The Key to Stopping Every QB on BYU's 2026 Schedule

The BYU football program will kickoff the 2026 season on Saturday. The Cougars are scheduled to take on some experienced quarterbacks in 2026. In this article, we'll do an analytical deep dive of how to stop every quarterback on BYU's schedule.

With all due respect to Utah Tech, this article will focus on the FBS teams on BYU's schedule.

Noah Fitita - Arizona

For the third time in as many seasons, BYU will face Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita. Fifita and the Arizona offense will be a great test for the BYU defense in week two. Fifita struggled against BYU in 2024, throwing three interceptions in a 41-19 loss. In 2025, Fifita played well against the Cougars, especially considering the rainy conditions. Fifita finished with 219 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception in a double overtime loss to BYU.

Fifita doesn't have many weaknesses on paper. Among the qualifying 140 FBS quarterbacks last year (in terms of dropbacks), Fifita ranked 7th in turnover-worthy play rate and 11th in accuracy under pressure, and 26th in big-time throw rate. Said differently, it's hard to fluster the veteran signal-caller. The analytics suggest Fifita is one of the top two quarterbacks BYU will face.

BYU will need to mix up the looks they show Fifita and bring some unique blitzes. That was one weakness in his game last season. Fifita ranked 94th in yards per attempt against the blitz (PFF). The Cougars will also need to protect against short passes and force Fifita to beat them over the top. Fifita ranked 83rd in deep ball accuracy rate that gain yards after the catch.

If you mix in some blitzes and crowd Fifita's short outlet passes, you can make life difficult on him. He's too talented to be shut down completely, but he can be slowed down.

Hauss Hejny - Colorado State

The jury is still out on Colorado State quarterback Hauss Hejny. Hejny, who is playing for his third school in as many years, won the starting job at Oklahoma State last season before suffering a season-ending injury in the first quarter of the season opener. Hejny has a minor connection to BYU. When he left TCU, he picked up an offer from BYU's coaching staff. That connection paved the way for Hejny to end up in Fort Collins. Former BYU assistant quarterbacks coach Matt Mitchell left BYU to be the quarterbacks coach at Colorado State. Hejny and Mitchell re-connected when Hejny left Oklahoma State, and now he could face BYU in week three.

Hejny has not been named the starter at Colorado State, but we expect him to win the job. He has the arm talent to be a good player for new head coach Jim Mora.

Hejny is relatively small at just 6'0 and he is inexperienced. If BYU can fluster the inexperienced Hejny with pressure, they should be able to contain his strengths and leave Colorado with a comfortable win.

Jayden Craig - TCU

TCU quarterback Jayden Craig had a, frankly, dreadful debut for the Horned Frogs in week zero. Craig came to Fort Worth via Harvard and he has all the physical tools to be a good quarterback at the FBS level. However, there were questions about his accuracy even dating back to his days at Harvard, and those concerns were realized in week zero.

Craig never completed more than 61.5% of his passes in a single season at Harvard. His completion rate against North Carolina? 62.5%. The data suggests the rainy conditions were not to blame for Craig's inaccuracies against UNC. Instead, it's a career flaw that has plagued him since 2023.

Craig likes to hold onto the football and let the routes develop downfield. The key to stopping him is to pressure him before he can watch the play develop and deliver deep balls. Craig's strength is his ability to make big-time throws downfield. When he is forced to read defenses quickly and take what defenses give him, he struggles. BYU's pass rush will need to keep him off balance in October.

Jaylen Raynor - Iowa State

Former Arkansas State quarterback Jaylen Raynor is in line to start for a new-look Iowa State team. Raynor struggled to throw the ball downfield in 2025. He ranked 110th in deep accuracy per PFF and 92nd in intermediate accuracy.

The keep to stopping Raynor is to keep him in the pocket, prevent him from hitting short passes, and force him to beat you with his arm over the top. So far in his career, he has struggled to make defenses pay.

