Iowa State vs. BYU Game Preview and Final Score Prediction

The Cougars host the Cyclones for just the second time since joining the Big 12

BYU safety Faletau Satuala against Iowa State | BYU Photo

On Friday night, Kalani Sitake and the BYU football program return home for the first time in almost a month to take on the Iowa State Cyclones. The Cougars go into this game with plenty of question marks, primarily surrounding the running back position.

BYU vs Iowa State preview and prediction | BYU On SI

The Cougars will be without star running back LJ Martin for the next four to six weeks. Who will step up in his place remains to be seen. After a week of discourse about the running back position, Friday night will be the first time for BYU fans to get some concrete answers about what the offense will be without LJ (and without a soggy ball like the one BYU played with against TCU).

For BYU's offense, this game is going to come down to Bear Bachmeier. Bachmeier had arguably the best game of his true freshman season against the Cyclones last season. Down multiple scores in the first half, LJ Martin left the game with an injury. Bachmeier carried the offense both through the air and on the ground on the way to a 41-27 comeback victory.

Bachmeier finished that game with 307 passing yards, 2 passing touchdowns, 49 rushing yards, and 1 rushing touchdown. He also protected the football, committing zero turnovers.

BYU will need to establish at least some level of rushing threat without Martin in the game, but BYU's ability to move the ball in the air will be paramount not only against Iowa State, but over the next four games as well.

On the defensive side, everything comes down to stopping the Iowa State rushing attack, led by Iowa State star running back Aiden Flora. Flora was the Offensive Player of the Week in the Big 12 last week thanks to a dominant, five-touchdown showing against WVU.

While this game won't always be pretty, we expect BYU to win and cover in this game. The BYU defense is getting better every week, and Iowa State won't have enough firepower through the air to keep up with BYU.

On offense, we expect Bear Bachmeier to show much, much better as a passer than he did against TCU. This game will be close until the fourth quarter, but we don't think the outcome will ever be in doubt.

BYU 31 | Iowa State 17

Previous 2026 Score Predictions

Before every game, we submit our score prediction. We were off to strong start until last week when BYU's offense didn't live up to our pregame prediction. Still, our total margin variance is eight points after four games. Below were our score predictions for the game compared to the actual final score.

Game	Prediction	Actual Score
BYU vs Utah Tech	BYU 62 | Utah Tech 6	BYU 63 | Utah Tech 7
BYU vs Arizona	BYU 31 | Arizona 20	BYU 28 | Arizona 17
BYU at CSU	BYU 41 | CSU 20	BYU 41 | CSU 23
BYU vs TCU	BYU 31 | TCU 17	BYU 17 | TCU 10

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