- No. 3 Utah trailed No. 9 BYU 20-14 at halftime, then shut the Cougars out after the break and intercepted Bear Bachmeier four times. Devon Dampier scored four touchdowns and caught a pass, and the Utes are 9-0.
- Bear Bachmeier, Utah Football, BYU Football connect back to Utah Homegrown and the wider football picture.
- The story is backed by 13 sources and a visible last-verified date.
November 8, 2026
November 8, 2026
7 min / 1,481 words
13 official links
No. 3 Utah beat No. 9 BYU 28-20 on Saturday morning at Rice-Eccles Stadium, rallying from a 20-14 halftime deficit with a second-half shutout and four interceptions of Bear Bachmeier. Quarterback Devon Dampier ran for two touchdowns, threw two more to Braden Pegan and caught a 29-yard pass. In front of 52,901 at the 101st straight sellout, Utah moved to 9-0 and 6-0 in the Big 12 and won the rivalry for the first time since 2019.
It was the first Utah-BYU game with both teams in the AP top 10 and the first with both in the College Football Playoff rankings, per Utah's postgame notes. It went the way this rivalry usually goes: the fourth straight meeting, and the ninth of the last 10, decided by single digits.
How Utah beat BYU: 14-0, 14-20, then 14 unanswered
Utah needed 75 seconds to score. Dampier's 22-yard run finished a three-play, 75-yard opening drive, and on the next possession he hit Pegan for a 46-yard touchdown, Pegan's longest catch of the season. Dampier's first pass of the day had gone 47 yards to tight end Noah Bennee.
Then BYU took over the half. Matthias Dunn kicked field goals of 31 and 38 yards, Bachmeier found Lehi freshman Legend Glasker for a 75-yard touchdown on the first play of a drive, and LJ Martin, back in the lineup, ran in from 4 yards out. That was 20 straight BYU points. Utah lost two fumbles in the half, and the teams combined for 453 first-half yards, the most in the rivalry since 2013. BYU had 280 of them at 7.8 yards a play.
Utah's second half looked nothing like it. Its first four possessions after the break each took at least 3:45 off the clock. Pegan's 14-yard catch from Dampier capped a nine-play, 53-yard drive late in the third quarter for a 21-20 lead, and Dampier's 3-yard run with 12:03 left made it 28-20. Dillon Curtis made all four extra points.
Utah's defense: four interceptions and a second-half shutout
The second-half numbers, from Utah's postgame notes: BYU had 111 yards at 4 yards a play, no points and three turnovers, and Utah won the time-of-possession battle after being nearly doubled up in the first half.
Four different Utes intercepted Bachmeier:
- Lance Holtzclaw, a defensive end, made the first interception of his career and returned it 17 yards.
- James Chenault Jr. made his team-leading third interception of the season.
- Trey Reynolds picked one off in the end zone in the fourth quarter, his second of the year.
- Nate Ritchie sealed it with an end-zone interception with two seconds left, the first of his career.
Bachmeier had thrown four interceptions in BYU's first eight games, per BYU's game notes, and Utah was the first defense this season to intercept him more than once. It was Utah's most interceptions in a game since 2022 and only the third time in 30 seasons it had picked off an AP top-10 opponent more than once. Linebacker Johnathan Hall made a season-high nine tackles, and safety Rabbit Evans had eight with a pass breakup.
"We told our defense we needed takeaways in this game, and sure enough, we did and those were big time," Reynolds said.
Head coach Morgan Scalley credited the halftime locker room. "In the 1st half, man did we fail," he said. "At the same time, in that second half, we completely flipped the script."
The second half fits the season. Utah has allowed nine first-quarter points all year, the fewest in FBS, and has given up 147 points in nine games, about 16 a game, by our count from its results. It blanked Utah State 33-0 in September.
Devon Dampier's Heisman case
Dampier finished 14 of 26 for 177 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions, and ran 20 times for 89 yards and two more scores. Receiver Creed Whittemore threw him a 29-yard pass, which completed what Utah called a football triple double. Utah says he is only the second FBS player in 30 seasons with multiple passing touchdowns, multiple rushing touchdowns and 25-plus receiving yards in one game; the other is Navy's Jackson Gutierrez, on Oct. 17.
