PK: BYU Football Saw All Of This Coming, No One Else Did
Oct 18, 2025, 10:42 PM | Updated: 10:43 pm
PROVO, UT - OCTOBER 18: Kyle Sfarcioc #64 of the Brigham Young Cougars celebrates as he leaves the field after their win agaisnt the Utah Utes at LaVell Edwards Stadium on October 18, 2025 in Provo, Utah. (Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)
(Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)
PROVO, Utah – Barely two seasons into it, forget trying to figure out this current configuration of the Big 12 conference in football.
Double-digit favorites lose to teams coming off a 32-point loss (see Arizona State’s stunner over seventh-ranked Texas Tech on Saturday afternoon). Teams with a losing record walk out of a hostile environment to slap the first loss on a previously undefeated and nationally ranked team in late November, as Kansas did to BYU last year.
For this reason, among others, the hyper-intense rivalry between BYU and Utah fits perfectly in the Big 12. Anything can happen with these two, exactly like the Big 12 has shown since bringing in four teams after greed imploded the Pac-12.
Views from BYU’s 24-21 win over No. 23 Utah.
Cougars are 7-0 this season. pic.twitter.com/ElhSBaybw1
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) October 19, 2025
Guess again, smart guys. BYU controlled Utah’s offense most of the game and added enough offense of its own to spring the 24-21 upset on Saturday night before the largest crowd (64,794) since Notre Dame came to LaVell Edwards Stadium in 2004.
Maybe now the Cougars will get the national respect they richly deserve, dating back to last season. Think about it for a second – this past week, Indiana coach Curt Cignetti got rewarded with a mega contract for his outstanding work at a basketball school.
Cignetti has brought life to a traditionally downtrodden program. Since taking over last season, his record is 18-2.
You know who has an identical record. Yup, that would be the Cougars under coach Kalani Sitake.
The coach, in his 10th season, is that good. And so are the Cougars, no matter what people thought entering the season.
Rivalry win secured🔒
Coach Kalani Sitake breaks down the win vs. #23 Utah in this post-game interview#Big12FB | @BYUfootball pic.twitter.com/z8o3enfq1V
— Big 12 Studios (@big12studios) October 19, 2025
This much is true: Whatever we thought to be true over the summer seems a bit silly now. For that matter, the truth got distorted in the last seven days.
After the Utes embarrassed ASU during a downpour seven nights ago, the prevailing thought was to count out the defending Big 12 champion. Texas Tech, which had destroyed its first six opponents, including Utah, was a heavy favorite to roll over the Sun Devils and, in the process, leave them as a long shot to repeat.
Oops.
Behind quarterback Sam Leavitt, who missed the Utah game due to injury, ASU squandered a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter but staged a dramatic touchdown drive to slap the NIL-fueled Red Raiders with the first loss. Another stumble along the way could knock Texas Tech out of the conference race.
Another misjudgment involved BYU, which wasn’t expected to do much after losing its returning senior quarterback. No way the Cougars could contend with first-year freshman Bear Bachmeier, who arrived on campus in May, running the show.
Yet, here is BYU tied with Cincinnati for first place in the conference. Improbably, the Cougars are 4-0 in the Big 12 (7-0 overall), owners of three fourth-quarter comebacks since conference play began.
Not that there was much doubt in this, but BYU’s defense is legitimate. Coordinator Jay Hill’s group, which has proven it all season, came up with another stellar effort in stymying a Utah offense that piled up huge numbers in the recent wins over West Virginia and ASU.
— BYU FOOTBALL (@BYUfootball) October 19, 2025
Against BYU, not so much, even though a late touchdown made the final margin more respectable. The Cougars harassed Utah quarterback Devon Dampier virtually the entire game, forcing him on the run in the pocket and bottling him up most times he tried to escape.
Continuing the theory of discovery, Bachmeier is a freshman in name only. Choose a superlative to describe his play, they all fit.
With BYU trailing 14-10 entering the fourth quarter, he engineered two touchdown drives to seal the team’s best win of the season. The second score came on a scintillating 22-yard run that has become a Bachmeier signature, one in which he barrels his way up the middle past, through and over several defenders before finally falling to the ground.
This time, he did it with a host of teammates pushing him past the goal line and into the end zone. It was the kind of play that might make believers out of the skeptics.
