DICKSON: First, I have to get over my bias against Notre Dame. They dodged a return game to Provo for years. They believe they are special and don’t have to play in a conference. They have signed a ridiculous agreement with the CFP that gives them special privileges in making the playoffs going forward. Finally, they cried and whined about not making this year’s playoff field and refused to play in a bowl game. The amount of entitlement coming from South Bend is simply stunning.

As for as BYU and Notre Dame playing on the football field, I’m all for it. It’ll be a good showcase for both teams in 2026 and good on Brian Santiago for getting the Irish to come to Provo for the first game. Probably had to promise them twice the usual payout or all of the concessions from the game to get them to do that.

GURNEY: I think it’s great, and an even perfect addition to BYU’s schedule for the next two seasons. The best thing is that Notre Dame, which has stiff-armed BYU at most every turn over the past decade and a half, agreed to travel and play in Provo for the first half of the home-and-home.

I think it’s a sign of how BYU has improved as a football program where as Notre Dame, which wouldn’t deign to an actual home-and-home series now views the Cougars as a legitimate scheduling foe. There’s no question that BYU has raised its credibility in recent years and I believe Notre Dame’s agreement to play an actual home-and-home series sustains that raised level of recognition. Props to BYU’s administration for getting this done.

2. How do you feel about Saturday’s Pop-Tarts Bowl matchup between BYU and Georgia Tech?

GURNEY: I love the matchup. Georgia Tech started the season on fire, but sort of puttered down the stretch, but should have enough to present a truly competitive and fun matchup come Saturday. The Yellowjackets run a unique offensive system that may task BYU’s stellar defensive corps, but I believe Jay Hill’s unit will be up to the challenge.

To me, the bigger questions are on BYU’s offensive side of the football. How healthy is Bear Bachmeier and is running back LJ Martin really going to play? These are legitimate questions and need to be answered effectively should BYU hope to come away from Orlando with a win.

DICKSON: When BYU and Georgia Tech line up on Saturday, it will have been three weeks since the Cougars played in the Big 12 Championship Game. You would hope the Cougars would be healthy and ready to go. Kalani Sitake is big on routines and he picked a good one to get BYU ready for last year’s bowl game. They played well, so he’s probably been following the same routines this season.

Like Gurney wrote, Georgia Tech will be a good challenge for Jay Hill and his defense. I feel like if the Cougars are healthy and sharp, they should be able to move the ball pretty well. If Martin is considering going pro, will he even play? Good question that we’ll find out the answer to on Saturday.

3. What do you think are the most important attributes for whoever BYU hires as its new women’s volleyball coach?

DICKSON: As we wrote this question, BYU sent out a new release that it was hiring Utah State’s Rob Nielson as the new women’s volleyball coach. Neilson is a fine choice who has a really good resume. He’s kind of a quiet guy but has been a winner everywhere he’s been. I especially like his experience with the U.S. Men’s National Team. That’s a pretty high level of volleyball and he should have some great teaching reference points. It’s a pretty big jump from the Mountain Wes Conference to the Big 12, but Neilson seems like the right man for the job. Having played and coached at BYU, he knows the unique nature of the program.

GURNEY: BYU needs someone who is more Kalani Sitake than Bronco Mendenhall. I think Heather Olmstead was a brilliant coach who consistently produced overachieving teams, much like Mendenhall did for the football program. But much like Mendenhall, I believe the volleyball program hit sort of a wall and needed change.

Enter a coach that can deal perhaps better with this new age of constant transfers and NILs, and I think BYU can once again legitimately contend for a volleyball championship. First and foremost is the retention of top players, and the program needs a coach that can stroke egos while providing a clear course for success by staying in Provo.

4. If you could grant Christmas wishes for the BYU football team, what would they be?

GURNEY: Even though the interior defensive line play has improved quite a bit in recent years I still believe the team needs to field more talented bodies up front to bust through that next tier and become a truly competitive program. Sure, both Keanu Tanuvasa and John Taumeopeau were great this year, but give the program at least four of those types and as many as six.

Should BYU beef up its interior defensive line effectively through the transfer portal then I believe you’ll see greater gains with regards to overall play as opposed to most every other position. So, 3-4 top line defensive tackle via the transfer portal is my wish for this football program moving forward to next season.

DICKSON: This program has accomplished a lot under Sitake, but if I could grant a Christmas wish it would be to somehow earn the respect of the College Football Playoff Committee. Aside from winning on the field, which the Cougars have done regularly the past two seasons, maybe they should bake the CFP guys some cookies, or take them to dinner, or simply bribe them. Whatever works. If you don’t have “SEC” or “Big Ten” sewn onto your uniform, it takes nearly perfection to get their attention. An undefeated BYU team in 2026 would remove all doubt, wouldn’t it?

5. If you could grant Christmas wishes for the BYU men’s basketball team, what would they be?

DICKSON: This is actually aimed more for the BYU basketball fans, who have been loyal and true for years without a Final Four berth. This year’s Cougar team is talented enough to get to the Final Four but fortune and luck also play a part. So I wish for BYU to score very high in the “Luck” ranking in Ken Pom, which paired with the amazing talent on this team, can get these guys to Indianapolis for the Final Four.

I’d try to grant the Cougars another player like AJ Dybantsa for 2026-27 when he departs for the NBA, but more and more Dybantsa is looking like a once-in-a-generation type player. He’s really something, isn’t he?

GURNEY: Some type of magical gadget that can provide the same level of play at the start of a basketball game as the team regularly employs after halftime. Sure, it’s been able to skate with inferior overall play during several first halves against diminished competition, but that’s likely not going to fly in Big 12 Conference play.

BYU needs to figure out why it regularly sleepwalks into games and hit the ground rolling when playing the likes of Arizona, Iowa State and Houston, or it’s going to have a tough time rising to the top of conference play.