BYU didn’t exactly clean up the mess from last week, but the Cougars did enough to keep their season rolling.
No. 8 BYU held off Arizona State 27-20 on Saturday afternoon at LaVell Edwards Stadium, getting two rushing touchdowns from Sione Moa and 236 passing yards plus a score from Bear Bachmeier.
The win pushed the Cougars to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in Big 12 play, setting them up for next week’s top-10 matchup at No. 6 Utah.
It was not a polished performance. BYU’s offense managed only 1.6 yards per carry, and the defense gave up 279 total yards, including 170 on the ground to Arizona State running back Cardae Mack. Still, the Cougars found enough answers in the key moments to avoid a repeat of the 39-31 double-overtime loss at UCF.
The defensive front set the tone early. BYU finished with a season-high six sacks, along with eight tackles for loss, eight pass breakups and a fumble. That pressure helped the Cougars survive a rough opening stretch, when they had just 34 yards of offense in the first quarter and only 36 rushing yards in the first half.
Arizona State’s Jake Fette, making his first career start, threw for 117 yards and two touchdowns. The Sun Devils fell to 4-4 overall and 2-3 in the Big 12, and the loss was their ninth in 30 meetings with BYU.
Moa got BYU on the board with a sharp bit of awareness at the goal line, turning a turnover into a 1-yard touchdown to finish the opening series. That gave the Cougars a 10-3 lead midway through the second quarter, with the defense doing most of the heavy lifting.
Bachmeier then settled in before halftime, going 12 of 18 for 127 yards in the first half. His 13-yard strike to Kyler Kasper stretched the lead to 17-3 at the break. BYU also got a break on an interception that Legend Glasker erased with a double-leg takedown of Montana Warren, preserving the 14-point cushion.
Arizona State finally found some rhythm in the third quarter. Mack accounted for 75 of the Sun Devils’ 81 yards in the first quarter, but BYU held them to just 12 yards in the second. Then Fette led consecutive touchdown drives after halftime, including a 1-yard pitch to Anthony Miller Jr. that tied the game at 17-17 with 1:15 left in the third.
BYU answered right away. Matthias Dunn drilled a 45-yard field goal to finish a nine-play, 39-yard drive and put the Cougars back in front 20-17 to start the fourth quarter. Later, Roger Saleapaga’s fourth-down conversion helped keep the drive alive, and Moa finished it with his second touchdown of the day, a 1-yard run with 2:09 remaining.
BYU had plenty of blemishes. But in a game that threatened to slip away, the Cougars did just enough to survive.
In Other News...
BYUs UCF Win Looks Different After The Knights Ugly Reality Check
BYUs win over UCF suddenly carries a different kind of weight after the Knights followed that double-overtime thriller with a sobering 41-9 loss to Baylor. What looked at the time like a tough road result against a dangerous opponent now sits in a sharper light, especially with UCFs offense sputtering to a season-low output and failing to find the end zone at all.
Baylor also exposed just how much ground UCF still has to cover in the trenches, piling up 501 yards and seven sacks against the Knights offensive line. The blowout got worse when Keyone Jenkins left with an ankle injury, leaving UCF with more questions than answers heading into the next stretch and giving BYU a little more perspective on what that earlier matchup really meant. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Could Finally Benefit From A Playoff Change Fans Will Debate
A proposed move to a 24-team College Football Playoff would stir plenty of debate, especially among fans who worry that a bigger bracket could water down the sports most meaningful stretch. But for programs like BYU, the conversation cuts the other way. A larger field would offer a clearer path into the postseason and reduce the kind of subjective selection drama that has so often left teams on the outside looking in.
The bigger picture is not just about more bids, but about making the postseason feel more inclusive without stripping away the urgency of the regular season. College football has long lived with the tension between access and exclusivity, and the expanded format is being framed as a way to ease scheduling headaches while keeping the stakes high. For BYU, that kind of change could finally turn a familiar frustration into a real opportunity. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Win Over Arizona State Just Sparked A Big 12 Debate
BYUs 27-20 win over Arizona State is already the sort of result that can linger around a conference for a while, and now it has an officiating wrinkle attached to it. The Big 12 acknowledged that a touchdown was incorrectly awarded after a fumble recovery, when the proper ruling should have given BYU possession at the spot of the recovery instead of the end zone finish.
The mistake matters because the seven points attached to the play matched the final margin, which is exactly the kind of detail that tends to fuel debate long after the game ends. For BYU, the win still stands, but the conferences admission ensures this one will be remembered not just for the result, but for the call that helped shape it. [Read more 🡒]