Welcome to Too Optimistic Tuesday! This weekly column reminds BYU fans why they should count their many blessings and have an abundance of hope.
Every season in every sport is full of both ups and downs. This column will amplify the "ups" and help fans quickly recover from the "downs". So put on your blue-tinted goggles and just indulge me in some hyperbole while enjoying your BYU fandom for a moment.
The most important game in BYU history was in 1984
BYU's game this week against Notre Dame is the most significant in school history.
Now, I might be parsing words here, but there's a difference between "important" and "significant".
The most important game in BYU history was beating Michigan in the 1984 Holiday Bowl to complete a perfect 13-0 campaign and be crowned consensus national champion. Because of LaVell Edwards' 1984 squad, BYU will forever be a member of the exclusive national champions club, and it is exclusive.
In 1982, the NCAA began crowning the football national champion based on five different sources: the AP, FWAA, NFF, USA/CNN, and UPI. This is the group that voted BYU as consensus national champion in 1984. In the 44 years since that voting process began, only 24 teams can claim ownership of a national title. BYU is among that elite company, and always will be.
No game was more important in BYU history than winning the national championship.
But Saturday's game against Notre Dame can be considered the most significant.
BYU opened the 1984 season at No. 3 Pittsburgh. In his first start as Young’s successor, a nervous Robbie Bosco opened the game with what he calls “the three ugliest passes of my life.”
— Dave McCann (@DaveMcCannTV) October 8, 2026
“Walking off the field, LaVell comes,” said Bosco. “He’s walking towards me. I’m like, ‘Oh,… pic.twitter.com/r68bRDIklx
The most significant game in BYU history is Saturday versus Notre Dame
Since winning the 1984 national championship, BYU has been on a 42-year odyssey looking for one simple word:
Respect.
No matter how much the Cougars have won in the last four-plus decades in the WAC, the Mountain West, or as a football independent, their on-field excellence has been met with a condescending pat on the head from college football's "powers that be" in the BCS/CFP selection committees and the national media.
"Wake us up when you actually beat somebody" has been college football's collective, dismissive taunt to the Cougars since the Reagan administration.
This Saturday, BYU has the chance to deliver the most significant win in program history.
A victory over a blue-blood in Notre Dame will prove to the college football universe that this BYU program is for real. It can beat anybody. It is worthy of a spot in the College Football Playoffs. It deserves a reserved seat at the big boys' table instead of having to elbow its way in.
A win over Notre Dame will finally give BYU the objective data point it so badly needs to prove it can win a national championship as a Power Four program.
The Cougars are 28-4 over the last two-plus seasons as a member of the Big 12 conference, but consistently beating Big 12 programs isn't good enough for the College Football Playoffs selection committee. The Cougars are dominating in a Power Four conference and yet the frustrating refrain from the college football power brokers continues to be, "Wake us up when you beat somebody."
Kalani Sitake's program needs a signature Top 10 win to change the national perception of his BYU program, and they have that opportunity this Saturday against Notre Dame.
Back in 1984, BYU beat Michigan in the Holiday Bowl to win the national championship. That was the most important game for the school's all-time legacy.
That win defined BYU's past.
Fast forward 42 years later, and the Cougars now face Notre Dame in the most significant game in program history, giving BYU the stage to prove it is a dominant Power Four program capable of beating anybody to win another national championship.
BYU's game against Notre Dame is the most significant in defining its future.
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