Players to watch, predictions as Notre Dame football visits BYU
· Yahoo Sports
SOUTH BEND – Now this is a college football Saturday.
We made it to the one game on the Notre Dame football schedule that everyone has pointed to as the true start for the 2026 Irish season. No more overwhelming another overmatched Big Ten opponent. No more one-sided affairs against academic-minded schools that seem more like scrimmages (sorry, Rice and Stanford). No more telling your college football friends and neighbors that No. 2 Notre Dame (6-0) will show what it is — who it is — come mid-October.
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It’s No. 8 and undefeated Brigham Young (5-0). It's under the lights in a cool, crazed venue. It’s the Irish going to Utah for the first time in decades. It's everything we’ve waited for since everything started in the Upper Midwest on Labor Day weekend. It’s college football at its finest.
Here are four players (OK, a few more) to keep an eye on to make this prime-time matchup worth watching.
No. 2 NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH
The offensive line — all five of them
From left to right – Will Black (LT), Anthonie Knapp (LG), Ashton Craig (C), Sullivan Absher (RG) and Guerby Lambert (RT) have started the last five games together. We were cautioned in August that it would take time for this new group that featured only one starter back at his original position from 2025 (Craig), before it all looked like it was supposed to look.
It looks good now. Notre Dame ran for 177 yards at Purdue, 241 at North Carolina, then rolled up 361 at home against Stanford. That’s good. Better yet is the group has allowed quarterback CJ Carr to be sacked only twice through six games (399 offensive plays). One came on the opening drive of the season against Wisconsin. That’s staggering.
This is a test your manhood game against a defense ranked eighth overall and 10th against the run. It’s the kind of contest where Notre Dame must use its size advantage — the line averages 6-foot-6.2, 316.2 pounds against a BYU front three that averages 6-3.3, 295 pounds, to wear down the other guys. String together long scoring drives. Run the ball with that bevy of backs. Flex their collective muscles.
Show everyone that this O-line is fine.
DE Boubacar Traore (5)
We start the second half of the season the way we started the first half of the season highlighting the same Irish defensive player who can make a difference. It was the 6-5, 253-pound senior from Boston then; it’s the 6-5, 253-pound senior from Boston now, but for wildly different reasons.
In early September, we didn’t know what the Irish had in Traore, who had the potential to be someone you had to account for on every play. He had the chance to get there, but would he get there?
He's there. Traore has not so quietly become one of the top edge rushers in the country. He’s fifth on the team in tackles (17), tied for first with 5.5 tackles for loss, first in sacks (3.5) and forced fumbles (one). He also leads the team with eight quarterback hurries. The next closest Irish has two. How? Simple, Traore said after terrorizing Stanford. He plays like he practices — all out on every play. Can’t stop him during the week; can’t stop him on Saturdays.
Traore was good the first half of the season. He could be even better the second half. For opposing offenses, that’s a frightening thought. Beast mode loading.
No. 8 BRIGHAM YOUNG COUGARS (5-0)
QB Bear Bachmeier (47)
What strikes you about Bachmeier, besides the numbers he’s posted since transferring from Stanford, is his number. Not many quarterbacks around the country sport No. 47, his first jersey when he started football at age 5. He was a middle linebacker until eighth grade. When he moved to quarterback, he kept the number. Gave him an attitude. A middle linebacker’s mindset.
With standout running back LJ Martin out with an injury in this one, even more is expected/demanded of the 6-2, 230-pound sophomore from Murrieta, California. Bachmeier has carried 36 times for 239 yards and four touchdowns. He's thrown for 1,033 yards and eight touchdowns. Stop Bachmeier, and the Irish likely stop the Cougars.
This is the highest-ranked team Bachmeier and BYU has faced since a 34-7 loss to then-fourth ranked Texas Tech in the Big 12 championship game last December. Bachmeier is coming off season highs for completions (22), attempts (30) pass yards (329) and rush yards (109) in last week’s win over Iowa State. It’s like the Cougars have found something without Martin.
Let Bachmeier get going in both the run and the pass game, and it could be a long night for one of the nation’s elite defenses.
MLB Cade Uluave (4)
Don’t sleep on the defense for a program that’s often known for what it does on the other side of the football. They can cause havoc and turn you over in the shadows of the Wasatch Mountains as well.
Brigham Young ranks in the top 10 in three major defensive statistical categories — total (eighth), scoring (ninth) and rush (10th). The ringleader is Uluave, a 6-1, 230-pound senior from South Jordan, Utah who spent three seasons at Cal, where he was a tackling machine. Uluave earned first team All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors last season after making 100 stops for the Golden Bears. He returned home this season and picked up where he left off.
One of 13 linebackers on the roster, which includes two sets of brothers, Uluave finds the ball, gets the ball and makes the stop. His 26 tackles lead the team. He tied his season high with six tackles in the win over Iowa State, and has tallied six, five, six and six in the last four games. He and the BYU defense will be tested by Notre Dame in ways they haven’t been tested. With Uluave lurking from his middle linebacker spot, the Cougars might pass that test.
Prediction Time
-Mike Berardino
Notre Dame 27, BYU 13: Banged-up Cougars hang around for a while before Irish pull away late.
∎Tom Noie
-Notre Dame 24, BYU 14: The Irish have been waiting for a challenge like this and will deliver in a challenge like this the way a veteran, mature, focused team should deliver.
∎Austin Hough
Notre Dame 31, BYU 17: This game has Virginia Tech 2018-like energy. Marquee game, at night, the hosts should come out fired up. I don't know if we get a 98-yard touchdown run after that (Jonaz Walton encore maybe?), but the better team — Notre Dame — will pull away in the second half to get the first of what they hope will be several season-defining wins.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Players to watch, predictions as Notre Dame football visits BYU