Since joining the Big 12, BYU football has played a couple of games at locations that could conceivably be affected by hurricanes. Road games at UCF last year and East Carolina this year come to mind. What doesn't come to mind is Tucson, Arizona. A matchup between two Big 12 schools in the middle of the desolate Arizona desert seems like the last CFB game you'd expect to be impacted by a hurricane. And yet, as the remnants of Hurricane Priscilla tore up the Gulf of California, they slammed southern Arizona with torrential rains and violent lightning storms that definitely impacted this game.
BYU started off the game red hot, forcing punts on Arizona's first two possessions and scoring touchdowns after both. The second of those scores was a 75-yard bomb from Bear Bachmeier to Parker Kingston--the first passing touchdown Arizona's defense has allowed this season. But things quickly fell apart from there--the BYU defense gave up a long touchdown drive to the Wildcats, and then a weather delay ground the game to a halt as the remains of Hurricane Priscilla pummeled the stadium.
Weather delays are never fun, particularly for the visiting team. The Cougars had 90 minutes to sit in the visiting locker room, getting cold and cramped and struggling to maintain focus. It showed, badly, when they took the field again. Arizona seized control of the game completely in the second and third quarters, ripping off another 17 unanswered points to take a 24-14 lead into the fourth. BYU looked directionless and unmotivated on both sides of the ball. Bear threw two devastating interceptions. Every bit of momentum was in Arizona's favor.
But the Cougars had one major advantage on their side: Arizona couldn't stop the run, meaning that BYU totally controlled the pace of the game. And in the last 11 minutes, Aaron Roderick decided that Arizona simply wouldn't have the ball. The Cougars put together a 7-minute drive that ended in a field goal and brought them to within seven points, then forced a quick Arizona punt and marched down the field again. After a Bear Bachmeier fumble nearly ended the game (but didn't thanks to a clutch effort by Kyle Sfarcioc to chase down the ball), and after a pair of Arizona pass interference penalties, Bear finally punched it in with 19 seconds on the clock, tying the game and forcing overtime.
Compared to the drama of the fourth quarter, the overtime periods were actually relatively straightforward. The two teams traded field goals, another touchdown run by Bear gave the Cougars the lead, and a great defensive stop ended a wild game in Tucson. Here are some thoughts from how BYU performed in a crazy 33-27 2OT win at Arizona:
The Good:
I feel like I haven't talked enough about LJ Martin this season. He's been one of the nation's best running backs through six games, averaging 108.7 yards on 16.8 carries per game--an efficient 6.5 yards per carry. In this game, he was virtually unstoppable--Arizona didn't have an answer for him. He rushed 25 times for 162 yards and a 28-yard touchdown run, and he barely looked like he was trying. His performance against the Wildcats looks even more impressive in context--Arizona has featured one of the best run defenses in the nation this season, allowing just 92.2 rushing yards per game. Martin torched that defense. It's been quite a while since BYU has had a dependably healthy, star-caliber workhorse running back--really, the last one was probably Tyler Allgeier in 2021. Chris Brooks in 2022 and Aidan Robbins in 2023 both struggled due to a combination of bad O-line play and injuries (though Brooks has turned out commendably well at the NFL level), and Martin himself dealt with injuries in both 2023 and 2024. But this year, Martin is finally fully healthy, and he's showing exactly what he can do. Bear Bachmeier has been better than anyone expected to start this season, but LJ Martin is the heart, soul, and engine of the BYU offense.
Martin's fantastic performance running the ball was the result of an utterly dominant effort from the BYU offensive line. Isaiah Jatta and Andrew Gentry both had good games at the tackle spots, but the real star for the O-line in this game was guard Kyle Sfarcioc, who made several key blocks and saved the game for the Cougars by falling on a Bear Bachmeier fumble, giving his team a first down and setting up the game-tying touchdown. Another major offensive contributor in this game was wide receiver Parker Kingston, who has completely flipped the script on his 2025 season over the last two games. After struggling so badly that he was effectively benched in the Stanford game, he has been Bear's most reliable target lately. He followed up a four catch, 111-yard performance against West Virginia with a team-leading five catches for 117 yards and a touchdown in this game.
