football's biggest pregame show be coming to Provo? There have been rumors about the possibility of it happening.
We'll find out late Saturday or early Sunday where College GameDay will come. The last time the pregame show visited BYU's campus was on October 24, 2009, for a matchup against TCU.
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