Third-ranked Utah is 9-0 after beating No. 9 BYU 28-20 in Salt Lake City on Saturday, and the shape of the win matters as much as the score. Devon Dampier accounted for four touchdowns, the Utes intercepted four passes from BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier, and the defense shut the Cougars out in the second half after trailing by six at the break in a 28-20 win. The victory ends a three-game losing streak for Utah in the “Holy War” rivalry series and keeps the Utes’ College Football Playoff hopes fully alive at 6-0 in Big 12 play.
For BYU, the loss is the second in three games and dulls the Cougars’ own playoff case. The syndicated match report matching Saturday’s result lists the Cougars at 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the conference, with Bachmeier finishing 272 passing yards and a touchdown along with 59 rushing yards — but two of his four interceptions came in the fourth quarter, both in the end zone, after he had thrown four picks across BYU’s first eight games.
Dampier’s four touchdowns decided the Holy War
Dampier hurt BYU with his arm and his legs, finishing with 264 yards of total offense. He threw two touchdown passes to Braden Pegan and ran for two scores himself.
Utah’s defense did the rest. Trailing 20-14 at halftime, the Utes forced three turnovers after the break and kept the Cougars off the scoreboard for the entire second half. A team that had given up 20 points in two quarters allowed zero in the two that decided the game.
What the night changed for the playoff picture
The results affected College Football Playoff hopes in the Big 12 and the SEC. Utah remains unbeaten and in control of its conference path; BYU, at 7-2, now has two losses in its last three games. Elsewhere Saturday, No. 7 Texas kept its own playoff hopes breathing with a 34-20 rally at No. 18 Missouri — Arch Manning threw for 297 yards and three touchdowns, including the go-ahead strike to Raleek Brown with about five minutes left, and Brown added an 85-yard rushing day with the clinching score after a deflected Missouri pass was intercepted.
In the SEC, Alabama pulled away from No. 14 LSU behind three Keelon Russell touchdown passes and four fourth-down stops by the defense, while LSU’s Sam Leavitt completed 35 of 47 passes for 380 yards but was intercepted for the first time in three games. The loss leaves LSU at 6-3 under coach Lane Kiffin, who fell to 0-6 against Alabama across his career, including prior stops at Mississippi and Tennessee.
No. 23 Oregon 41, at No. 12 Ohio State 28: Dierre Hill Jr.
Wake Forest's record rout headlines the rest of the slate
The rest of the slate supplied its own milestones. No. 16 Wake Forest scored 11 touchdowns in a 77-0 rout of FCS opponent Merrimack, breaking the school scoring record set in a 70-58 win over Army on Oct. 23, 2021. Backup Steele Pizzella, starting for the injured Gio Lopez, threw for 432 yards and three touchdowns in the first half alone — 495 yards of total offense in 30 minutes — and the Demon Deacons finished with 546 passing yards, their first 400-yard passing day since Hank Bachmaier threw for 403 against Virginia in 2024.
No. 24 Arizona pulled out an improbable 29-28 Friday win over TCU when Michael Salgado-Medina kicked a 37-yard field goal with 39 seconds left after the Wildcats recovered an onside pooch kick; Noah Fifita threw for 313 yards and two scores, but also had an interception Hudson Hooper returned 93 yards for a touchdown. No. 17 Houston held off Cincinnati 31-24 on Re’Shaun Sanford II’s 51-yard tiebreaking run with 5:10 remaining, then recovered a backward pass following replay review with 2:11 left.
Away from the ranked games, Nebraska coach Matt Rhule fired his offensive coordinator Saturday — five days after he called Dana Holgorsen “one of the best offensive minds of our generation” — following the Cornhuskers’ loss at Illinois; co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Glenn Thomas takes over play-calling for a team that has scored 54 points combined in four straight losses. Jackson Gutierrez ran for five touchdowns as Navy survived blowing a 28-point lead to beat Temple 42-35, and Montana’s Eli Gillman ran for 196 yards and four scores, setting the Big Sky Conference career record with 78 touchdowns, in a 57-24 win over Portland State.
The open question after Saturday is whether Utah can run the table: at 9-0 and 6-0 in the Big 12, the Utes control their path to the playoff, while BYU must regroup with two losses in three weeks and a quarterback whose interception total in one afternoon matched what he had thrown in his first eight games combined.