CJ Carr - Notre Dame

CJ Carr is one of the best quarterbacks in college football, and it will be a major challenge to slow him down in October. Carr ranked 9th in EPA per dropback last season. He ranked 7th in yards per attempt when kept clean last season.

The key to stopping Carr is keeping everything in front of you and force him into a mistake. He is capable of slicing through defenses with intermediate and deep throws - he 10th in medium accuracy and 34th in deep accuracy. One of his few weaknesses last season was how often he put the ball at risk. He ranked 60th in turnover-worthy play rate. If you cut down the chunk plays, combined with the fact that Notre Dame's rushing attack shouldn't be as dominant in 2026, you could force Carr into a mistake or two that really changes the outcome of the game.

Alonza Barnett III - UCF

New UCF quarterback Alonza Barnett was one of the worst quarterbacks in college football last season. The key against Barnett is simple: bring the heat. His PFF grade under pressure ranked 132nd out of 140 qualified quarterbacks. His grade against the blitz was 124th out of 140 last season.

If you pressure Barnett III, you will slow him down. If you give him time to get comfortable, he could give BYU a scare one week after the Notre Dame game.

Cutter Boley - Arizona State

New ASU quarterback Cutter Boley ranked 139th out of 140 quarterbacks in deep ball accuracy. His limitation downfield allow you to stack every defender with 15 yards of the line of scrimmage and force him into mistakes. He ranked 128th in turnover-worthy play rate last season.

Boley was inexperienced last season, so he could take a big step forward this season, but he had severe limitations last season. If you take away the short and intermediate throws, he will struggle to make you pay. And once he is pressured, he really struggles to escape. He ranked 110th among quarterbacks in his ability to avoid sacks when pressured.

Devon Dampier - Utah

The key to stopping Devon Dampier was blatantly obvious last season: you have to pressure him. Dampier was dead last in accuracy rate under pressure last season (see below). However, he was rarely pressured last season since he stood behind a dominant offensive line. He was pressured 25.5% of the time which was the 18th-lowest pressure rate faced by quarterbacks last season.

QB accuracy under pressure vs kept clean (Data: PFF) | Data: PFF; Chart: BYU On SI

Now that Dampier is behind a less-experienced offensive line, it remains to be seen how he will fair when pressured. He was almost an entire standard deviation worse than the rest of the field in terms of accuracy under pressure. If you pressure him early and often, you're going to like the result.

DJ Lagway - Baylor

DJ Lagway was one of the top quarterback recruits in his class when he signed with Florida. Lagway is coming off a dreadful season at Florida, but it's hard to know whether to pin the blame on Lagway or the disfunction at Florida.

The key to stopping Lagway is to stop the run first. If you put him in obvious passing situations, he will struggle. He ranked 138th in turnover-worthy play rate without play action, and he ranked 131st in overall PFF grade without play action. Lagway couldn't get the job done as a drop-back passer last season. He was so bad, in fact, that it's hard to believe he can get back to average even if he improves against 2025.

Stop the run first and you'll probably stop DJ Lagway.

Isaiah Marshall - Kansas

We don't have enough data on Isaiah Marshall to understand his weaknesses at this point. He has attempted just three passes at Kansas. Marshall was used as a situational running quarterback and he played well, averaging over 10 yards per carry.

The key to stopping Marshall will be to keep him in the pocket and force an inexperienced thrower to beat you with his arm.

JC French IV - Cincinnati

Georgia Southern transfer JC French IV was named the starter at Cincinnati. The recipe to stop French, at least on paper, is to dial up blitzes and make him uncomfortable. He ranked 126th in PFF grade against the blitz last season and he really struggled when pressured.

If you keep everything in front of you and dial up some blitzes, he probably won't be able to make you pay for bringing a blitz. He ranked 130th in short throw accuracy and he struggled on intermediate throwas as well. Even if he diagnoses the blitz, he may not be able to deliver an accurate ball against that blitz.

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on X and Facebook for the latest news.

Add us as a preferred source on Google