BYU enters 2026 as one of the highest-ranked teams in program history, and Arizona still remembers exactly how last year's meeting ended. This early Big 12 showdown in Provo is a real measuring stick for both.
Bush’s Picks
ARIZBYU
ARIZBYU
OverUnder
Best BetBYU
BYU's roster gap over Arizona looks real right now — a top-10-caliber preseason team with its best two players back against a Wildcats squad picked closer to the middle of the Big 12 pack. Bachmeier's ascension plus a healthy LJ Martin gives BYU the higher floor even accounting for the defensive staff turnover. Backing the home side to win outright is the safer read here.
Arizona
+Fifita returning for a 5th year, preseason All-Big 12
−Preseason media poll picks Arizona roughly 5th in Big 12
−Rebuilding three new starters on the offensive line
−Reescano, Bounds, Smith and new CBs all banged up
BYU
+12-2 season, Pop-Tarts Bowl win, finished No. 11 in AP poll
+Preseason ranked as high as top-8 nationally, picked 2nd in Big 12
+Bachmeier and LJ Martin both return after breakout seasons
−Lost DC Jay Hill and CB coach to Michigan this offseason
−Lost 10-sack edge rusher Jack Kelly to the NFL Draft
−Carrying pressure of being the hunted instead of the surprise
This one's built around two of the Big 12's best young arms. Bear Bachmeier, BYU's true freshman revelation in 2025, returns as the entrenched starter after throwing for 3,033 yards and 15 touchdowns while adding 11 more scores on the ground — numbers that got him named Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year and got NFL scouts circling a year early. Across the field, Noah Fifita passed on the draft to come back for a fifth season, and he's not shy about why: he wants a Big 12 title, not just a stat line. He's a preseason All-Big 12 pick with 73 career touchdown passes and a school record 29 in 2025 alone.
Arizona has plenty of continuity to lean on — Brent Brennan and both coordinators got extensions this offseason, and Oregon transfer corner Daylen Austin was brought in to shore up the back end. But the Wildcats are also banged up. Running back Kedrick Reescano was limited in spring, right tackle Tristan Bounds and edge rusher Tre Smith both took medical redshirts, and even Austin and fellow portal addition Cam Chapa missed camp time. Add in three new starters up front, and it's a rebuild year at the point of attack.
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ARIZ Arizona
BYU BYU
BYU isn't without its own turnover. Defensive coordinator Jay Hill left for Michigan and took his longtime corners coach with him, forcing Kalani Sitake to promote Kelly Poppinga into the DC chair. The Cougars also lost edge rusher Jack Kelly, who racked up 10 sacks last year before getting drafted by the Giants. What BYU didn't lose is Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year LJ Martin, who skipped the draft to run behind an offense that's now being talked about as a legitimate national contender.
Arizona Wildcats
Sep 5?vs Northern Arizona—
BYU Cougars
Sep 5?vs Utah Tech—
Recent form.
The history here says don't expect a laugher. BYU has won the last two meetings, but neither was comfortable — a 41-19 rout in 2024 gave way to a 33-27 double-overtime survival act in Tucson last October, one that included a 75-minute lightning delay and a Bachmeier rushing touchdown in the extra period to finish it. Fifita threw two picks that day and still nearly dragged Arizona back into it. That kind of history tends to repeat in rivalry-adjacent series, and this is fast becoming one — third straight year these two have squared off as conference opponents.
Arizona Wildcats
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
BYU Cougars
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
BYU opens Big 12 play earlier than it ever has, and the stakes are real for a program that's already grumbling about last year's playoff snub despite a 12-2 finish and a Pop-Tarts Bowl comeback win over Georgia Tech. Win this one and BYU validates a preseason ranking in the top 8-13 range nationally. Lose it, and Arizona gets the kind of signature road win that changes the conversation around a team picked to finish outside the Big 12's top tier. Either way, both quarterbacks are about to find out fast what kind of season they're actually playing.
