By the Numbers: Notre Dame Football Wastes Its Chances in Loss at BYU

Notre Dame is 6-1 after a 28-24 loss at BYU, and the box score makes it hard to explain even with a controversial ending. The Irish outgained the Cougars 376 to 360, won the turnover battle 2-1, went 4-for-4 on fourth down and held the ball for 30:58. None of it mattered, because Notre Dame couldn’t turn its opportunities into touchdowns and BYU turned every one of its trips inside the 20 into seven points. Despite a night of blunders, the Irish had the ball with a chance to win it at the end, but a clear pass interference penalty wasn’t called and the replay officials incorrectly let the game end when there should have been one play remaining. None of that changes that the game should never have had to come down to that.

The game was ultimately lost in the in the red zone. BYU went 4-for-4 there with four touchdowns. Notre Dame got inside the BYU 20 five times and scored two touchdowns. The other three trips produced a field goal, a fumble on the final play of the first half and an incompletion from the 8 as time expired.

The loss also ended several streaks. Notre Dame’s 16-game winning streak is over, and so is the run of 16 straight double-digit wins, one short of Miami’s 17 for second all-time. BYU also became the first opponent in eight games to reach 100 rushing yards, and its 28 points are the most the Irish defense has allowed this season.

Here’s how the numbers tell the story of Notre Dame’s first loss of 2026.

Key Stats

2 of 5 – Notre Dame’s red-zone touchdown rate. BYU was 4 of 4.

0 – Points on Notre Dame’s last possession of the first half. Carr moved the Irish 70 yards to first-and-goal at the BYU 5 with six seconds left and no timeouts. The final snap was ruled a spike on the field. BYU challenged, replay turned it into a Carr fumble, and the Cougars recovered at the 6. The Irish trailed 21-10 at halftime and never got a kick off.

31 – Combined yards on Notre Dame’s two third-quarter drives that started in BYU territory. Bubba Frazier recovered a muffed punt at the BYU 41, and the Irish stopped a fake punt at the BYU 24. The first drive stalled at the 13 and the second gained three yards. Both ended in Spencer Porath field goals, so two short fields were worth six points.

3 – Plays Notre Dame ran after Jayden Sanders intercepted Bear Bachmeier at the Irish 15 with just over eight minutes left and a 24-21 lead. Nolan James Jr. lost four yards, Carr was stopped for no gain, and a seven-yard completion on third-and-14 fell short. The Irish took 2:22 off the clock and punted.

10 plays, 55 yards – BYU’s game-winning drive, which started at its own 45 after a 23-yard punt return. The Cougars converted a third-and-5 near midfield, then scored from the 6 on third down after a false start had moved them back from the 1.

115 – Notre Dame’s rushing yards on 30 carries, an average of 3.8. The previous two games produced 241 and 361.

5 – Carries for Jonaz Walton, a week after he set the program’s freshman rushing record with 181 yards. He gained 17 yards, and two of the carries were the goal-line runs that set up and scored the go-ahead touchdown.

49 – Carr’s pass attempts, a career high. He completed 27 for 261 yards, 5.3 per attempt, with no touchdowns. It’s his second game this season without a touchdown pass, joining Michigan State.

8-of-19 – Notre Dame on third down. The Irish were 0-for-5 in the third quarter and 3-of-12 after halftime. BYU went 8-of-12.

121 – BYU’s rushing yards, a season high against this defense. North Carolina’s 77 had been the high. Preston Rex ran for 66 on 10 carries.

4 – Touchdowns Bachmeier was responsible for. He ran for two, threw for one and caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from receiver Kyler Kasper on a trick play.

0 – Notre Dame sacks. The Irish have one sack over the last two games.

24 – Notre Dame’s point total, its lowest of the season. The previous low was 27 against Michigan State.

Milestones, Firsts, and Career Highs

Notre Dame’s 16 straight double-digit wins ended one game short of second place on the all-time list. It finishes level with the 1945-46 Georgia and 1968-69 Texas teams for third, behind Miami’s 17 and Army’s record 21.

The loss was Notre Dame’s first since the streak began on Sept. 20, 2025, and it ends Carr’s 16-game winning run as a starter, which finishes tied with Ian Book for second in program history behind Tony Rice’s 23.

