Irish face BYU on October 17th in Provo. This highly anticipated matchup ignites a home-and-home series with playoff implications.
This afternoon, it was announced that Notre Dame's matchup with BYU will take place on October 17 of this upcoming season. The Irish announced their matchup with the Cougars in minutes after the historic Intersectional Rivalry with USC came to an end. This was a matchup that almost took place during this past bowl season in the Pop-Tarts bowl before Notre Dame elected to forego playing in the post season.
There is a home and home series schedule between Notre Dame and BYU with the first game happening this upcoming season in Provo, Utah. The second game will take place in South Bend in 2027. This season will be the 10th all-time matchup between these two schools with the Irish holding a 7-2 advantage in the series currently.
BYU beat the Irish inside Notre Dame Stadium in 1994 and won in Provo early in 2004. Notre Dame has won four straight in the matchup, with the most recent game being a 28-20 win over BYU in a game played in Las Vegas back in 2022 in the Shamrock Series. Two of the last three wins by the Irish were close, single digit games, including a 17-14 win back in 2012.
These two teams were also teams who believed they deserved a spot in the playoffs over teams like Miami and Alabama. The Hurricanes earned their spot in the national title game this past Monday night, but the Crimson Tide were eliminated by Indiana 38-3 in a beat down in the Rose Bowl.
Notre Dame ended the year on a 10-game winning streak, after dropping their first two, and beat every opponent by double digits for the first time since 1966. In the penultimate rankings show, the Irish dropped a spot behind Alabama despite beating Stanford 49-20 on the road. The Cougars were dropped down in the final rankings despite earning six quality wins, beating multiple Top 25 teams and only losing to No. 4 seed Texas Tech.
Head coach Kalani Sitake has been the head coach at BYU since 2016 and has an overall record of 84-45. The last two seasons, he's gone a combined 23-4 and were on the bubble of the College Football Playoffs throughout November. Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman has gone 43-11 since 2022 and is 24-4 over the last two seasons. This is poised to be an exceptional matchup out west in Provo between two programs who will be fighting for playoff spots in the 2026 season.
Ideally, this is a matchup that remains on the schedule past the 2027 season, but for now, this is going to be an exciting home and home series with the Cougars. Replacing the Trojans with BYU was a smart move by Notre Dame giving them an overall increase in strength of schedule and playoff-level opponent. October 17 can't get here soon enough.
CURRENT NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE
Sep. 6 - vs Wisconsin (Lambeau Field - Green Bay, Wis.)
Sep. 12 - Rice
Sep. 19 - Michigan State
Sep. 26 - at Purdue
Oct. 3 - at North Carolina
Oct. 17 - at BYU
Oct. 31 - vs. Navy (Gillette Stadium - Foxborough, Mass.)
Nov. 7 - Miami
Nov. 21 - Boston College
TBA - SMU
TBA - at Syracuse
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