BYU Opponent Stanford Reportedly Names Starting Quarterback

PROVO, Utah – The week two opponent for BYU football in the 2025 season reportedly has established who their starting quarterback will be.

According to multiple reports, the Stanford Cardinal will turn to Ben Gulbranson as their starter at quarterback.

BYU hosts Stanford on Saturday, September 6, at 8:15 p.m. (MDT) on ESPN.

Stanford sixth-year senior Ben Gulbranson has emerged as the starting quarterback, sources confirm to ESPN. He’ll debut for the Cardinal at Hawaii in Week 0. He arrives with extensive experience from Oregon State, including 11 starts over his five seasons. @slmandel first… pic.twitter.com/jm1DrOrVXM

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 12, 2025

Gulbranson is a former Oregon State quarterback who has 11 starts over the past five seasons in his collegiate career. Last season, he started three games for the Beavers.

The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Gulbranson is entering his redshirt senior season of college football.

Stanford reportedly picks Ben Gulbranson to be its starting quarterback in 2025

He has been in a battle with Elijah Brown and UCF transfer Dylan Rizk.

Over the past five years, Gulbranson has appeared in 18 games, passing for 2,648 yards, 15 touchdowns, and throwing 10 interceptions.

Current BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier competed on the Farm this past spring before entering the transfer portal and landing with the Cougars. Bachmeier is currently in the mix to potentially win BYU’s starting job. As of Tuesday, Bachmeier was taking a majority of the first team snaps in BYU’s practice at quarterback.

Stanford is gearing up for its lone season with interim head coach Frank Heich. The former NFL head coach stepped in to assist Stanford General Manager Andrew Luck, a former player of Reich’s in Indianapolis.

Stanford was picked to finish in last place in the ACC preseason media poll.

The Cardinal finished last season with a 3-9 record in its first year as a member of the ACC.

Stanford opens the season in week zero against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors in Honolulu on August 23. Two weeks later, they will make the trip from Palo Alto to Provo.

Stanford will be making only its second trip all-time to Provo. They won their last meeting at LaVell Edwards Stadium in 2003 as a Pac-10 member, and BYU was in the Mountain West Conference.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU athletics in the Big 12 Conference on X: @Mitch_Harper.

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