The idea of Notre Dame and BYU playing annually as a new “Holy War” in college football isn’t anything new. You can crawl through the archives of message board for the past 20 years and find this exact topic brought up by college football fans — though probably not that many Notre Dame fans.
Notre Dame and BYU have played just 9 times with the Irish holding a 7-2 edge over the Cougars. The last win by BYU was the first game of the last season in which Ty Willingham was in charge in South Bend. And yet… BYU fans often play around as if their program is on the same level as Notre Dame. Hell — BYU even tried to be an independent in football, but quickly ran to the Big 12 once they had an opportunity to do so. 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 wrench thrown into all of this last season. Notre Dame was screwed out of a place in the college football playoff for 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, who also felt like they were screwed out of a playoff spot. This added some vinegar to the entire situation between the two schools as Notre Dame, despite there being an agreement, never came back to Provo after the 2004 loss.
Things get even weirder as USC backed out of the rivalry with Notre Dame, and the Irish immediately added BYU to the 2026 schedule. This all led to more and more conversations around ND and BYU, and some media members were basically making this the new ND vs Boston College type of series. In those conversations, people are suggesting that BYU and Notre Dame should play every year.
And in the words of my favorite gas station clerk, 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 entire logic behind an annual matchup — but as a fan, this isn’t something that makes me excited about the Notre Dame football schedule in the future.
Notre Dame has enough real rivalries and enough fake rivalries for about 5 programs. There’s no need to make this matchup more than what it is (which is a scheduling agreement). I don’t believe for one minute that Notre Dame fans will put this game on the same level as a USC or Michigan or Miami or even like Michigan State. And while I think the BYU contingent would probably welcome this much easier than the Irish contingent — I don’t think they would ever put this on the same level at the Utah game either.
So what’s the point?
Notre Dame should continue to play BYU here and there and have a good relationship with the school to to schedule games when and where it benefits both programs, but we don’t need a Civil Conflict Trophy type of vibe here — which is exactly what those that are calling for an annual game are actually doing here.
