BYU brings momentum and marquee names to Big 12 media days, with expectations rising ahead of 2026

BYU’s 2026 football campaign, officially still weeks away, began taking shape in Frisco, Texas this week at Big 12 media days. Head coach Kalani Sitake and six BYU players were part of the conference’s annual stop at The Star, the Dallas Cowboys’ practice complex north of Dallas, an event where programs typically sketch early themes for the season to come. For BYU, the tone has shifted, because the Cougars are no longer arriving as a novelty in the league.

Part of that change is the way BYU’s recent results have reframed the program’s status in its fourth season in the Big 12. Deseret News reported that BYU enters the media spotlight with a 23-4 record across the past two seasons, including an 11-2 mark in 2024 and a 12-2 run in 2023. Those finishes left BYU “right there within grasp of the playoffs,” according to Sitake’s remarks following spring drills, with the message aimed at turning near-misses into a College Football Playoff return.

On the field, the quarterback storyline is one of the central reasons BYU is drawing attention. Deseret News singled out rising sophomore Bear Bachmeier as a blossoming star at quarterback and framed his return as a major lift for the Cougars’ expectations in 2026. In a league where preseason narratives can quickly become benchmarks, having the quarterback seat filled by someone viewed as ready to take a step increases the pressure, and the upside, for a BYU offense that has shown it can score at a conference-contending level.

BYU’s other offensive anchor in this conversation is running back LJ Martin. Deseret News described Martin as last year’s Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, tying his profile directly to why BYU’s production is expected to remain a focal point as the program tries to move from “good enough” to playoff-ready. With Martin’s résumé established and Bachmeier positioned as a continued development story, BYU’s early-season identity in 2026 is likely to be built around sustaining efficiency rather than relying solely on occasional explosive bursts.

Another key backdrop for media days is the way the conference’s offseason has unfolded in terms of expectations. Deseret News noted that for the second straight season there was no preseason media poll, which removed a formal, public ordering of teams. Even so, BYU is described as being widely respected, with the expectation that it would have ranked near the top if a similar poll had been conducted. In practical terms, BYU is being treated as a title-level contender rather than an outsider, which affects how questions are framed and how the program answers them.

The Big 12 media days themselves also underline that this is a league moment, not just a BYU team press stop. reported that the event runs two days and involves all 16 conference programs in Frisco, with coverage scheduled for ESPNU and Big12 Studios. For BYU, that setting matters because it compresses the scouting period into a public forum, making it easier for opponents and media to draw a clean picture of what the Cougars want to emphasize before camp begins.

Looking forward, the biggest thing to watch from BYU this week is how the staff translates last season’s momentum and spring continuity into specific offseason themes, particularly around quarterback decision-making and sustaining drives against conference defenses. The other storyline to monitor is whether BYU’s leadership view of the playoffs becomes more than a talking point. The program has already shown it can win in the Big 12, but the 2026 campaign will be where “nearly” turns into “consistently,” and media days are the first early test of how that shift is being communicated.

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