Simulating BYU’s 2025 Football Season on CFB26

The EA Sports College Football 2026 video game is out. We will spare you the actual reviews of the game itself, as that is not our forte.

This is about BYU football and what might happen during the 2025 season. We ran a simulation of the season and broke it down game-by-game.

Here are the results purely based on how the game simulated each one, without any outside interference.

vs. Portland State: W (PSU not in the game)

We will skip over this one, as Portland State is not in the game as an FCS squad. Let’s go ahead and assume the Cougars win their home opener on August 30.

vs. Stanford: W (28-21)

Let’s be real. Stanford has been awful in the post-COVID era. They haven’t been to a bowl since 2018. They have gone six seasons without even winning five games.

This game ended up being closer than maybe it should’ve been. BYU slogged through a few turnovers by Bear Bachmeier to win. Certainly, there will be some growing pains as Bachmeier is a true freshman.

@ East Carolina (W, 26-3)

This was a Jay Hill special. The Pirates could do absolutely nothing against the Cougars. Tanner Wall notched a pick six and the Cougars cruised in Greenville, NC.

@ Colorado (L, 30-20)

This was a weird game. Clearly, the computers thought the Buffs had revenge on their minds from the Alamo Bowl beatdown. Certainly, the Buffs look different with major departures on both sides of the ball. A couple of turnovers turned into two touchdowns early for CU and BYU couldn’t recover.

vs. West Virginia (W, 30-27 OT)

You know things get weird on Friday nights at LaVell Edwards Stadium. It’s hard to know if CFB26 factored in the “night Cougs.” This game certainly had the makings of a typical weeknight game in Provo. BYU needed a late touchdown to take it to overtime. Then the defense forced a fumble in overtime and Will Ferrin kicked a game-winning field goal.

@ Arizona (L, 23-20)

This game is a tough one to put a finger on. Arizona is very down right now. But for how long? In this game, basically everything went wrong for the Cougars. Bachmeier showed his youth with a few turnovers and the running game never got going. Arizona took advantage of some short fields and a hostile home crowd for the upset win.

vs. Utah (W, 17-14)

For any Utah fans reading, I promise, there was no interfering with this one. This was all the computer. Utah was up 14-7 at the half. The Cougars defense got stout in the second half and provided some juice with a pick six by Mo Bamba to tie the game. It was a slugfest to the very end. Like last year in Salt Lake, Will Ferrin nailed the game-winning kick, this time to the delight of the frenzied crowd in Provo. There doesn’t appear to be a feature where it shows the crowd storming the field after, but this seems like a scenario where they would given this ending.

@ Iowa State (L, 33-30, 2OT)

This is likely BYU’s toughest game on paper. Iowa State is BYU’s highest ranked opponent via the preseason AP poll at No. 22. It’s impossible to know what the two teams will look like in late October. In this simulation, the Cougars gave the Cyclones all they could handle. Ferrin nailed a late field goal to force overtime in Ames. Then the teams traded touchdowns in the first OT period before a costly turnover by BYU set up a chip-shot, game-winning field goal for Iowa State.

@ Texas Tech (L, 27-17)

Playing back-to-back road games against preseason ranked opponents is brutal. The wear and tear showed, even with a bye week in between. The Red Raiders are very talented and, in this simulation, looked like they were poised to win the Big 12 Conference. The Cougar offense sputtered and the Red Raiders feasted on a fatigued BYU defense that was on the field too long.

vs. TCU (L, 27-24)

TCU has been such a bugaboo for BYU historically. This time, TCU comes in with a proven quarterback in Josh Hoover. Yes, that Josh Hoover who threw for 439 yards and four touchdowns against BYU in his first ever start back in 2023. Now, he’s a proven commodity and he gets his against a talented BYU defense here. There is just something about TCU that BYU can’t figure out and it continues.

@ Cincinnati (W, 20-13)

Honestly, this game shouldn’t have been this close. BYU was up 20-3 in the second half but the offense stalled out. That allowed Cincy to gain some momentum and make the game interesting late. They cut it to a seven point deficit with two minutes left but BYU recovered the onside kick and LJ Martin ran for the game-sealing first down. This game was another marker of the computer feeling like BYU’s offense will sputter at times this season, which may be an accurate depiction.

vs. UCF (W, 30-17)

After so many close games, BYU finally gets a two-score win with the offense humming. This was Bachmeier’s best game in Big 12 play. Perhaps the cold November air at altitude wore the Knights down. The score was 30-10 before UCF got a late score. This was the most comfortable conference win of the simulation.

That leaves BYU at 7-5 for the regular season, becoming bowl eligible for the second season in a row and seven of the last eight seasons.

Given BYU’s record and distance from the top of the Big 12, they won’t get a primetime bowl slot at 7-5. Still, it’s a bowl game and a chance to finish with eight wins.

Independence Bowl vs. Jacksonville State (W, 33-20)

BYU earned the Big 12’s bowl slot in the Independence Bowl against a CUSA opponent. Jacksonville State has some talent, as well. It’s hard to gauge the amount each team was “bought in” to the lackluster bowl game (see BYU’s last trip to Shreveport in 2021). But the overall talent of BYU took over with LJ Martin running for over 150 yards to the 13-point win. That would mark BYU’s fifth season of at least eight wins in the 2020s decade.

Simulating BYU’s 2025 Football Season on CFB26

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