7 Home Games and the Fighting Irish: A First Look at BYU's 2026 Schedule

The Cougars will face an entertaining schedule in 2026 that includes seven home games

BYU QB Bear Bachmeier against Arizona | BYU Photo

On Monday, BYU announced a home-and-home series with Notre Dame. The series with Notre Dame will begin in Provo next year and will finish in 2027 with the Cougars making the return trip to South Bend. With the Notre Dame game officially on the schedule, BYU has 12 opponents on the 2026 schedule. The Cougars will get to play seven home games for the first time since joining the Big 12.

In this article, we'll take an early look at BYU's 2026 schedule.

Non-Conference Opponents

vs Utah Tech - 9/5/26

The Cougars will kickoff the season with a tune-up game against Utah Tech. BYU will be heavily favored in this game.

@ Colorado State - 9/19/25

BYU will take a trip to Colorado to take on former Mountain West foe Colorado State. The Rams will be led by a new coach in Jim Mora. Mora recently hired BYU assistant quarterbacks coach Matt Mitchell to lead the Rams' quarterbacks.

vs Notre Dame - Date TBD

BYU and Notre Dame will likely face each other in October. The Fighting Irish will be the marquee opponent of the Cougars' non-conference slate. This game could give BYU a chance to change the national perception of the program.

Conference Opponents

BYU will play five home games and four road games in Big 12 play.

Conference Home Games

1. Arizona
2. Arizona State
3. Cincinnati
4. Iowa State
5. Baylor

The Cougars will host a bunch of programs with quarterback questions at this point in the transfer calendar. Iowa State, Arizona State, and Cincinnati will lose their quarterbacks to the transfer portal when it opens in January. Then there's Baylor who will lose quarterback Sawyer Robertson to graduation. In other words, the only team on this list that is scheduled to return their quarterback is Arizona (Noah Fifita).

Monitoring the quarterbacks in the transfer portal will be a storyline of the offseason for BYU. The Cougars will likely face a bunch of transfer quarterbacks that will be added by these schools next month.

Conference Away Games

1. Utah
2. UCF
3. TCU
4. Kansas

It's way too early to know what these teams will look like in 2026 and draw too many conclusions about the schedule. With that in mind, BYU's road slate looks favorable. TCU and UCF will be looking to replace their starting quarterbacks (more transfer portal attrition) and Kansas will lose Jalon Daniels to graduation.

The BYU-Utah game, like it did in 2026, could have major Big 12 title implications.