The first two installments in this series probably weren’t read by that many people and highlight the poor schedule strength for the Fighting Irish to open the 2026 season. A 6-0 start is expected, perhaps even demanded in the current climate surrounding Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman. Today’s article is different, this is where the season really starts cooking.

BOLD denotes returning starter

Game #7 BYU

Bear Bachmeier, Sophomore
Treyson Bourguet, 5th Year Senior
Enoch Watson, Redshirt Sophomore
Max Barker, Redshirt Junior
Owen Geilman, Freshman

The quarterback situation for BYU was thrown into chaos when 2025 returning starter Jake Retzlaff was given a Honor Code violation and was set to serve a 7-game suspension before he ultimately decided to enter the transfer portal and landed at Tulane. That set up a fall camp battle between McCae Hillstead, Treyson Bourguet, and Bear Bachmeier, with the latter true freshman transferring in after spending the spring at Stanford as the seeming outsider.

Bachmeier won the competition and started every game for the Cougars in 2025, even leading them to the Big 12 Championship Game. Hillstead remained as backup for 2025 but transferred this off-season back to Utah State where he began his career. Also, 2025 freshman Emerson Geilman left for his mission at the same time Bachmeier was named quarterback and is expected to return for the 2027 season.

Head coach Sitake came back to BYU after flirting with Penn State.

Bourguet stuck around and was sharing backup reps with Enoch Watson during the spring. The Cougars signed near 5-star recruit Ryder Lyons for their 2026 class but he is currently serving his mission and is expected to come back for the 2027 season after just one year away.

To add depth, BYU brought in Max Barker from in-state Snow College and also added Owen Geilman, the little brother of the aforementioned Emerson who is currently away from the program.

VERDICT: A true freshman winning a starting job on such short notice and having his team go on to win 12 games is going to turn some heads. Bachmeier doesn’t have great size, but he’s thick and a good runner who can make plays rather than being an efficient pocket passer. He was middle of the pack in the Big 12 in passer rating and BYU was pretty much the worst offense (21st in FEI) among the 2025 playoff caliber teams. The Irish will want this to be a big game and hopefully that means Bachmeier continues to develop in his second season.

Game #8 Navy

Braxton Woodson, Senior
Jackson Gutierrez, Junior
Ryan Brass, Sophomore
Landon Walker, Sophomore
Mason Baker, Sophomore
Michael Dove, Sophomore

Blake Horvath has moved on to a commission as a naval aviator after two years starting for the Middies. He was 20-4 overall as a starter, although he did miss the game last year against Notre Dame with an injury.

Woodson is the assumed new starter. 

Braxton Woodson moves up into the starting role and has featured enough where they’ll be some comfort with him running the offense in 2026. Rising junior Jackson Gutierrez also has a small amount of experience and could be in the mix.

VERDICT: The Drew Cronic offense at Navy has been bending more towards throwing the ball (Horvath attempted 160 passes last year) and Woodson is entirely unproven at this part of their scheme. He’s a good runner (101 yards against Notre Dame last year) but we’ll see if he’s able to hold on to the starting job this late in the season when they face Notre Dame.

Game #9 Miami

Darian Mensah, Redshirt Junior
Luke Nickel, Redshirt Freshman
Judd Anderson, Redshirt Sophomore
Dereon Coleman, Freshman

Miami beat Notre Dame last year and made it all the way to the National Championship, ultimately falling to Indiana. Now, one-year rental Carson Beck is gone and off to team up with Jeremiyah Love with the Arizona Cardinals. The Hurricanes also had backup Emory Williams transfer to ECU this off-season where he’s competing with former Wake Forest/Texas Tech quarterback Mitch Griffis for the starting job.

For this season, in comes another quarterback rental for the Canes.

Once upon a time, Darian Mensah was a rising young quarterback with Tulane. Then, he took a massive, nationally-leading 2-year NIL package with Duke, only for Miami to come swooping in this off-season with a $10 million deal–which included buying him out of his Duke contract. College sports in 2026!

Mensah was another high profile transfer for Miami.

Former 4-star recruit Luke Nickel has jumped the one-year older former 3-star Judd Anderson as the backup behind Mensah. The Hurricanes added low 4-star and slight of size Dereon Coleman to their 2026 class who was with the team for spring practice.

VERDICT: If the Canes can reload and get things put together on the offensive line this should be a top 5 offense and in the discussion as one of the best in the country. We’ll see how Mensah deals with the increased spotlight, and we’ll get a look at things in October where Miami faces Clemson, Florida State, and Pittsburgh in the weeks leading up to the Notre Dame game.