BYU vs Notre Dame Lands Prime Time TV Slot Ahead of Potential Top 10 Showdown

The Cougars and the Fighting Irish will be taking the center stage of the college football world next in a couple weeks. On Monday, ESPN announced the broadcast plans for BYU-Notre Dame. BYU and Notre Dame will kickoff at 5:30 PM Mountain Time and the game will be broadcast on ABC.

This broadcast window is typically reserved for the top SEC matchup of the day. Instead, the Cougars and the Fighting Irish will battle it out for what could be a top 10 showdown. If both teams are ranked in the top 10, it would be the first top 10 matchup in the history of Lavell Edwards Stadium.

COUGS IN PRIMETIME!! pic.twitter.com/tRahScdPA3
— BYU FOOTBALL (@BYUfootball) October 5, 2026

This opens the door for, potentially, ESPN's top broadcast team to call this game. Historically, this has been the window for Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler. There are exceptions, of course. Herbstreit and Fowler were on the call for the BYU-Texas Tech game that kicked off in the early morning window.

It also increases the chances for BYU to host College GameDay. Last week, Rece Davis hinted at the possibility of BYU being the likely host for College GameDay that week. Since the Cougars took care of TCU over the weekend and Notre Dame handled North Carolina, both teams are on pace to be in the top 10 when they face off on October 17th.

First and foremost, both teams will need to come into this game undefeated. There are plenty of other big-time matchups that could host GameDay that morning.

What are the chances of a top 10 showdown?

As mentioned, BYU will need to take care of Iowa State to be a candidate to host College GameDay. The Cougars will also need to take care of the Cyclones to be ranked in the top 10.

Notre Dame will face Stanford this weekend as a massive favorite. In fact, the Fighting Irish have a 100% (rounded) chance to beat Stanford this weekend. Notre Dame will be undefeated when it comes to Provo.

BYU, meanwhile, has an 85% chance to beat Iowa State. In other words, there is an 85% chance that both teams will be undefeated and ranked inside the top 10 for this game. In that scenario, it would be one of the biggest games ever played in Lavell Edwards Stadium. And you could make the case that it would be the biggest game ever played given the potential playoff implications.

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