10 moments that defined the 2025 football season for BYU Cougars

It is not over yet, but Kalani Sitake’s 10th season in charge of the BYU football program will go down as one for the ages, as the Cougars continued their rise as one of the most dominant teams in the Big 12.

The No. 12 Cougars have won 10 or more games in four of the past six seasons, and can make the 2025 campaign even better if they can defeat No. 22 Georgia Tech and standout QB Haynes King in the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Dec. 27 in Orlando, Florida.

It was a season filled with incredible highs — comeback wins over Colorado, Arizona, Utah and Iowa State — and those demoralizing losses to one of the best teams in the country, No. 4 Texas Tech, that kept the Cougars out of the College Football Playoffs by a whisker for the second-straight year.

While the 2024 season, in which the Cougars finished 11-2 with a convincing Alamo Bowl win over Colorado, will be remembered for sensational plays — particularly on special teams — that allowed BYU to pull out wins over SMU, Utah, Kansas State and Oklahoma State, the 2025 season will be remembered for the heroics of freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier, the aforementioned comebacks, and the late-season drama when Penn State offered big bucks in an attempt to get Sitake out of his beloved BYU.

Here’s the Deseret News’ annual look at 10 moments, games or decisions that defined BYU’s 2025 football season, in chronological order:

Bear Bachmeier blooms in the wake of Retzlaff’s exit

A series of events that began on May 21 when starting quarterback Jake Retzlaff was accused of sexual assault in a civil lawsuit in 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City threatened to destroy BYU’s season before it even started. But after the lawsuit was dismissed on June 30 and Retzlaff chose to withdraw from BYU on July 11 rather than accept a seven-game suspension for violating the school’s honor code, coaches somewhat surprisingly named freshman Bear Bachmeier their starting quarterback.

And what a choice it was. After landing the job on Aug. 19, Bachmeier became the first true freshman QB to start in an opener in BYU history, and promptly led BYU to 11 wins — with one more opportunity remaining. He was the Big 12’s Freshman of the Week seven times, and the league’s Offensive Freshman of the Year. He surpassed even the wildest expectations.

Evan Johnson enjoys a historic moment

After easy wins over Portland State and Stanford, BYU’s first big test came more than 2,000 miles away from Provo — against an East Carolina team that prides itself on being close to unbeatable at home.

BYU CB Evan Johnson (@__Evxn) had himself a breakout performance against East Carolina.

Johnson filled the stat sheet with 6 tackles, a PBU, and 2 interceptions — taking one back to the house.

Is this a sign of things to come?#GoCougs#Big12FBpic.twitter.com/YcwwJh9Yt4

— Bryan (@BGauvin23) September 23, 2025

For almost half of the game in Greenville, North Carolina, the Cougars appeared to be in major trouble. The offense was struggling with Bachmeier playing his first game away from LaVell Edwards Stadium. The vaunted BYU defense was bending and trying to stop ECU quarterback Katin Houser’s timely runs and passes.

Enter Evan “Shmev” Johnson, who intercepted back-to-back Houser passes, one in BYU’s end zone to thwart a scoring drive and one he returned a few yards for a pick-six just before halftime. Momentum seized, BYU dominated the second half and moved to 3-0 for the third-straight year and fifth time in six seasons with the 34-13 win, which wore well as the Pirates went 6-2 in the American Conference, 8-4 overall, and earned a berth in the Military Bowl against Pitt.

An emotional night in the Colorado mountains

Upset- and revenge-minded Colorado jumped out to a 14-0 lead, easily slicing through the BYU defense for two quick touchdowns behind the quarterbacking of Kaidon Salter at Folsom Field. The Cougars turned the tables in the final three quarters, as Bachmeier threw a touchdown pass to Chase Roberts on fourth-and-2, Cody Hagen took a “reverse tornado” play drawn up by Aaron Roderick to the house from 32 yards out for the go-ahead 24-21 lead, and linebackers Jack Kelly and Isaiah Glasker made it stand up with huge fourth-quarter stops.

Glasker’s interception of a Salter pass, as Kelly applied pressure with just under a minute remaining, sealed the deal and gave BYU a critical Big 12 road win. Shortly after the game, BYU learned that President Russell M. Nelson, the 17th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had died at the age of 101.

Bear is human, but still the right animal for BYU

The Cougars had given up just one turnover in their first four games — a fumbled punt return — but that all changed the first Friday night of October, as the month of Halloween got off to a scary start. Fortunately, BYU was playing one of the weakest teams in the Big 12, West Virginia, and overcame three turnovers to take a 38-24 win.

West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez on Bear Bachmeier:

“We made him look like the Heisman in the first half. Hand him the Heisman.” pic.twitter.com/iUHgSp2t9v

— Jackson Payne (@jackson5payne) October 4, 2025

While BYU’s chance for style points against the injury-depleted Mountaineers faded away, Bachmeier’s legend grew. Bouncing back from an intercepted screen pass and a speed option pitch that was deflected and recovered for an easy WVU touchdown, Bachmeier engineered six passing plays of 15 yards or more and BYU racked up 516 total yards in the win. Bachmeier threw for a career-high 351 yards and Chase Roberts and Parker Kingston combined for 272 yards on eight catches. LJ Martin scored twice, but BYU’s other star — linebacker Jack Kelly — sustained an upper body injury that would keep him out of the Arizona game.

