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BYU running back LJ Martin (4) is stopped after making a catch by Texas Tech cornerback Brice Pollock (14) in the second half of a Big 12 Conference championship NCAA college football game Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Arlington, Texas.

Julio Cortez, AP Photo

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BYU head coach Kevin Young gestures from the sideline during the first half in the first round of the NCAA college basketball tournament against Texas, Thursday, March 19, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman)

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Daily Herald sports writers Darnell Dickson and Brandon Gurney debate and pontificate on the hot BYU sports topics of the week.

1. Quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who transferred to Texas Tech from Cincinnati after the 2025 season, will likely never play for the Red Raiders due to the gambling allegations the NCAA is bringing against him. Suddenly, BYU is being talked about as the favorite in the Big 12. Are you buying that? 

DICKSON: There should be no question that Sorsby should be done playing college football, no matter what his lawyers are arguing. The integrity of the game — you know, the stuff happening on the field while we’re not talking about expanding the playoffs or whether or not the SEC will bolt and form their own league  — is at stake here. As for the Cougars, they have done enough the past two seasons and retained enough talent to be one of the league’s favorites even before Sorsby’s mess. There are certainly questions to be answered, just like any season. But I think BYU has enough firepower on both sides of the ball to be a threat to win every game they play. Look, no one wants to hear that the Cougars actually competed with Texas Tech in the regular season matchup and the Big 12 Championship Game but things got away at the end and made it look worse that it was. But BYU can’t afford any of those kinds of losses in 2026. The committee made that pretty clear.

GURNEY: The quarterback position is extremely important and we all saw how poor quarterback play can destroy any team’s chances, regardless of other team strengths, when Texas Tech took it on the chin against Oregon in the CFP. Given the weight of the quarterback position, and considering BYU returns Bear Bachmeier, it’s very reasonable to argue that the Cougars are now the top team in the Big 12.

But it’s not all about Bear. BYU is stocked at most positions with top returning talent and should present one of the better defenses in team history should everyone prove healthy and live up to expectation. And then there’s the return of the Big 12 offensive Player of the Year LJ Martin who will be operating with what looks to be a much-deeper running back corps and behind an offensive line that returns a lot of good talent. Sure, there’s questions at receiver, but given the strength of all other positions I’m buying BYU as the conference favorite.

2. Off-season predictions also project the Cougars as a Top 20 team in 2026. How much does this help BYU’s chances to catch the attention of the CFP committee?

GURNEY: I hate to place too much weight on any particular game, but the October 17 matchup with Notre Dame will be what catches the committee’s attention. Win that game, and that attention is both feasible and warranted. Lose to the Irish, and the committee will probably elect to not take BYU all that seriously again. Of course this is assuming that Notre Dame proves to be a top team yet again and BYU would do very well to head into that matchup undefeated.

So while it doesn’t hurt BYU’s chances to be ranked inside the top 20 preseason, much of it might not matter much come the morning of October 18.

DICKSON: It should help quite a bit. In program history, BYU has only been ranked in the preseason Top 25 11 times and finished in the Top 25 a total of 21 times. If the Cougars had been ranked in the Top 25 to start 2025, would that have gotten them into the CFP? Probably not, because the committee would have found another way to keep them out. But at least starting as a Top 20 team removes one excuse the committee can lean on. BYU has to go into the 2026 season believing it can win every game and remove all doubt when it comes to the CFP.

3. Are you in favor of the 24-team college football playoff? Is it too many teams? Not enough teams?

DICKSON: I think jumping from 12 to 24 teams might be too ambitious, but that’s probably where we are headed. Giving 24 teams playoff berths means adjustments to the regular season (more conference games) and likely the death of conference championship games and bowl games. To an old dog like me, losing bowl games makes me sigh. I still love bowl season and having games spread out through the whole month of December on just about every day of the week. Alas, I’m not the one paying the bills so on we march making college football more and more like the NFL. Another sigh. We already have a pro football league and all of these changes are getting rid of many of the things that make college football unique. Oh, well. Not looking forward to college football pushing into late January but that’s what we’re looking at, aren’t we?

GURNEY: I absolutely hate it. Nothing more than 16 teams makes much sense to me given the fact that college football presents the best and most intense regular season of any sport out there, and I don’t think it’s really that close. I’m old-school and I hate any prospect that dilutes the overall narrative of an entire season. Of course the decision will be based on money, but the regular season has to mean more than it would should 24 teams get in regardless. It’s too many, and it makes the season way too long, so just stop it. Sure, last year’s playoff wasn’t great, but that’s just one year. Do away with the byes, stand at 16 and go. That’s what makes sense to me.

4. Why in the heck can’t Kevin Young get a big man to commit to the Cougar men’s basketball team?

GURNEY: It’s pretty apparent that more than several plan Bs, Cs and even Ds have fallen through on this front, and whoever BYU is able to bring in at this point may not move the needle much at all. And that’s unfortunate when considering the team that’s already in place, which I feel will prove very good and improved over the product last season. But take away even a half-way decent center, and a lot of the potential of a team that brings back Rob Wright coupled with incoming talent like Collin Chandler and Jake Wahlin will have a tough time living up to expectation.

But I also think the other storyline has to do with meshing whoever BYU can get at center effectively with the existing team. It’s not an easy process, and considering BYU will be landing a guy that only recently began to consider Provo his top destination, that process may not prove as productive as it should have been otherwise. The Cougars lacked top center play throughout the end of last season and it’s really hard to assess that play will be improved this coming season regardless of the name that may or may not appear on the roster in the coming weeks. I mean, it’s June already.

DICKSON: I’d say it’s complicated, but it’s really not. The latest trend in college basketball is overpaying for mediocre big men. You’re seeing guys with moderate to low numbers commanding high six figure NIL deals. It’s kind of crazy. I mentioned this in my BYU basketball story on Wednesday but Randy Bennett at Arizona State has commitments from five players 6-foot-10 or taller out of the transfer portal. Young has had his hooks into a dozen big man candidates that have all chosen to go elsewhere, which could indicate the Cougars aren’t willing to go past a certain point with NIL I think there are still good players out there but the closer we get to July without any movement, that’s a bit concerning. Foreign players have until June 13 to decide between the NBA Draft or college basketball. BYU is interested in several foreign big men so I would think we’ll get more answers after that date.

5. Young’s name is popping up as a candidate for several NBA coaching jobs. Should BYU fans be worried?

GURNEY: I think BYU fans should begin to worry when Kevin Young isn’t mentioned as a candidate for an NBA job. It’s a good thing to have your coach seen as a viable candidate to coach elsewhere, and it’s probably going to be a common occurrence so long as Young keeps BYU a competitive product. But what’s apparent, at least to me, is Young choosing BYU in the first place was very much a family and cultural decision. Sure, you can overestimate this aspect, but I do think it’s playing big in Young’s ultimate decision-making.

DICKSON: Understand that Young spent a lot of years in the D and G Leagues, as well as as an assistant in the NBA, dreaming about being the head man. He never really aspired to be a college basketball coach and that opportunity came up more recently. He opted for BYU for a lot of reasons, one of the big ones being able to spend more time with his family. But I could definitely see Young eyeing an NBA head coaching job in the future. Right now? I don’t see that happening but over the next few years it will certainly be a regular off-season hand-wringing option for BYU fans.