5 bold predictions for the 2026 BYU football season

Who’s ready for football season?

We’re approaching the most wonderful time of the year in Provo, as BYU prepares to open fall camp ahead of the 2026 campaign.

Expectations for the Cougars haven’t been this high in years — but that’s what a 23-4 record since the start of 2024 will do for your program.

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Perhaps Kalani Sitake’s crew finally gets over the hump this fall to earn a College Football Playoff bid, or maybe BYU will suffer a similar regression to that of Big 12 foes Baylor or Colorado last season. The possibilities are endless, which makes trying to predict what will happen all the more entertaining.

A year ago, I took a stab at guessing what the Cougars would accomplish in 2025, offering five bold predictions which you can read here. As fate would have it, I batted 3 for 5 on the exercise, although my declaration that McCae Hillstead would start every game at quarterback definitely aged catastrophically. Swing and a miss.

Thus, in an attempt to make this something of an annual pre-fall camp tradition for myself, I’m back with five new hot takes for BYU in 2026, where hopefully I can nail four of them this time around.

But first, a disclaimer: These are bold predictions, so don’t take them too seriously. While any of these things could definitely come to pass, there’s practically no chance of them all happening, and perhaps none of them will end up coming true.

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If I do indeed get all of them wrong, we can all enjoy a nice, hearty laugh at my foolishness, just like you should about my aforementioned Hillstead belief last year. Let’s just have some fun!

Here are my five bold predictions for BYU in 2026.

Roger Saleapaga will be BYU’s leading receiver

There’s a lot of uncertainty within BYU’s receiving corps.

The three most productive Cougar pass-catchers from a year ago — Chase Roberts, Carsen Ryan and Parker Kingston — are all gone. Jojo Phillips and Tiger Bachmeier will be leaned on more than ever before. If healthy, Tei Nacua and Kyler Kasper should factor in, and new freshmen Legend Glasker, Jaron Pula and Terrance Saryon all have plenty of potential but still need to prove themselves at the college level.

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But as much as the wide receivers have something to prove, BYU’s tight end unit appears rock solid, with a pair of talented transfers in Walker Lyons and Roger Saleapaga headlining at the top.

Lyons caught 20 balls at USC last year, while Saleapaga was a third-stringer at Oregon playing behind two of the sport’s best tight ends in Kenyon Sadiq and Jamari Johnson. However, Saleapaga should be poised for a breakout, as the former Orem High standout and 4-star recruit was widely heralded by players and coaches for his performance during spring practices.

Saleapaga’s route running and potential as a vertical threat could make him a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses — especially when paired with a proven quarterback in Bear Bachmeier and Aaron Roderick’s creative offensive mind.

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I suspect BYU’s receiving production will come from a deep committee rather than a few big names, and Saleapaga’s statistical contributions will lead the rest of the bunch.

Nusi Taumoepeau will lead the Cougars in sacks

While he may have only played 130 snaps last season as a true freshman, Nusi Taumoepeau offered some legitimate flashes of brilliance for the Cougars.

Taumoepeau’s official coming out party came in the Pop-Tarts Bowl against Georgia Tech, where celebrated his first career start by leading BYU in tackles and forcing a fumble — with his foot.

The 6-foot-3, 240-pound defensive end also had a sack against TCU and posted a 29.4% pressure rate for the season, meaning he either sacked, hurried or hit the opposing quarterback on nearly 30% of his pass rush attempts. For comparison, BYU’s sack leader, Jack Kelly, had a pressure rate of 29.3%.

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Long story short — Taumoepeau has a knack for disruption, one that should launch him to become BYU’s top sack artist.

Bruce Mitchell will be a First Team All-American at center

Whenever other Big 12 coaches talk about BYU, they almost always point out the Cougars’ toughness and physicality, especially in the trenches.

No player better symbolizes such traits than Bruce Mitchell, the heart of BYU’s booming offensive line and a reigning First Team All-Big 12 selection at center.

BYU ran for 33 touchdowns and nearly 2,500 yards last year with the 6-foot-4, 305-pound Mitchell paving the way up front. He committed just three penalties and allowed two sacks in 2025, and since the start of 2024, the Cougars are 19-2 in Mitchell’s starts.

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Pro Football Focus gave Mitchell an overall offensive grade of 77.8 for 2025, which ranked 10th among all centers nationally. Only three of the nine centers ranked ahead of him are returning to college in 2026, making Mitchell an early favorite for end-of-season recognition.

If BYU reaches its potential as a team this year, it will likely mean Mitchell was as good as expected. He’s a true X-factor for the Cougars and will get some national hardware and attention as a result.

BYU will boast both the Big 12 Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year

I’m being purposely vague with this prediction because BYU has multiple worthy candidates for these awards. Why pigeonhole myself with specific guesses when I could play the field and have a better chance to be correct? It’s not cheating, it’s strategy.

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As we all know, LJ Martin earned Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year honors from the Big 12 last year and was recently the preseason pick for the same award. A repeat performance would make perfect sense, as he’s slated for another heavy workload out of the backfield behind a strong offensive line. Health permitting, you can pencil him in for another 1,000-yard, 10-touchdown effort, at the very least.

But what if Bear Bachmeier takes a sophomore leap, becoming a more prolific passer while continuing to make magic happen on the ground? BYU returning to the Big 12 championship game on the back of an even better Bachmeier would present an interesting award case, especially if Martin is excellent again and the Offensive Player of the Year becomes a Bachmeier vs. Martin showdown.

On the defensive side of the ball, transfer linebacker Cade Uluave was a First Team All-ACC selection in 2025, cornerback Evan Johnson just had five interceptions as a junior, safety Faletau Satuala broke out in a major way last year and both Isaiah Glasker and Keanu Tanuvasa have played at an elite level before. Everyone has a chance to win, but I think the current frontrunner should be Uluave.

ESPN’s “College GameDay” will visit Provo ahead of BYU’s clash with Notre Dame

Aside from playing Utah, one game on BYU’s schedule stands out a mile above the rest:

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Oct. 17 against Notre Dame.

It’s one of the most highly-anticipated matchups ever for the Cougars — and one deserving of college football’s brightest spotlight.

ESPN’s “College GameDay” show has come to LaVell Edwards Stadium just once, in 2009, and the Cougars and Fighting Irish will convince Kirk Herbstreit, Chris Fowler and company to come back 17 years later.

Oct. 17 does have some other great games on the docket, including Ohio State-Indiana, Penn State-Michigan and Alabama-Tennessee. Competition to get “GameDay” will be fierce.

But the amount of potential juice behind BYU-Notre Dame will be really hard to ignore.

There’s the faith aspect. The playoff implications. The Pop-Tarts Bowl drama last year. If both teams are undefeated, it practically becomes a no-brainer for ESPN.