For 55 yards, one four-point hole and 5:43 on the clock, Bear Bachmeier put BYU’s biggest stage squarely on his shoulders.
That’s where the Cougars found themselves Saturday night against Notre Dame, and that’s where Bachmeier turned a tense finish into a 28-24 win that will sit near the top of the program’s memory bank for a long time. The sophomore from Murrieta, California, finished with 224 passing yards, one touchdown and one interception, added 45 rushing yards and two more scores, and even caught a 15-yard touchdown pass.
He had already done enough damage by then. The real statement came when the game tightened.
“He’s a competitive football player,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said of Bachmeier. “He’s smart.
He’s tough. You can hit him, but you won’t break him.
“He does well on the run and in the passing game,” he added. “And in crucial moments, the ball will be in his hands.”
Bachmeier proved that point over the final stretch, but the finishing blow came through another former Southern California standout, tight end Walker Lyons.
Lyons had just come off a 61-yard performance in BYU’s 21-10 win over Iowa State last Friday night, and his role keeps expanding for a team that now sits at No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25 with 20 first-place votes. That rise has coincided with Lyons stepping into a larger share of the offense, especially with reigning Big 12 offensive player of the year LJ Martin out because of a leg injury.
The 6-foot-4, 245-pound junior has become one of Bachmeier’s most dependable options, and Saturday he delivered his first touchdown in a BYU uniform at the perfect moment.
“I was really impressed that the more he played at USC, the better and better he got,” BYU tight ends coach Kevin Gilbride said of Lyons. “It’s fun to see a guy who continuously improves, and that’s what I like to see.”
Lyons’ journey through USC and a church mission in Norway has brought him to this point, and his first score for BYU came after Bachmeier used a Notre Dame timeout to reset the final snap. The Cougars had just moved the ball to the 6-yard line after Bachmeier ran for 16 yards on the drive, but Trevin Ostler’s false start pushed them back.
Then Bachmeier got the look he wanted, relayed the call from offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick and fired over the middle.
“I was very confident in the play call,” Bachmeier said of the signal he received for a pass play to Lyons that the Cougars “were executing well” in practice all week. “They brought the house, and Walker made a great play. Touchdown.”
Before that final push, BYU had spent most of the night trying to protect a lead that once looked comfortable. Bachmeier helped build a 21-10 halftime advantage, throwing for 128 yards, running for a touchdown and catching a 15-yard score from Kyler Kasper on a double reverse.
Then Notre Dame took over the middle of the game. The Cougars managed only 36 yards on 13 plays in the third quarter, and the Irish clawed back behind a 3-yard scoring run from Jonaz Walton with 9:31 left to move ahead 24-21.
Special teams briefly kept Notre Dame in it, too. Cannon DeVries muffed a punt and Fuller Shurtz’s failed fake punt gave the Irish two short fields, though they could only turn those mistakes into two field goals.
BYU’s offense also stumbled after halftime, opening the second half with two punts, a turnover on downs and an interception Bachmeier threw to Jayden Sanders with a little more than eight minutes left. But the quarterback kept believing in the next possession.
He told his defense to get the ball back, and Cade Uluave and the BYU unit answered with a three-and-out. From there, Bachmeier went back to work, going 3-for-5 for 40 yards and picking up 16 more on the ground before the final sequence set up Lyons’ score.
That finish came in front of a massive backdrop. ESPN’s “College GameDay” was in Provo, along with dozens of national media members and thousands of Notre Dame fans, for one of Week 7’s marquee games.
And it dropped into a place already crowded with landmark BYU moments: the “Miracle Bowl” in 1980, the 28-21 win over then-No. 1 Miami in 1990 and the undefeated 1984 season that ended with the school’s only football national championship.
Saturday’s result belongs in that conversation, even if BYU coach Kalani Sitake isn’t interested in lingering on it for long. He’s now guided his alma mater to a 6-0 start for the third straight year and the fourth time in 11 seasons, and his message afterward was simple.
“We’ve just got to stay humble, and keep working,” he said. “This is one game that we’re really proud of, and really excited for. But we’ve got to get ready for the next one, too.
“We’ve got to be humble, be hungry and find ways to get better and improve.”
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 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 🡒]
BYU Suddenly Faces A UCF Test That Could Shake Its Playoff Push
BYUs win over Notre Dame did more than add a marquee result to the rsum. It also gave the Cougars a significant lift in ESPNs Football Power Index projections, which now see a much clearer path to 11 wins and a College Football Playoff berth than they did before kickoff against the Irish. The model has BYU at 70.7% to beat UCF and 70.6% to make the playoff, a sharp jump from roughly 33% in the wake of the Notre Dame matchup.
Still, the numbers come with the usual caveats, especially for a team whose playoff case is being compared against the rest of the Big 12. FPI can brighten a forecast quickly after one statement win, but BYU still has to keep backing it up on the field, starting with a UCF test that could say plenty about whether this surge is real or just the kind of projection that changes again as soon as the schedule turns. [Read more 🡒]