No, Notre Dame should NOT play BYU every year
The idea of Notre Dame and BYU playing each year as a new “holy war” in college football is nothing new. You can look through the archives of message boards from the last 20 years and find this exact topic brought up by college football fans – but probably not by many Notre Dame fans.
Notre Dame and BYU have only played 9 times, with the Irish holding a 7-2 lead over the Cougars. BYU’s last win was the first game last season in which Ty Willingham was in charge in South Bend. And yet…BYU fans often play like their program is on the same level as Notre Dame. Hell – BYU even tried to be independent in football, but quickly rushed to the Big 12 as soon as it had the chance. Just because you CAN be independent doesn’t mean you can be like Notre Dame as an independent.
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But there was a key to all of this last season. Notre Dame got bounced out of a spot in the College Football Playoff to Alabama, and then the Irish decided to call it a season rather than play in a meaningless bowl game — which just so happened to be against BYU, which also felt like it had been dumped out of a playoff spot. This added vinegar to the whole situation between the two schools since Notre Dame, despite having an agreement in place, never returned to Provo after the 2004 loss.
Things get even stranger as USC withdrew from the rivalry with Notre Dame and the Irish immediately added BYU to the 2026 schedule. All of this led to more and more conversations surrounding ND and BYU, and some members of the media were essentially making this the new type of ND vs. Boston College series. In these conversations, people suggest that BYU and Notre Dame should play every year.
And in the words of my favorite gas station attendant, THAT’S A HARD NO FOR ME, DOG.
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Look, I don’t mind Notre Dame and BYU playing two or three times a decade, and I actually understand the whole logic behind an annual game – but as a fan, it’s not something that gets me excited for the Notre Dame football schedule moving forward.
Notre Dame has enough real rivalries and enough fake rivalries for about 5 programs. There is no need to make this showdown any bigger than what it is (which is a calendar deal). I don’t believe for one minute that Notre Dame fans will put this game on the same level as USC, Michigan, Miami or even Michigan State. And while I think the BYU contingent would probably welcome this much more readily than the Irish contingent, I also don’t think they would put this on the same level in the Utah game.
So what is it for?
Notre Dame should continue to play BYU here and there and have a good relationship with the school to schedule games when and where it benefits both programs, but we don’t need a Civil Conflict Trophy type atmosphere here – which is exactly what those calling for an annual game are really doing here.
