Holy Score: Why the BYU-Notre Dame showdown is huge for the Cougars and gigantic for the Big 12

The most significant game in the 104-year history of BYU football is, of course, the 1984 Holiday Bowl victory over Michigan that clinched the Cougars' first and only national championship.

Not as obvious: No. 2.

The spot could have been filled by the 2025 Big 12 championship game. A victory would have catapulted the Cougars into the College Football Playoff for the first time. Instead, the blowout loss to Texas Tech cast the matchup into the dustbin of BYU history and created a vacancy.

Allow us to offer a candidate: The showdown Saturday evening against second-ranked Notre Dame.

Without question, it's the biggest home game in BYU history and the most significant for the Big 12 this season because of its conference-wide impact.

So important is the 4:30 p.m. (Pacific) kickoff that ESPN's 'College GameDay' will broadcast from Provo — the vaunted show's first visit to a Big 12 campus this season.

So important is the matchup that the broadcast deck has been cleared: All the marquee SEC games are scheduled for earlier in the day.

So important is the matchup that, dare we suggest, fans of undefeated Utah should be rooting for the undefeated Cougars.

That's right: A show of support that is both unthinkable and unimaginable every other Saturday of every other season of every other decade is wholly appropriate this week. If the eighth-ranked Cougars win, the afterglow could propel the Utes into the CFP.

We'll dive into that scenario momentarily. First, let's set the stage — not for the Cougars but the conference.

In case you hadn't heard, the Big 12 has an image problem.

Understandably, the conference is not viewed by the college football machinery as the equal of the Big Ten or SEC. And in some respects, it is viewed as somehow lesser than the ACC, as well.

That machinery includes fans from coast to coast, legacy media, new media, social media and, it seems, the CFP selection committee.

Unlike its Power Four conference peers, the Big 12 has not received an at-large berth to the playoff in the two seasons of the event's 12-team format. Only its champions, Arizona State in 2024 and Texas Tech in 2025, have participated.

In both years, the Cougars were the Big 12's highest-ranked non-champion — the at-large candidate on the outside looking in. Alas, they did not possess the metric strength or clear the subjective bar. Exactly how and why, we cannot state conclusively, for the committee keeps its deliberations private and its data points secret.

Last year was particularly frustrating for fans, but the Cougars had a weak case. Their two auditions against a playoff-caliber opponent (the Texas Tech matchups) ended in blowouts. The selection committee took two looks, deemed BYU unworthy, and moved on.

The date with Notre Dame offers the Cougars another chance to look the part of a playoff participant.

How they perform will impact the perception of BYU and the Big 12, which could be described as fair-to-middlin'.

The conference went a respectable 5-7 against the ACC, Big Ten and SEC in non-conference matchups but, to this point, has not recorded a victory over a ranked team. (Oklahoma State's upset of Oregon means less now than it did at the time: The two-loss Ducks are not currently ranked.)

If the Cougars topple Notre Dame, that problem disappears instantaneously. The selection committee would have a critical data point showing the strength of the Big 12 when it evaluates teams in contention for one of the seven at-large bids.

What's more, a BYU victory would undercut Notre Dame's case for a playoff berth. The Irish possess a carve-out in the selection process due to their Independent status and on-field success 60 years ago: If they finish in the top 12 of the final CFP rankings, an at-large bid is assured.

A loss to BYU would leave the Irish with just two opportunities to secure the quality wins — they play Miami and SMU in November — that are necessary to justify top-12 status.

If the Irish don't make the cut, an at-large bid would become available for a deserving team from the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC.

That team could be the Cougars.

If they lose to Utah and don't qualify for the Big 12 championship, a victory over Notre Dame would provide the resume strength needed for a bid.

The second-level implications would be significant, as well.

Consider this scenario: No. 11 Utah defeats the Cougars in the Holy War next month but loses the following week at Arizona and to Texas Tech in the conference championship.

The Utes would finish 11-2, which recent history suggests is a tenuous position for Big 12 playoff contenders. But they would have a win over a team that defeated Notre Dame, thereby boosting both Utah's metrics and its subjective qualifications.

The ideal outcome for the Big 12?

That's easy: BYU takes down Notre Dame and loses in the conference championship to Texas Tech, Utah, Arizona, Houston, Oklahoma State — the specific opponent doesn't matter.

What matters is the winner would receive the conference's automatic bid, and the loser, BYU, would have a head-to-head victory over another CFP-caliber team.

The Cougars would have proven they belong on the postseason stage with exactly the type of result they did not possess last season.

The Big 12's coveted at-large berth would be effectively assured, potentially at the expense of ... Notre Dame.

Even if the Cougars lose Saturday, a competitive showing could have similar implications.

The outcome BYU must avoid, at all costs, is a lopsided loss.

That would give the committee the evidence it needs — some Big 12 fans might say, the evidence it wants — to treat the conference in second-class fashion.

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