After what felt like a six-week long preseason, Notre Dame hits the road this week for what most assume will be its most difficult game away from Notre Dame Stadium this season, as it travels to No. 8 BYU.
It's Notre Dame's first game in Provo since it was upset in the 2004 opener there, and is looking to avoid that same fate, and instead improve to 7-0 this fall, and keep its credibility.
Most look at the two teams and see a Notre Dame team that has more talent, but more talent doesn't always mean wins.
That's a fairly common statement for anyone to make, but a man that knows about beating more talented teams on a regular basis is current Fox Sports analyst and former Notre Dame assistant coach Urban Meyer.
Urban Meyer Shares How He'd Attack Notre Dame as BYU Coach
Meyer has been out of coaching for a few years now but still knows what goes into a gameplan.
While at Utah for two seasons he led the Utes to an overall 22-2 record and Fiesta Bowl title, while taking out a handful of teams from bigger conferences (Utah was in the Mountain West at that time) such as Cal, Oregon, Texas A&M, and Pittsburgh.
Meyer shared this week on The Triple Option Podcast what BYU has to do in order to have a chance at knocking off Notre Dame.
"When I was the coach at Utah, remember you're at elevation, and I'd see a team like Notre Dame come in - we had North Carolina come in while I was there, Arizona, Oregon, Cal, now there is a risk with that," said Meyer. "I'm going to try and wear their ass out."
"Our whole idea was let's go no huddle, now there's a risk with that, and I'm going to watch how Notre Dame reacts...I would have practiced this all summer...because if you traditional football, Notre Dame is going to beat you by two scores, but there is altitude and Notre Dame hasn't been in a game in the fourth quarter in 16 games."
"I would go pedal to the medal and make sure our whole team knows it could be risky, but I get their butt to the fourth quarter and see how they respond."
Nick Shepkowski's Quick Thoughts
This is the first game that Notre Dame's depth will be really necessary, or at least I assume. I fully expect to see an increased number of snaps for more players both on the defensive line and at linebacker.
BYU wants to hit you in the mouth anyway, now if they're going to come out and do it with more tempo behind them it's risk reward, just like Meyer mentioned.
Notre Dame has one of the nation's top rushing attacks, allowing just 58.3 yards per game and 2.1 yards per attempt.
Hurrying up to put up those numbers, and then to have to throw against one of the top secondaries is the risk, but getting it a bit uneasy because of tempo, perhaps Meyer is right that it could be the great equalizer.
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) October 12, 2026
Notre Dame hasn't had to go into the fourth quarter facing a whole lot of drama this year but that's exactly why I was sort of happy to see the North Carolina game end up going the way it did.
Yes, there were defensive breakdowns and special teams woes during it, but it allowed Notre Dame to have to be tested later in a game than it usually has over the last 16 games.
I have a strange feeling that Meyer is right and that Notre Dame's added depth in recent years ends up being the biggest reason it is able to walk out of Provo with its seventh win of the year Saturday night.
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