BYU walked out of Provo with a win that will linger for a long time. The No.
8 Cougars beat No. 2 Notre Dame 28-24 on Saturday night, staying unbeaten and putting a huge result on the board for both themselves and the Big 12 in the College Football Playoff discussion.
Bear Bachmeier was the difference.
He accounted for four touchdowns and kept finding answers whenever the game started tilting toward Notre Dame. Bachmeier threw for 224 yards, and his night included two rushing scores, one passing touchdown and one receiving touchdown.
BYU got out front early and carried a 21-10 lead into halftime. Bachmeier scored twice on the ground before hauling in a 15-yard touchdown pass from Kyler Kasper on a trick play.
Notre Dame didn’t go away quietly.
The Fighting Irish chipped at the deficit with two field goals in the third quarter, trimming it to 21-16. Then Jonaz Walton punched in a three-yard run with 9:36 left, and Notre Dame followed with the two-point conversion to move ahead 24-21 for its first lead of the game.
That only set the stage for Bachmeier’s biggest drive of the season.
Trailing in the fourth quarter, BYU marched down the field and Bachmeier hit Walker Lyons for a six-yard touchdown with 1:53 to go, flipping the lead back to the Cougars at 28-24.
Notre Dame still had one final chance.
CJ Carr pushed the Irish deep into BYU territory in the closing seconds, all the way to the Cougars’ eight-yard line. But with four seconds remaining, Carr’s last throw fell incomplete in the back corner of the end zone, and BYU escaped.
Here was the final play of the game that some Irish fans insisted was pass interference, but looked like hand-fighting by both sides, and the ball may have not even been catchable. Watch and decide for yourself.
BYU is now 6-0, and the win over the No. 2 team in the country is the kind of résumé builder that turns heads. It’s also the biggest win in the history of the 16-team version of the Big 12 Conference. That result gives the league a real chance at getting a second team into the College Football Playoff if the rest of the season breaks the right way, though that picture still has to play out.
In Other News...
Rece Davis Turns BYU Win Into Bigger Officiating Fight
The fallout from BYUs win over Notre Dame kept moving well after the final whistle, with ESPNs Rece Davis taking aim at the officiating mistake that ended the game with the Irish out of time for one last snap. The Big 12 later acknowledged the error, saying one second should have remained on the clock and promising a review of the replay officiating process, which only added to the sense that the finish was about more than just one result.
Davis also tied the episode into a broader conversation that has been simmering around the College Football Playoff expansion debate, using the clock mishap as another example of why the sport keeps getting pulled into bigger questions about fairness and control. For BYU, the win stands, but the way it ended has ensured the discussion will linger well beyond one Saturday night. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Just Got The Statement Win Fans Dreamed About
Bear Bachmeier gave BYU the kind of all-around performance that can change the way a season feels, helping the Cougars outlast Notre Dame in a 28-24 win that should resonate well beyond one Saturday. The sophomore quarterback was effective as a passer and a runner, and the offense found another steady presence in tight end Walker Lyons, who kept showing up as a reliable target when the game tightened up.
The result pushed BYU all the way to No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25, a sign of how much national respect the Cougars earned with the victory. For a team trying to prove it belongs in the top tier, the bigger question now is how this performance carries over, because statement wins only matter if they become part of a pattern. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Just Turned The Big 12 Race Into Something Much Bigger
A wild Saturday across college football sent the AP poll into a spin, and BYU found itself at the center of it. Five of the top seven teams lost on the same day for the first time in the history of the poll, a shakeup driven by results all over the country as Miami moved to No. 1 after a double-overtime win against Florida State and the Cougars climbed to No. 2 after upsetting Notre Dame.
The bigger picture for BYU is how much larger its season has suddenly become. What had been a strong run inside the Big 12 now comes with national relevance, especially after a slate that also saw Ohio State beat Indiana, Tennessee knock off Alabama, Florida upset Texas and Auburn topple Georgia. The rankings changed fast, and with them the spotlight on a BYU team that has turned a conference race into something far more consequential. [Read more 🡒]