Day after: Digesting Notre Dame’s tough top-10 loss at BYU

Michael Chen , Fighting Irish WireSun, October 18, 2026 at 11:02 AM UTC

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Notre Dame’s win streak came to an end on Saturday evening, as the comeback attempt fell short and BYU go the top-10 win 28-24.

The Irish looked like the better team for stretches, but could put it together late allowing the Cougars to score with just over two minutes felt in the game. Now at 6-1, Notre Dame will tumble down the polls, how far is the question, as it was a chaotic Week 7 in college football.

I had a few thoughts right after the game, but after having some time to digest what we saw, here are my final thoughts on Notre Dame’s disappointing loss to BYU.

College Football Playoff championship level performance?

The final result is a no, but there were some positives out of this performance. The Irish showed plenty of resilience coming back from being down 21-10 at the half, but the defense ran out of gas late in the fourth quarter. I’m interested to see how this team responds, as this isn’t a bad loss, but still a loss. There were stretches of positives from the offense and defense, but this was not a complete game from Notre Dame. They’re still searching for one, a this was not a CFP championship-level performance.

Final play: There was more time / did the ref’s miss a call for Notre Dame?

I’m not one to speculate, but I don’t think the referee’s did Notre Dame any favors. In the live blog, I questioned if there was still a second left on the clock, but they never checked it. It came out late that the Big 12 review team said there should have been a second left on thte clock. Terrible.

Many online were complaining about a missing pass interference call, but those are so hard to understand, you could say every play one can be called. The Irish didn’t get some calls that could have changed the outcome, and while I hate blaming refs, I just want the right call and I don’t think we saw that at the end.

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Why is Aneyas Williams split out wide in 2-minute situation?

I just don’t understand this, why not play one of the younger wide receivers? If offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock wants him in the game as a receiving threat, put him in the backfield where he’s lined up against a linebacker, which is where he’s thrived. Williams going up against a safety isn’t an advantage, he just doesn’t know the route tree well enough or the nuances of the position. There were other personnel decisions that were questionable as well, like not playing tight end Ian Premer or running back Jonaz Walton more.

Is Notre Dame’s offensive line an issue?

CJ Carr wasn’t sacked, but was under plenty of pressure and took some hits, which could have rattled him a bit. He made some uncharacteristic throws, which could have been caused by his internal clock speeding up due to not have enough time to throw. The run game struggled as well, only averaging 3.8 yards-per-carry. Not the best showing for a unit that was trending to win the Joe Moore Award.

Was losing Boubacar Traore the difference?

Anytime you lose your best player, it’s going to hurt, which was the case for the Irish. It was the right call, even if you don’t want to think so, as Traore went in too high, and made helmet-to-helmet contact. He needs to be accounted for every play, and not having him made a huge difference.

Notre Dame’s margin for error is much smaller

Losing isn’t fun, but on the bright side the season isn’t over by any means. The Miami game’s magnitude just got that much larger, as a win over the Hurricanes gives the Irish a signature victory. A loss there and it could doom the Irish once again, not having a top-15 win won’t sit well with the committee. Sure an SMU win would look nice, but when comparing against other teams, it might not match up in their eyes. Miami is now a must win for Notre Dame.

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This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: Day after: Digesting Notre Dame’s tough top-10 loss at BYU

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