Bear Bachmeier played like a true freshman for much of this game but looked like a savvy, confident veteran in the clutch. He took over the game with both his arm and his legs in the fourth quarter, making several must-have throws (including a dime to Parker Kingston to keep the game-tying drive going on 4th and 7), and scoring BYU's last two touchdowns himself on the ground. He didn't have an amazing day throwing the ball overall, but he rushed a herculean 22 times for 89 yards--the Arizona defense had barely more success stopping him than it did LJ Martin. It's probably not ideal for Bear to run 22 times every game, but in this game, the Cougars needed every yard he could provide. I also think it's worth pointing out that even in a game where his passing was subpar, he did not make the kind of bizarre, unforced mental errors that always seemed to plague Jake Retzlaff--he made mistakes, but they were understandable mistakes.
The injury-riddled defense had problems throughout the game, but came through when it mattered. A few important contributors deserve to be mentioned. Siale Esera, filling in for the injured Jack Kelly at linebacker, had a fantastic game and was BYU's leading tackler with a remarkable 16 stops. Tausili Akana got significant snaps at defensive end and brought the heat, getting more pressure on Noah Fifita than anyone else in this game. After safety Raider Damuni left the game with an injury in the first half, Faletau Satuala replaced him and played very well. And finally, cornerback Mory Bamba, who has had a somewhat disappointing start to the season, played basically perfect football in the fourth quarter and both overtimes, making several crucial plays that swung the momentum toward BYU.
Will Ferrin didn't get the nickname "Big Game Bill" for nothing, and he was reliable again when called upon in this game, making the kick that brought the Cougars to within 7 in the fourth quarter and then nailing a clutch 45-yarder to force a second overtime. He did miss an early field goal for the third consecutive game, but the literal hurricane conditions made that forgivable. Sam Vander Haar also deserves credit here--the snap on that critical 45-yard attempt in the first overtime was botched, and Vander Haar had to corral it and set the hold. He did it perfectly, and Ferrin put the kick right down the middle.
The Bad:
The injuries are starting to add up for the BYU defense, and the absence of Jack Kelly and Anisi Purcell was felt in this game. But beyond the injuries, the defense also just didn't play especially well against Arizona. Keanu Tanuvasa committed a dumb first half targeting penalty that got him ejected, and with Purcell injured, the D-line's rotation really suffered. The defense also struggled to pressure Noah Fifita, who wasn't sacked once and seldom had anyone in his face. Jack Kelly's return should help with that problem--Isaiah Glasker is a solid pass rusher, but he's not as good as Kelly and, with Kelly out, he was often assigned to spy Fifita instead of going after him directly.
The offense didn't play especially well for large stretches of this game. Bear Bachmeier had easily his worst game as a passer this season, completing just 12/29 attempts for 172 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions while posting a miserable passer rating of 88.79. The Cougars' pass-catchers not named Parker Kingston did Bachmeier no favors, with both Chase Roberts and Carsen Ryan registering painful drops. There were also several glaring coaching mistakes--most prominent among them, a disastrous fake punt attempt just after the weather delay that set Arizona up with prime field position. ARod inexplicably went away from running LJ Martin off tackle at several key moments, surrendering momentum to Arizona each time. Despite his obvious coaching and development chops, I still have serious questions about ARod as an in-game decision-maker. The BYU offense basically took the second and third quarters off in this game, and while they ultimately recovered and did what was needed to win, that kind of winning is probably not sustainable.
It's hard to take too much away from a game where external factors (namely, a literal hurricane) had such a significant effect. But there is one conclusion that has to be drawn: this BYU team flat-out fights. Never at any point did they believe they were out of this game. They played hard from start to finish, they overcame the adversity they faced, and they pulled off an unbelievably clutch win, reminiscent of so many of the wild games they won last year. Kalani Sitake's greatest gift as a coach is that he can get the very best effort out of whatever players he has available. These guys believe they can beat anyone, and over the last two seasons, they've been proven right more often than not.
That belief, though, will be put to a major test this week, as the Cougars return home to Provo to host Utah in the now-annual Holy War. The Utes are (*gag*) a pretty good team this year, boasting a #23 national ranking and a 5-1 record that includes a much more impressive performance against West Virginia on the road than BYU posted at home. That said, the Utes do have some glaring weaknesses. Quarterback play is one of them--Devon Dampier presents a basically negligible downfield threat. The Utah defense, usually considered a major strength, has been highly suspect at times this season, looking vulnerable to potent rushing attacks. BYU is well equipped to exploit these issues, but this is the Holy War, meaning that literally anything can happen. I won't even attempt to predict what the outcome will be, other than to say that I believe BYU has the better team overall and, in the friendly confines of LaVell Edwards Stadium, whose namesake knew more than anyone about beating Utah, I have to think the Cougars stand a great chance of winning.