College Gameday Analyst Views BYU As Big 12 Title Frontrunner

TUCSON, Ariz. – One analyst from ESPN’s College Gameday sees BYU football as a frontrunner to win the Big 12 this season.

During the Friday, October 10th edition of College Football Live on ESPN from Eugene, Oregon, Steve Coughlin, more commonly known as “Stanford Steve,” picked BYU, which has opened the season at 5-0, as his frontrunner to win the wide-open league.

The Big 12-focused question from host Jen Lada was, “Who’s your frontrunner to win it?”

College Gameday analyst “Stanford Steve” picks BYU as his Big 12 frontrunner

“I’m going to look at BYU,” Coughlin said.

“You mentioned defense traveling. They’re going to Arizona [on Saturday]. Noah Fifita has had a rejuvenated year with Coach (Brent) Brennan in that Arizona offense. BYU has a chance. I mean, you see them already with five wins. That’s a huge spot [against Arizona] for them to take another step, knowing they have the Holy War next week against their hated Utah Utes.”

WINNER$
Week 7 pic.twitter.com/2Nxz2alEmM

— Stanford Steve (@StanfordSteve82) October 10, 2025

Coughlin also added a comment about BYU freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier departing from his alma mater, Stanford.

“I will say, the quarterback, Bachmeier, did look a lot better in Cardinal than he does in this BYU blue,” Coughlin said.

While “Stanford Steve” picked BYU, Desmond Howard picked Texas Tech as his frontrunner in the Big 12, and Pete Thamel went with Cincinnati, which boasts the No. 1 offense in conference-only stats this season.

BYU takes on Arizona on Saturday night in Tucson.

No. 18 BYU at Arizona

Date: Friday, October 11, 2025

Kickoff: 6 p.m. (MDT)

TV: ESPN2

Radio: KSL NewsRadio (102.7 FM, 1160 AM)

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast daily on KSL Sports YouTube and KSL NewsRadio (SUBSCRIBE). Harper also co-hosts Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL NewsRadio.

Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU athletics in the Big 12 Conference on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram: @Mitch_Harper.

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