Unlike last season, Notre Dame football has been able to get its feet wet with five games, all wins, as it gets ready for a difficult October.
The Irish will face Stanford at home this Saturday, and its next opponent is US LBM Coaches Poll No. 8 ranked BYU Cougars. They’ll host Notre Dame, in what should be a College Football Playoff-esque game.
Unfortunately for the Cougars, they won’t be at full strength, as on Wednesday ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that their star running back LJ Martin will miss at least the next month with a lower body injury. The senior has been good this season, averaging 7.8 yards-per-carry with three touchdowns.
Freshman Journee Tonga is second on the team in carries, but Thamel also mentioned that he’s currently been ruled
out for their game on Friday against Iowa State. Preston Rex and Devaughn Eka are the next up for BYU, and it will be interesting to see how effective the run game is in a tomorrow night. The Irish will be prepared and tape on the all three will help prep for the top-10 matchup.
Notre Dame is dealing with its own injury issues as well, as star cornerback Leonard Moore and linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa are both questionable against the Cardinal. Both teams are battling injuries, which is pretty common across the country.
Sources: No. 8 BYU’s star tailback, LJ Martin, will be out for at least a month with a lower body injury he suffered against TCU. He was the Big 12 offensive player of the year in 2025. He’ll miss four to six weeks, including the home against No. 3 Notre Dame on Oct. 17. pic.twitter.com/hsDEEUz9Ri
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) October 7, 2026
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This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: BYU loses top offensive playmaker to injury as Notre Dame looms
