No. 8 BYU vs. Iowa State: How to watch, listen to or stream Friday’s matchup

Iowa State (3-2, 1-1 Big 12) at No. 8 BYU (4-0, 2-0 Big 12)

• Kickoff: Friday, 8:15 p.m. MDT
• Venue: LaVell Edwards Stadium (capacity: 62,073)
• TV: ESPN
• Livestream: espn.com/live or Disney+
• Radio: KSL 1160 AM/102.7 FM/BYU Radio Sirius XM 143
• Series: Iowa State leads, 5-1

The trends

For BYU: The Cougars are 4-0 for the third straight year, returning home to Provo after nearly a month. With a win, they would clinch three consecutive 5-0 starts for the first time in program history.

BYU is scoring 37.3 points per game, allowing 14.3 points per game defensively, and is +5 in turnover margin.

Perhaps most importantly, the Cougars are 35-4 in night games since 2019, including a 20-3 mark in late kickoffs at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

For Iowa State: The new-look Cyclones have exceeded early expectations in 2026, starting the year 3-2 with a 45-42 victory last weekend over West Virginia.

Iowa State is scoring 33.6 points per game, allowing 21.2 points per game defensively and has an even turnover margin.

What to watch for

BYU’s passing attack struggled to find any sort of rhythm last weekend, as Bear Bachmeier threw for just 62 yards amid a Texas misting. Pay attention to the Cougars’ early passing performance to see if they can get back to their typical aerial efficiency, or if there’s truly a larger issue at hand.

Of course, LJ Martin will be sidelined for at least a month, putting a world of pressure on BYU’s shorthanded run game. How the Cougar backups fare on the ground will be telling for how well BYU can stay afloat in the coming weeks without Martin.

Iowa State may actually be the perfect opponent for BYU’s reserve running backs to build some confidence, as the Cyclones currently have the most missed tackles in the Big 12 with 76. The Cougars adding to that total would surely help the Martin-less rushing operation.

Additionally, BYU’s pass rush has come alive against Big 12 foes, with seven combined sacks against Arizona and TCU. Iowa State, however, has protected its quarterback to the tune of just three sacks allowed in conference competition. Watch for who wins the battle between the Cyclone O-line and Cougar front seven.

Players to watch

Preston Rex and Journee Tonga, running backs, BYU: As previously mentioned, the absence of LJ Martin is a major blow to the Cougars, who are now without their top offensive weapon as the schedule begins to ramp up.

Replacing Martin in the backfield will be a committee led by Rex and Tonga, with other backs in the mix as well and Bear Bachmeier also likely to log more carries.

Tonga has been a pleasant surprise for BYU, currently sporting 157 rushing yards at an average of 8.3 yards per carry. Rex, a capable pass-catching back, has provided 94 yards on 18 carries with two touchdowns.

To their credit, Cougars besides Martin have rushed for 598 yards on 111 carries this season (averaging 5.4 yards per attempt) with 10 touchdowns. Given the uptick in competition going forward, it will be difficult for BYU to maintain its 5.4 yards per carry pace, but if the Cougars can stay at 4.0 or higher in their collective rushing average, that may be good enough to remain effective on the ground for this period without Martin.

And it all starts with Friday’s performance of Rex and Tonga.

Quotable

“Short week, which means that we have to speed up the preparation, but we’ve been here before. We’ve had this every year.

“... Jimmy Rogers is a really good coach, and you can see the team rallying around (the coaching staff’s) teaching. Fundamentally, they’re really sound in how they coach the game in all three phases. They have some really good pieces to work with, and there’s not a lot of mistakes that they make. So you’re going to have to be on top of your game to have some success against them.” — BYU coach Kalani Sitake

“I think (Kalani Sitake) does an unbelievable job. He’s just a great person, you can see his players play for him, and what he’s been able to turn BYU into over the years has been incredible to see.

“... We’ve got to get ready to play our best football in a short week, just as they do. Anything can happen.” — Iowa State coach Jimmy Rogers

Next up

• BYU: vs. No. 3 Notre Dame on Oct. 17
• Iowa State: at Arizona on Oct. 24

BYU schedule

• Sept. 5 — defeated Utah Tech, 63-7
• Sept. 12 — defeated Arizona, 28-17
• Sept. 19 — defeated Colorado State, 41-23
• Oct. 3 — defeated TCU, 17-10
• Oct. 9 — Iowa State
• Oct. 17 — Notre Dame
• Oct. 24 — at UCF
• Oct. 31 — Arizona State
• Nov. 7 — at Utah
• Nov. 14 — Baylor
• Nov. 21 — at Kansas
• Nov. 28 — Cincinnati