No. 3 Utah picks off Bear Bachmeier twice in 4th to earn win over No. 9 BYU

SALT LAKE CITY — It was a hot start in Rice-Eccles Stadium for an early game Saturday.

No. 3 Utah rolled to a quick 14-0 lead on seven total plays to send a sellout crowd into a frenzy against No. 9 BYU in the first few minutes of the game. But like many rivalry games before it, everything flipped on its head.

BYU roared back and scored 20 unanswered points in a disastrous second quarter for Utah, and the Cougars took control of a 6-point lead at the halftime break.

But the lead was short-lived in a hostile environment against a team hungry to end a three-game losing skid to their rivals. Utah held BYU scoreless in the second half and did just enough on the offensive side of the ball to pull away for a 28-20 victory on their home turf.

The win was capped off by two interceptions against BYU (7-2, 4-2 Big 12) quarterback Bear Bachmeier, who willed the Cougars into the game. Late in the game, Bachmeier marched BYU deep into Utah territory, but threw a pass right to Utah linebacker Trey Reynolds at the goal line to all but seal the Utah victory.

Utah used a heavy dose of the run game to drain the clock before punting the ball back to BYU with just under a minute left to play.

Again, Utah's defense came up with a stop as the former Lone Peak High star Nate Ritchie pulled down another interception with two second left to play. With the ensuing kneel down by Utah, fans rushed the field to celebrate with their team, who ended the three-game losing streak.

The win also lifted Utah to 9-0 on the season and 15th straight win dating back to last season (their last loss was to BYU in 2025).

"I thought our guys did a really nice job of taking what in the first half was a detriment and kind of flipping the script," Utah head coach Morgan Scalley said. "This is a game of momentum, and when you don't have it, you've got to go steal it; you can't cower. You can't play the woe is me game, it's like no one cares. You've got to go and attack, and our guys did that in the second half."

The game featured it all — turnovers, dropped passes, costly penalties, and explosive plays — to live up to its top-10 billing between in-state competitors.

It even included Utah wide receiver Creed Whittemore tossing a deep, contested pass to quarterback Devon Dampier, who jumped up between defenders to pull down a ball on a pivotal fourth-and-1 call that changed the tone of the game for the home team.

"He was guarded," Scalley said of the play. "There's no reason that should have ever been thrown; probably should have eaten it. But as soon as it was caught, I was like, OK, yes; great job, Creed. They read that one from the get-go; it wasn't even close."

"I told Creed to throw it regardless; I don't care if there's two people on me, throw it and I'm gonna find a way to go catch it," Dampier added. "I'm happy it played out like that."

Dampier cemented his name in rivalry lore as arguably the best player on the field Saturday. He finished the game throwing for 177 yards and two touchdowns on 14-of-26 passing, while adding 87 rushing yards and two scores on the ground to complement his second career reception.

"I love him," Scalley said. "He's a competitor, he's a warrior. He wins us football games."

Dampier said he took it "personal" that last season he "didn't show up in some of our ranked games" and that he felt he let his team down.

"When it matters, I want to be there for my teammates," he said. "I want them to be able to lean on me."

It's safe to say Dampier delivered for another week.

Utah opened up the game with a quick set of scores to control a 14-0 lead in what appeared to be a team ready to pull away by a large margin over their rival. The defense also limited BYU to just a field goal and maintained its streak of not allowing an opposing team to score a touchdown in the first quarter this season.

In the first quarter, Utah has outscored its opponents 103-9 and is the only FBS team to not allow a touchdown in the first quarter.

But BYU refused to quick and slowly chipped away at Utah's lead, while limiting what the home team wanted to do on offense with a stingy defense that got after Dampier and limited Utah's run game.

To add to that, Utah had three costly dropped passes, mixed with a fumble at midfield, that allowed BYU to steal the momentum and silence a crowd that was ready for a battle.

Bachmeier silenced the crowd quickly with a 75-yard shot down the field to freshman Legend Glasker, who used his speed to quickly outpace his defender en route to the score.

In the second half, though, Utah made life tough on Bachmeier and forced him into three interceptions. Even then, BYU had its chances to score late before his interception to Reynolds.

The sophomore quarterback finished his second rivalry game throwing for 272 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions on 21-of-35 passing, while adding 59 yards on eight carries on the ground. His effort led BYU to outgained Utah 391 to 328, but it wasn't enough in the end.

"Give Utah a lot of credit for making plays," BYU head coach Kalani Sitake said. "We didn't make enough, and so that's my job as head coach. We didn't start off fast in the first half, we didn't start off fast in the second half, and it's my responsibility to get these guys playing at a higher level."

Though an important win for Utah, especially for its chances to reach the Big 12 title game and a potential spot in the College Football Playoffs, Scalley said "this is not the final game of the season."

"This is one game that we've talked about," he added. "The reason I believe that we won today is our guys made it about us, not about them. It's about our culture. It's about going 1-0 every single week, focusing on the task at hand. They're going to celebrate, and we're going to have fun enjoying this win, because it's hard to win in college football. But we've got an Arizona team that's hungry."

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