While the BYU Cougars were enjoying their only week off in the 2026 college football regular season, their next two opponents were sustaining devastating losses.
The TCU Horned Frogs, who will play host to BYU on Saturday in Fort Worth, fell 21-13 on the road to the UCF Knights. Meanwhile, the rebuilding Iowa State Cyclones, who will visit BYU on Oct. 9, were downed 31-17 at home by the Utah Utes, who are No. 13 in the new Associated Press Top 25 poll.
The Cougars dropped from No. 9 to No. 10 in the poll.
So BYU (1-0, 3-0), which rolled past Colorado State 41-23 in Fort Collins on Sept. 19 the last time it played, has a decent chance of being undefeated when Notre Dame rolls into Provo on Oct. 17.
The No. 3 Irish (4-0) led Purdue 35-0 at halftime before running off with a 49-10 win and have been steamrolling opponents.
Notre Dame plays at North Carolina this week and hosts Stanford on Oct. 10 before the big showdown against the Cougars.
But first things first for Kalani Sitake’s crew. Although BYU pummeled TCU 44-13 last year in Provo, the Cougars always seem to struggle in games against the Horned Frogs at Amon G. Carter Stadium. They can’t afford to take anything for granted whenever they play in Texas, it seems.
Three years ago, a mediocre TCU club crushed BYU 44-11 as freshman quarterback Josh Hoover — now starting for defending national champion Indiana — completed 37 of 58 passes for 439 yards and four touchdowns.
The Cougars won only one more game the rest of the season, a 27-14 conquest of Texas Tech the following week, and missed out on playing in a bowl game in its first year in the Big 12.
In his weekly press briefing last Monday, Sitake said his team would get an “early start” on preparing for the Horned Frogs because TCU coach Sonny Dykes is one of the best in the business and also because it will be the fastest team BYU will have faced this season.
“I’m going to focus on us getting better as a team and require everyone to hold our standard and then actually find ways to enhance it,” Sitake said.
“So that’s what we’re focusing on right now: the culture, the standard. All that stuff is work. It lets these young men realize that they have a responsibility and they have roles that can work that complements what they do on the football field.”
The bye should have allowed the Cougars to get healthy, after tight end Roger Saleapaga, offensive lineman Kyle Sfarcioc and receiver Tiger Bachmeier missed the CSU game with minor injuries. Sitake said all three should be available against TCU.
Colorado State played without starting quarterback Hauss Hejny in Saturday’s 59-45 loss at UTSA, but its offense was still explosive and consistent. Its defense, however, was a disaster as UTSA rushed for 239 yards.
On the flip side, the Arizona team that BYU handled 28-17 went to Washington State and rode off with a 34-24 road win to improve to 3-1.
As for TCU, Dykes’ team committed too many penalties and turnovers in the eight-point loss in Orlando at Acrisure Bounce House.
Quarterback Jaden Craig, a transfer from Harvard, threw for 310 yards but he was intercepted twice, and TCU rushed for only 33 yards. Receiver Jordan Dwyer played for the first time this season and posted his 10th career 100-yard receiving game.
Dykes said he was “very, very disappointed” in TCU’s performance and that he didn’t see it coming.
“The biggest issue is we had 11 penalties,” Dykes said. “… It was just critical penalties in critical situations, just playing undisciplined football, which is not what this team is about. We are going to get that stuff fixed.”
TCU leads the series with BYU 7-6 and had won five straight over the Cougars before BYU’s breakthrough last year in Provo.
Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. MDT, which is seemingly a positive sign for the Cougars, who are 14-1 in their last 15 away night games.
Cougars on the air
No. 10 BYU (1-0, 3-0) at TCU (0-1, 2-2)
• Saturday, 5 p.m. MDT
• At Amon G. Carter Stadium, Fort Worth, Texas
• TV: ESPN
• Radio: 102.7 FM/1160 AM