Notre Dame’s streak of holding opponents below 100 rushing yards ends at seven games, which leaves it tied with the 1973 team for second-longest in program history since 1930, behind the 1993 team’s eight.

Jordan Faison’s streak of games with a reception reached 28, moving him past Chris Brown into sole possession of second place in program history. TJ Jones holds the record at 40 straight games from 2010 to 2013. Faison has 1,769 career receiving yards and 132 receptions.

Jaden Greathouse had eight catches, a career high, for 125 yards. It’s the third 100-yard receiving game by a Notre Dame player this season.

Sanders’ interception was the first of his career. Notre Dame has 16 takeaways in seven games.

Porath made all three of his field goal tries, from 46, 31 and 39 yards. He’s 10-of-11 for the season.

Firsts on the day:

Bubba Frazier – fumble recovery

Jayden Sanders – interception

Career highs

CJ Carr with 49 pass attempts. Jaden Greathouse with eight receptions. Jack Larsen with four receptions. Luke Talich with eight tackles. Bryce Young with five tackles.

Positive Trends

Greathouse was the one consistent weapon in the passing game. He caught three passes of 24 yards or more, including a 38-yarder on third-and-4 that set up the go-ahead touchdown.

Notre Dame converted all four of its fourth-down tries, two of them on the final drive.

The defense tightened after halftime. BYU gained 131 yards on 29 second-half plays and didn’t score until its final possession. Talich stopped punter Fuller Shurtz for a four-yard loss on the fake, and Leonard Moore broke up the third-down pass before it.

Jasper Scaife averaged 50.5 yards on four punts, with a long of 60.

Carr wasn’t sacked on 49 pass attempts, though BYU was credited with six quarterback hurries.

Negative Trends

The red zone cost Notre Dame the game. Two touchdowns in five trips on one side, four touchdowns in four trips on the other.

Short fields went to waste. Two third-quarter possessions started at the BYU 41 and BYU 24, and Notre Dame came away with field goals both times, first while trailing by 11 and then by eight.

The run game disappeared. After 602 rushing yards in the previous two games, the Irish ran for 115. Notre Dame’s running backs carried 24 times while Carr threw 49 passes.

Third downs stalled the offense after halftime. The Irish went 3-of-12 in the second half, including 0-for-5 in the third quarter.

Penalties extended BYU drives. Boubacar Traore was flagged for targeting on the opening possession, which turned a two-yard completion into a first down at the Irish 32, and BYU scored six plays later. Francis Brewu’s personal foul added 15 yards to a third-quarter run.

The pass rush produced nothing. No sacks, two tackles for loss and three quarterback hurries against a BYU offense that ran 67 plays.

BYU’s first-half offense moved at will. The Cougars scored touchdowns on three of their four full possessions before the break, each covering at least 72 yards, and gained 229 yards on 38 plays.

Team Notes

The Irish captains at midfield were Carr, Faison, Drayk Bowen and Adon Shuler. Notre Dame took the toss, deferred to the second half and started the game defending the north end zone.

Attendance at LaVell Edwards Stadium was 65,179.

This was the 10th game in the series and the first with both teams ranked. Notre Dame was No. 2 in both polls and BYU was No. 8. The Irish lead the series 7-3 but are 1-2 in Provo, and Freeman has now split two games with the Cougars.

BYU improved to 7-0.

Final Word

Notre Dame won most of the categories that usually decide a game. The Irish had more yards, more takeaways, two drives that started in BYU territory and the ball at the BYU 5 and the BYU 8 at the end of each half. They came away from those situations with six points.

The offense also walked away from what had worked. Walton ran for 181 yards a week earlier and got five carries in Provo. Carr threw 49 times at 5.3 yards per attempt. A team that had run for 602 yards in two weeks finished with 24 running back carries in a game it led with nine minutes left.

The defense owns its share. BYU went 4-for-4 in the red zone, gained 121 yards on the ground and needed only 10 plays to answer Notre Dame’s go-ahead score. Notre Dame has a bye before facing Navy in Foxborough on Oct. 31.