An all-time fumble recovery at Arizona

One of the biggest plays of the 2025 season was made by a backup offensive lineman, of all people. Right guard Kyle Sfarcioc fell on a Bear Bachmeier fumble — rather, he snatched the loose pigskin away from a horde of Arizona defenders — in the final minute of regulation against the Wildcats. A few plays later, Bachmeier scored a touchdown to send the contest into overtime.

Kyle Sfarcioc broke down what he remembers from recovering the late game fumble vs Arizona pic.twitter.com/SVOLgEd9Kz

— Ben Criddle (@CriddleBenjamin) October 14, 2025

In a game that seemed to take forever because of a first-half weather delay for lightning in the area, BYU pulled it out 33-27 in double overtime when Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita’s 45th pass attempt fell incomplete in the back of the end zone. The victory proved huge as the season wore on because Arizona went 9-3 and earned a matchup with SMU in the Holiday Bowl.

Bear-ing down on the rival Utes

Our choice for the unofficial play of the year came in BYU’s 24-21 win over Utah, a game in which the Cougars improved to 7-0 by outscoring their rivals 14-0 after the visitors had taken a 17-14 lead. That play was a 22-yard touchdown run by Bachmeier in which the quarterback dragged three would-be tacklers into the end zone.

"Yeah that Utah one was definitely special..."

BYU QB Bear Bachmeier when asked about THAT run against Utah 🔥😤 pic.twitter.com/ni5ckDXSqe

— BYUtv Sports Nation (@BYUSportsNation) November 29, 2025

The play even launched a Halloween costume. The game eventually launched the then-No. 15 Cougars into the top 10, and resonated all season, as Utah would not lose again. LJ Martin added 122 rushing yards and Bachmeier accounted for 229 yards in his first taste of the rivalry game. Said BYU safety Tanner Wall, after the defense forced Utah into turning the ball over on downs twice: “To be able to say, leaving this place, that I never lost to Utah, I will wear that with a lot of pride for the rest of my life.”

Humbling loss in the spotlight at Lubbock

As mentioned in the introductions, BYU’s special teams were nowhere close in 2025 to where they were in 2024. Never was that more apparent than in the first quarter against No. 8 Texas Tech for then-No. 7 BYU. The Cougars fumbled away an early punt to give the Red Raiders three easy points, and never really recovered. A shanked punt also hurt.

With ESPN’s “College GameDay” broadcasting near AT&T Jones Stadium before the game, the Cougars fell flat with the national spotlight upon them. The blowout loss launched the narrative that BYU was so overwhelmed that it didn’t deserve an at-large berth in the CFP, a narrative from which it never really recovered. The Cougars dropped from No. 7 to No. 12, and were only able to get back to No. 11 after three dominating wins.

A three-for-one not quite enough

After that humiliating 29-7 defeat in Lubbock in which the Cougars turned the ball over three times, a lot of national observers figured they would falter down the stretch, as they somewhat did in 2024. But the opposite was the case, as BYU rolled through TCU 44-13, Cincinnati 26-14 and UCF 41-21 to tie Tech for the Big 12 regular-season title with an 8-1 league record.

A sequence that illustrated that gritty attitude came against Cincinnati on the road, as BYU drove for a touchdown in the final six minutes after the Bearcats had cut the deficit to six to get its raucous crowd back into the game.

Kalani gets a contract extension in the nick of time

The day after BYU pummeled UCF after a slow start to get its 11th win, word started to leak out that Penn State officials were in Provo to talk to Sitake about their vacant head coaching position. Monday, Dec. 1, was an unforgettable day, as Sitake appeared in a news conference hyping up the Big 12 championship game against Texas Tech and was bombarded with questions about his interest in the PSU opening.

Tuesday was even more intense. Around 3 p.m. MST, as BYU players were gathering in the IPF to begin practice, word started getting out that Sitake was staying in Provo. In the end, BYU’s administration stepped up — with the help of prominent boosters — and extended Sitake’s contract, while increasing his pay and the pay of many assistant coaches, all while promising more funding for the football program. It was perhaps the school’s biggest win of the season.

Bear gets bruised up in Big 12 championship game

For the entire first quarter, No. 12 BYU looked like it was ready to give No. 4 Texas Tech all it wanted in Big D. But just as the Cougars were capping a 90-yard touchdown drive against arguably the best defense in the country, Bachmeier sustained a left ankle sprain. The Cougars were never the same offensively. While Jay Hill’s defense kept BYU in it most of the rest of the way, too many turnovers proved too much to overcome and the Cougars dropped a 34-7 decision that relegated them to the Pop-Tarts Bowl, instead of the CFP.

The next day was also wild, as Notre Dame declined an invitation to play BYU in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, instead sitting out the bowl season after it was left out of the CFP in favor of Miami and Alabama.