In 2024 and 2025, BYU went 23-4 and was a few plays away from earning its first trip to the College Football Playoff. The 2024 and 2025 teams will go down as two of the best teams in the history of the BYU football program. Through the first half of the 2026 season, this 6-0 BYU football team has built on the prior success and has taken several key steps forward. In this article, we are looking at the advanced analytics to understand where BYU has improved the most compared to those two seasons.
Defense is Much Stingier at All Levels
The BYU defenses were good, not great, in 2024 and 2025 under the direction of Jay Hill. The Cougars allowed a lot of yards in those two seasons, but they tightened up in the red zone and kept points off the board.
Said differently, BYU featured bend-don't-break defenses. The Cougars were average in defensive success rate where they finished 67th and 55th in 2024 and 2025, respectively. They ranked 32nd (2024) and 40th (2025) in points allowed per drive. In 2025, BYU ranked 53rd in available yards allowed.
This season, BYU has been better defensively by almost every metric, and there is a reason to believe they will only get better as the season progresses. More on that in a moment.
BYU is ranked 11th in points allowed per drive and 18th in opponent success rate allowed. BYU is also creating more havoc. The Cougars are ranked 14th in havoc rate generated - they didn't crack the top 50 in havoc rate in either 2024 or 2025.
The Cougars have improved in stuff rate, explosive plays allowed, and yards per play. The only area where this defense has not improved is generating turnovers and red zone defense. The good news is BYU's red zone defense took a major step forward against Notre Dame, and BYU has had multiple chances at takeaways the last few weeks. We believe it's only a matter of time before BYU starts generating more turnovers.
And remember when we said BYU could improve in these metrics by season's end? BYU has already faced two top 15 teams in points per drive (Notre Dame and Arizona). The Cougars face one more top 15 offense in Utah. Outside of that game, the BYU defense will face UCF (87th), Arizona State (106th), Baylor (74th), Kansas (101st), and Cincinnati (33rd). BYU's defense has the chance to control games in the back half of the season.
The Offense Protects the Football and Limits Defensive Havoc
Excluding garbage time, BYU's offense has coughed up the football just once: the fourth quarter interception against Notre Dame. Bear Bachmeier has been as good as any quarterback in the country when it comes to protecting the football. That's a major difference between this BYU football team and the 2024 BYU football team.
Protecting the football was Jake Retzlaff's primary weakness. BYU's offense ranked 134th in turnovers per game that season. This season, BYU ranks 6th in turnovers per game. This next sentence comes with a trigger warning: BYU doesn't lose to Kansas in 2024 if they protect the football near the end zone.
A turnover against TCU could have altered the outcome of that game. Instead, the offense protected the football in ugly conditions and left Fort Worth with a victory.
Between the offensive line and Bear Bachmeier, defenses have struggled to generate havoc against this BYU offense. BYU ranks 2nd in havoc rate allowed. The offense ranked 80th and 54th in that same category in 224 and 2025, respectively.
Staying ahead of the sticks has been a theme for BYU. The Cougars rank 16th in offensive success rate after finishing 35th and 25th in that same category the last two years.
BYU has faced three top 30 defenses in yards per play: Notre Dame (2), TCU (6), and Arizona (29). Bachmeier and co. will face two more in 2026: Baylor (14) and Utah (30). Like the defense, this offense has a chance to improve in the metrics by season's end. BYU is yet to face three defenses that are ranked 84th or worse in yards per play allowed: Kansas (84th), ASU (102nd), and Cincinnati (103rd).
Capitalizes on Scoring Opportunities
On the offensive side, the most important improvement has been BYU's ability to capitalize on scoring opportunities. BYU beat Notre Dame because it took better advantage of scoring drives in opposing territory.
Frankly, taking advantage of scoring opportunities was a weakness for BYU in 2024 and 2025. BYU ranked 102nd in touchdowns per scoring drive in 2024 and 81st in 2025. This year, BYU is scoring touchdowns on 83% of scoring opportunities which ranks 2nd in FBS. A scoring opportunity is defined as a drive that reaches the opponent 40 or closer.
Even though BYU isn't putting up gaudy numbers in terms of total offense, they are playing their best in the most important moments. BYU's personnel is built to be great in the red zone. Bear Bachmeier is a force running the football in that area, and he has also improved as a passer.
Kyler Kasper, Walker Lyons, and Roger Saleapaga are big red zone targets that BYU didn't have last year. Against Notre Dame, Kasper and Lyons made critical catches on third downs in the red zone to either move the sticks or punch the ball in the end zone.
When LJ Martin was healthy, BYU's offense was perfect in red zone opportunities. Once he returns to the lineup, BYU's offense will get even better in the red zone.
BYU's ability to capitalize on scoring opportunities, combined with BYU's stout defense, can win any game on BYU's schedule. It's why BYU is a perfect 6-0 even though it has not played a clean game this season.
By the numbers, this 2026 team is better than the two BYU teams that won 23 games combined. If the Cougars can avoid slip ups against teams like UCF, Arizona State, and Kansas, they have the potential to make a postseason run in the playoffs.
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