Notre Dame at BYU: Holly Rowe, Cosmo and fun bits to know about big game in Provo

BYU Cougars mascot Cosmo. USA TODAY Sports

Notre Dame at BYU: Holly Rowe, Cosmo and fun bits to know about big game in Provo

By Ty Bronicel | Last updated Oct 16, 2026 2:00 PM ET

Have you heard that Saturday's showdown between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the BYU Cougars is a big deal?

By now, everyone knows both top-10 teams are unbeaten, and that ESPN's "College GameDay" will be in Provo, Utah, for the first time in 17 years.

But here are a few things to know before kickoff, notes I expect to be mentioned pregame and during the broadcast.

• First, a history lesson for younger football fans: Here’s ESPN’s great look back at 1984 when 13-0 BYU beat unranked 6-5 Michigan in the Holiday Bowl to win the national championship, a feat Cougar Nation will remind you of often and an outcome Bryant Gumbel called “a joke.” In the video, ESPN/ABC sideline reporter Holly Rowe defends the Cougars’ title.

• Speaking of Rowe, who’ll be on the sidelines Saturday, she attended BYU for two years before graduating from Utah in 1991. That must come up during the broadcast, and it will be interesting to see if Rowe addresses it. I’m betting she will.

• Plan on plenty of camera time for BYU's Hall of Fame mascot, Cosmo the Cougar. The dude is wild and crazy, man, so expect some new tricks for his primetime appearance.

• BYU fans, particularly students, are called "zoobies." So there is some PG-rated slang slung in Provo.

• Only movie buffs might know that the filmmakers of the iconic cult classic “Napoleon Dynamite,” Jared and Jerusha Hess, met as students at BYU, co-wrote the screenplay and later married. Jon Heder, who starred as Napoleon, also graduated from BYU.

• Twenty years earlier, another movie favorite, 1984's "Footloose," was partially filmed in Provo.

• For the uniformed, BYU football players are not required to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, they must sign and abide by the university’s strict Honor Code, which prohibits many activities usually associated with college life.

• Per The Deseret News, legendary Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne spent part of his summer in 1923 in Provo teaching BYU coaches plays and his football philosophy. So if BYU wins Saturday, Fighting Irish faithful can lay some blame on “The Rock.”

• You're certain to hear the ESPN crew rave about the beautiful backdrop at LaVell Edwards Stadium. It's one of the 12 best stadiums in college football, according to a 2025 study by USA Today. Plus, the forecast calls for a gorgeous fall evening, which means the scenery will be spectacular.

• I'd bet a dollar that someone from the "GameDay" crew — I'm looking at you, Pat McAfee — is shown eating BYU's famous stadium food item: the Cougar Tail, a 16-inch-long maple-glazed donut bar that's beloved and devoured by the dozen.

Ty Bronicel

Ty Bronicel is a veteran sports writer/editor/blogger with over 30 years of experience creating web content and has worked for world-renowned companies such as MSN, Yahoo, USA Today, and ESPN. He graduated from the University of Utah (Go Utes!) and is a Salt Lake City native who currently lives in the Beehive State. His expertise is movies and streaming shows, college football, NBA, and college basketball

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