Published by Paul Ivinskas
Sunday, October 25, 2026

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Sports

Sitake, who played at Notre Dame as a BYU freshman, looks ahead to Saturday's rematch

The BYU coach is 1-0 against the Irish as a player and 0-1 as both a head coach and an assistant.

Published Mountain Time · Source / event date: Original report: October 15, 2026

Based on reporting by Deseret News. Read the original story →

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Graphic: The Utah Ledger · Original graphic · The Utah Ledger

Provo

BYU coach Kalani Sitake played at Notre Dame as a freshman fullback, the Deseret News reported, ahead of No. 8 BYU's game against No. 2 Notre Dame on Saturday in Provo. BYU won that game 21-14, after Notre Dame had won the first two meetings 42-16 and 45-20. [1]

Sitake, 51, did not record a stat in that game. "I was fortunate to play in this game when I was a freshman way back in 1994," he said. As a head coach, he lost to Notre Dame 28-20 in Las Vegas on Oct. 8, 2022, and as a Utah defensive coordinator he lost 28-3 in 2010. [1]

Notre Dame is a 10-point favorite and has won 16 straight games, all by 10 points or more. Saturday is the 10th meeting and the first top-10 matchup in the stadium's history. Sitake said the Irish have depth at every position and added, "I feel good about our chances." [1]

Sources

  1. Deseret News: Kalani Sitake faced Notre Dame 32 years ago today — as a freshman fullback for BYU

This story was written by AI from the report by Deseret News, which has the full story. How we write stories.

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