Sunday Morning Notebook After a Weird Win Over Iowa State

It's time for the second iteration of a new series here at BYU On SI: the Sunday morning notebook. In this series, I look back at BYU's prior game and give my thoughts, including the impact to BYU's season and the Big 12 race.

BYU's win over Iowa State was much more impressive than the scoreboard might suggest. There are two ways to look at that: with the glass half full or the glass half empty. Let's dive into the notebook.

The tight ends we thought we'd see

In camp, BYU's tight ends were heavily targeted. Seemingly every day, either Walker Lyons, Roger Saleapaga, or both were making standout plays. It wasn't until Friday night that the tight ends we saw in camp showed up in a game setting.

Lyons and Saleapaga combined for 7 catches for 133 yards against the Cyclones. Both made plays downfield and created matchup issues for Iowa State. Based on what we saw in camp, there is a lot more where that came from.

If BYU is going to beat Notre Dame, the tight ends will have to be productive. Notre Dame has some of the best defensive backs in college football, headlined by future first-round pick Leonard Moore. BYU's wide receivers are going to be covered in critical moments, and Bear will need to trust his tight ends to use their big frames to make contested catches.

That Arizona win is aging very well

On Saturday, Arizona dominated West Virginia on the road in a 52-31 win. With that win, I believe Arizona will enter the top 25 when the new AP poll is released on Sunday. The Wildcats improved to 5-1 on the season. All five of their wins have come by double digits.

We thought Arizona would be good when the Cougars beat the Wildcats in Provo, and their performances since that game have validated how good that win was for BYU.

Arizona, frankly, highlights how frustrating the biases of the AP Top 25 can be. Arizona was 17th in the final College Football Playoff rankings last season, they brought in a ton of veteran experience, returned one of the best quarterbacks in college football, yet they found themselves outside the preseason top 25. Since Arizona wasn't ranked at the time, BYU didn't get as much credit as it would have for beating a ranked opponent.

Regardless, that Arizona win is aging well and could turn out to be very important once resumes are being compared in November. The Wildcats have a bye before hosting Iowa State in a game we expect them to win. That means they will be 6-1 when they travel to Lubbock to take on Texas Tech on Halloween. We like Arizona's chances to beat the defending Big 12 champs in that game.

This BYU defense is different

BYU has been good on defense since 2024. We were waiting to see if BYU would make the transition from a good defense to a great one in 2026. Kelly Poppinga's defense is showing signs of greatness, and there are enough data points to suggest that this could end up being BYU's best defense of the Kalani Sitake era.

Look at Arizona's scoring output by game. Outside of the BYU game, Arizona has scored at least 34 points in every game and 39.4 on average. Against BYU, they scored just 17 points.

Arizona points scored in 2026 | BYU On SI

BYU held Iowa State to a season-low 10 points as well and their lowest total yards output since 2018. If not for a muffed punt, the Cyclones probably wouldn't have scored a touchdown against BYU's defense.

The experience, talent, and pass-rush ability of this defense is different than the 2024 and 2025 defenses. The defense faces its toughest test of the season on Saturday against Notre Dame. The Fighting Rish are ranked fourth in offensive efficiency and first in overall efficiency. Notre Dame just scored 58 points on a bad Stanford team. The Cougars will need to hold them under 30 to have a chance at the upset.

Glass half full: this team is only scratching the surface of their potential

BYU is 5-0, ranked in the top 10, and has only scratched the surface of its potential. The defense has improved every week and the offense is starting to gel with all the new pass-catchers. Bear Bachmeier showed what he is capable of as a passer against Iowa State. In the first four games, the Cougars didn't really need Bachmeier to throw the football outside of the second half.

ESPN's Bill Connelly puts together a postgame projected margin based on the advanced analytics from a game. BYU's postgame projected win margin against Iowa State was 28 points. Said differently, if the two teams produced exactly the same output in another game, the Cougars would probably win by 28 points.

That checks out since BYU stalled inside the five twice and muffed a pair of punts. The Cougars dominated in a way that the final score did not reflect. That means there is upside to his BYU team that hasn't been showcased quite yet.

As long as BYU can avoid too many more injuries, this team can get much better as the season progresses, especially once players like Raider Damuni and LJ Martin return to the lineup.

If BYU is going to win the Big 12, it needs to be playing its best football in November. There is a clear path for BYU to being playing its best football one month from now.

Glass half empty: this team isn't reaching its potential

On the other hand, this very talented team has not reached its potential yet and we're almost halfway through the season. Penalties have become a theme for this group. Outside of a rainy evening in Fort Worth, the only thing that has consistently stopped this BYU offense is penalties.

Sloppy penalties, muffed punts, and dropped passes will sink BYU against the likes of Notre Dame and Utah. That has to be cleaned up, and it hasn't been cleaned up yet. If BYU doesn't reach its potential soon, there would be enough evidence to suggest that they never will.

Losing LJ Martin for four to six games has greatly reduced BYU's margin for error. BYU's offensive line will need to improve without Martin in the lineup, the running backs will need to take better advantage of the holes the offensive line is creating, and self-inflicted mistakes need to be cut in half.

The time to clean up mistakes was in the first five games of the season. Now with Notre Dame coming to town, BYU can't afford to make the same mistakes.

The Youth Movement

BYU is ranked in the top 10 and one of the favorites to win the Big 12. BYU fans should not only be excited about the potential of this season, but the potential of future seasons as well. The Cougars are getting significant contributions from a lot of underclassmen. True freshmen Legend Glasker, Braxton Lindsey, Bott Mulitalo, Kennan Pula, and Journee Tonga have played critical snaps for BYU the last two weeks.

Other underclassmen with big roles include Bear Bachmeier, Nusi Taumoepeau, Hunter Clegg, Siosiua Latu-Finau, and Cannon DeVries.

Between those players already contributing, other freshmen like Jaron Pula and Nehemiah Kolone who will certain play big roles in the future, and the missionaries that are scheduled to join the program, the future is very bright for the BYU football program.

The Big 12 Race

Despite wins by Houston and Oklahoma State, FPI believes this is still a three-team race in the Big 12. BYU, Texas Tech, and Utah are the three favories, and FPI projects there is an 83% chance that one of those three teams will win the league.

For BYU and Utah, the 2026 Holy War could be the most game in the history of the rivalry. If BYU and Utah win the conference games they will be favored to win, it could be either a play-in game for Alrington or a preview of the Big 12 championship game.

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