Notre Dame vs. No. 16 BYU at Las Vegas: How to watch, listen to or stream the game

Cougars are ranked in both major polls, but the Fighting Irish lead the series 6-2 and are favored to win the ninth meeting by four points

Published: Oct 7, 2022, 5:30 p.m. MDT

A Baylor fan and a BYU fan talk after BYU scored a touchdown at the end of the first half at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo. — A Baylor fan and a BYU fan talk after BYU scored a touchdown at the end of the first half at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022. Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

By Jay Drew

Jay has covered sports in Utah for more than 30 years and has been writing for the Deseret News since 2019.

Notre Dame (2-2) vs. No. 16 BYU (4-1)

Kickoff: 5:30 p.m. MDT

Venue: Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas (62,000)

TV: NBC

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Livestream: https://www.nbc.com/live

Radio: 1160 AM/102.7 FM

Series: The Cougars and Fighting Irish are meeting for the ninth time overall, but first time at a neutral site. Notre Dame leads the series 6-2 and are 3-1 in Provo and 3-1 in South Bend, Indiana. Quarterback Matt Berry led the Cougars to a 20-17 win at LaVell Edwards Stadium in 2004, which is the last time BYU won a game in the series. In the last meeting, Notre Dame downed BYU and QB Taysom Hill 23-13 in a frigid game in South Bend.

Weather: Allegiant Stadum has a roof, so fans will be comfortable inside the home of the Las Vegas Raiders. Temperatures in Las Vegas will be in the high 80s before kickoff and around 80 degrees at the end of the game when fans walk back to their cars and hotel rooms.

The trends

For BYU: The Cougars downed Utah State 38-26 in Provo on Thursday, Sept. 29, and will have a couple extra days of rest before kickoff, but nothing like Notre Dame, which hasn’t played since Sept. 24. The Cougars have not looked great since edging Baylor 26-20 on Sept. 10, falling 41-20 to Oregon and holding off Wyoming and the Aggies. However, quarterback Jaren Hall is playing well, having completed 70% of his passes and throwing just one interception. He was named the Kia Player of the Month for September by the College Football Hall of Fame.

For Notre Dame: The Irish recovered nicely from early-season losses to Ohio State and Marshall with impressive wins over California and North Carolina to even their season record at 2-2. Coach Marcus Freeman replaced Brian Kelly, who bolted for LSU, and has emphasized fundamentals and a punishing ground game in righting the ship.

What to watch for

BYU is ranked No. 16 in both major polls and are 22-6 under seven-year coach Kalani Sitake when playing as a ranked team. The Cougars have not committed a turnover since the opener at South Florida, but were undisciplined in last week’s 38-26 win over Utah State and can’t afford to make similar mistakes against a much better team this week at a neutral site that will be mostly filled with Notre Dame fans due to that school owning the ticketing and broadcast rights to the game.

Key player

BYU’s Jaren Hall is the second Cougar quarterback to be selected in the NFL draft in the past three years. — BYU quarterback Jaren Hall warms up against USU in Provo, Sept. 29, 2022. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

Jaren Hall, QB, BYU: The Irish have a talent advantage, at least according to ND running back Audric Estime, at almost every position except quarterback. The Cougars’ Jaren Hall, a fifth-year junior, will clearly be the best signal-caller on the field at Allegiant and will need to work his magic to help the Cougars pull off the upset — and shut Estime’s mouth. Hall is 7-2 as a starter against Power Five teams (Notre Dame is considered a P5, although it is technically an independent), and 13-4 as a starting QB. He has thrown for more than 300 yards in six career games.

Quotable

“Marcus Freeman is a great coach, man. He has those guys believing in themselves and playing well. They have gone through some adversity and they seem to have things back on track now. I am looking forward to a great matchup with them. We know they are dangerous. We don’t mind being the underdog. So we (need) to have some fun with the prep and get ready for this game and are looking forward to the matchup this weekend.” — BYU coach Kalani Sitake

“(BYU is) a good team, they’ve got a lot of good players, but I feel like their players don’t match the players that we have. So if we just play our football, I feel like we should handle business.” — Notre Dame running back Audric Estime.

Next up

BYU returns to Provo next Saturday to play host to Arkansas of the SEC, the first of a two-game series. BYU will play in Fayetteville next fall. The Razorbacks play at Mississippi State on Saturday before making the rare trip to the Mountain time zone.