The Cougars did it again, this time holding off a late comeback against bitter rival Utah to win 24-21

BYU Football is flaming hot. The 15th-ranked BYU Cougars outlasted the Utah Utes after an error on a Utah onside kick sealed the deal. Utah looked to have recovered the kick, but it was ruled BYU ball. The replay showed the ball bounced off a Utah player short of the ten-yard line, making the ball dead at the spot. BYU is now 7-0 in back-to-back seasons.
KSL radio play-by-play commentator Greg Wrubel said on the postgame radio show that BYU’s Bear Bachmeier was the first BYU true freshman quarterback to beat Utah. Bear Bachmeier has definitely not disappointed. BYU now sits in first place in the Big 12, with Texas Tech losing to Arizona State. The Cougars are now tied with just Cincinnati for first place.
BYU and Utah were scoreless in the first quarter before Bachmeier found Chase Roberts for a 17-yard touchdown. Utah would respond with Utes quarterback Devon Dampier finding a wide-open Ryan Davis. BYU would punt on its next drive, and Utah would muff the return, giving BYU great field position. BYU would get a field goal out of it, and the first half would end 10-7 BYU.

Utah and BYU would trade punts throughout the third quarter before Utah scored a touchdown to take the lead in the fourth quarter. Daniel Bray would run virtually untouched into the end zone, and Utah would lead 14-10. BYU would answer with a Parker Kingston rushing touchdown before Tanner Wall intercepted a pass from Dampier. BYU would put together a long drive and score another touchdown to go up 24-21.
Utah would get the ball back and march down the field for a touchdown. Dampier would find a wide-open Larry Simmons to cut the lead down to three. The aforementioned mishap on the onside kick gave BYU the ball with just over a minute left. Three kneeldowns and a defensive delay of game penalty sealed it for BYU.
The biggest takeaway from this game is turnovers, no pun intended. BYU forced two turnovers and scored ten points off of them. BYU didn’t turn the ball over once, and of course, Utah didn’t score any points off turnovers. The field goal that BYU scored after the interception turned out to be the difference. BYU has a lot of positives to take away from this game, including its third straight victory against Utah.
We did it, Cougar Nation.