He is 19-2 as Utah's starter, alone in sixth place for wins by a quarterback in program history, and he has thrown multiple touchdown passes in eight of nine games. Adding Saturday to Utah's season totals, he has thrown for 2,053 yards and 20 touchdowns and run for 482 yards and seven more.
The awards are noticing. On Friday he was named to the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award top 10, cut from a 27-player watch list, alongside CJ Carr, Arch Manning and Arizona's Noah Fifita. Five finalists come in the next few weeks, and the winner is honored in Baltimore on Dec. 9. Before the game, NBC Sports put him sixth in its Heisman top 10 and wrote that "you have to have Devon Dampier somewhere on the Heisman list." After it, Bleacher Report said his Heisman odds had improved. On this résumé, a 9-0 starter beating a top-10 rival with four touchdowns, he belongs on every Heisman watch list in the country.
Asked about a Heisman campaign, Scalley answered about the person. "All I know is I love him. He's a competitor. He's a warrior. He wins us football games," he said, adding that the difference from last season is a short memory after mistakes.
Dampier pointed back to last year. "One thing you know I took personal last year is I just felt like I didn't show up in some of our big games," he said.
Asked about Utah's performance, BYU coach Kalani Sitake started with the quarterback. "Dampier is a dang good quarterback, man," he said.
BYU's playoff path is still open
BYU (7-2, 4-2 Big 12) played like a top-10 team for a half, and its season is far from over. Glasker caught seven passes for 118 yards, tight end Walker Lyons caught seven for 97, and Bachmeier ran for 59 yards on eight carries. BYU's defense made 11 tackles for loss and forced two fumbles, per BYU's recap, with Bodie Schoonover recording two sacks and Cade Uluave seven tackles and a sack. What hurt most were the interceptions and the flags: 11 penalties for 80 yards in ESPN's box score, a season high per Utah's notes, including four false starts.
"I take full accountability for not having this team ready to roll, but I think Utah had a lot to do with that," Sitake said. "They seem to do that to a lot of other teams, and it did come down to a one-score game again."
BYU went into Saturday No. 9 in the committee's first ranking, with wins over Notre Dame and Arizona, both ranked by the committee. Its two losses are in double overtime at UCF and by eight at the No. 3 team in the country. The 12-team bracket includes the Big 12 champion, and the Big 12 Championship Game is Dec. 4. Win out against Baylor, at Kansas and against Cincinnati, and BYU is a 10-2 team with two ranked wins making its case to the committee. The next CFP ranking comes out Tuesday, Nov. 10.
"Just keep loving each other, man," running back Sione Moa said of Sitake's message after the game. "We just got to stay more connected than ever."
What's next for Utah and BYU
Utah won its 15th straight game, the longest active streak in FBS, and 11 straight in conference play. Utah, the only Big 12 team without a conference loss, goes to No. 22 Arizona on Nov. 14, then plays at TCU on Nov. 21 and hosts West Virginia on Nov. 27.
"We cannot let the joy of this distract us from what the ultimate goal is," Scalley said.
BYU hosts Baylor at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Nov. 14, plays at Kansas on Nov. 21 and finishes at home against Cincinnati on Nov. 28. For the rivalry's history, see the Holy War guide, the Utah football page and the BYU football page.
Key facts:
- Final: No. 3 Utah 28, No. 9 BYU 20 (CFP rankings), Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, Rice-Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City; attendance 52,901
- Score by quarters: Utah 14-0-7-7, BYU 3-17-0-0
- Devon Dampier (Utah QB, Phoenix): 14 of 26, 177 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT; 20 carries, 89 yards, 2 TD; one catch for 29 yards
- Braden Pegan (Utah WR): 5 catches, 86 yards, 2 TD
- Utah interceptions: Lance Holtzclaw, James Chenault Jr., Trey Reynolds, Nate Ritchie
- Bear Bachmeier (BYU QB): 21 of 35, 272 yards, 1 TD, 4 INT; 8 carries, 59 yards
- Legend Glasker (BYU WR, Lehi): 7 catches, 118 yards, 75-yard TD
- Records: Utah 9-0 (6-0 Big 12), 15 straight wins; BYU 7-2 (4-2)
- Series: Utah leads 63-37-4; first Utah win since 2019
- Next: Utah at No. 22 Arizona, Nov. 14; Baylor at BYU, Nov. 14
Get the next story by email
New Utah sports stories, results and athletes to watch, sent to your inbox. Free, and you can unsubscribe any time.
Join the newsletter