After sitting through a tense, back-and-forth game for four hours, producing the kind of anxiety that not even a picturesque view of the Wasatch Range could quell, BYU football fans didn’t waste much time deciding how they were going to channel their joy after beating Notre Dame:
They were rushing the field.
On a first-and-goal from the BYU 8-yard line with four seconds remaining, Fighting Irish quarterback CJ Carr’s pass to Jaden Greathouse fell incomplete, with the officials declining to whistle Cougars defensive back Evan Johnson for pass interference (and potentially putting a second back on the clock). The stop secured a 28-24 victory for No. 8 BYU over the No. 2 Fighting Irish in one of the most anticipated matchups of a jam-packed Saturday
during Week 7 of the 2026 season.
For the Cougars and the sold-out crowd of 65,179 packed inside LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah, it was a cause for celebration.
Within seconds of Carr’s final pass hitting the turf, a sea of blue-and-white-clad BYU fans ran onto the field following the victory, which helped the Cougars improve to 6-0 and almost certainly vault into the top five of the US LBM Coaches Poll after a day in which five of the teams ranked ahead of them lost.
Will that euphoric rush end up costing BYU (literally)?
Will BYU be fined for storming the field after win vs. Notre Dame?
It’s not entirely clear whether BYU will be hit with a fine of some sort for storming the field.
Unlike the SEC, which has a strict fine system in place for field-storming incidents that offers little wiggle room, the Big 12 has a different process. The standard fine for a Big 12 member school whose fans storm the field after a game is $50,000, but the league office will review footage of the incident to see whether the visiting team and the game officials have a safe path off the field.
There wasn’t a free-flowing entry onto the field for BYU fans, with many sections of the stadium still largely full after the game had ended.
Not sure I’ve ever seen a field storming this packed. Student section is still pouring in. pic.twitter.com/1Qf9lJFy41
— CFBudge (@CF_Budge) October 18, 2026
The Big 12 has declined to penalize schools in the past for fans rushing the field. In 2025, for example, it didn’t penalize Colorado after its fans ran onto the field after a home win against what was then a nationally ranked Iowa State team. The conference determined that the Buffs “executed field storming management procedures" and rescinded the fine.
If the Big 12 concludes that BYU didn’t adhere to proper field-storming protocols, there’s a chance the university itself won’t even have to pay the fine.
When Cougars fans stormed the field at LaVell Edwards Stadium last season after a win against Utah, despite being warned by the public-address announcer that it would result in a fine, Jason McGowan, the CEO of Utah-based Crumbl, covered the fine.
“During the BYU game, our CEO, Jason McGowan, was on the field watching the game and saw how excited the fans were. When he learned that no one would be allowed to go onto the field, he offered to personally pay the fine so everyone could celebrate together,” Crumbl said in a statement to KSL at the time. “Jason has built his career around creating meaningful moments and he didn’t want to miss the chance to help his fellow Cougar fans enjoy one.”
(Given the prices at Crumbl, that’s a fine that a couple dozen cookies just might cover).
Will he be that generous this time around if his beloved school is slapped with a penalty? Even if he isn’t, it may be a small price for BYU to pay for a moment their fans won’t soon forget.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Will BYU be fined by Big 12 for storming field after beating Notre Dame?
