3 takeaways from Utah’s rivalry game victory over BYU

As usual, the expected happened Saturday morning and early afternoon at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City. That is, if the expected was to expect the unexpected.

After Utah jumped out to a 14-0 start with a couple explosive plays, BYU responded by racking up a 20-point run of its own, but it was not enough as Utah retook the lead and held on for a 28-20 victory.

BYU turned the Utes over twice off a couple of fumble recoveries, but four interceptions thrown by Bear Bachmeier led to the Cougars’ demise, despite 272 passing yards by the sophomore quarterback.

On the Utah side, Wayshawn Parker had a quiet day with only 42 rushing yards, but the arm and legs of Devon Dampier were the story as he recorded passing, rushing and receiving yards on the game.

Day or night, BYU vs. Utah always delivers — and gets noisy

It was Breakfast at Rice-Eccles this year instead of its usual nighttime environment, but the Utah crowd came hungry for some football.

On the first play of BYU’s opening drive the Cougars were hit with a false start penalty, which led to a three-and-out with the Cougars punting the ball back to the Utes, who scored the second of their first-quarter TDs to go up 14-0.

On the Cougars’ next drive, BYU advanced to the red zone and was about to quarterback sneak on fourth down before a delay-of-game penalty pushed Bachmeier and company back, resulting in a field goal to put the Cougars on the board down 14-3. No doubt the Utah noise was a factor in the penalties to start the game.

The Cougars ended up settling in as they built off the three points to make it 20 unanswered.

But, in a game that had plenty of excitement, the Ute defense answered the call in the most opportune moments to abruptly change momentum and ultimately secure the win. On top of the three interceptions in the second half, including two at the goal line, the Utes kept Bear Bachmeier and the Cougars from scoring any second-half points.

Following the game, the Utah crowd that had arrived plenty early for the game could not be contained any longer, and following the knee from Dampier, the field was was swiftly flooded with red.

Dampier’s skillset was on full display

After two drives totaling seven plays with 110 passing yards for Dampier, the offense became a little quiet after a dropped pass by Braden Pegan that would have moved the chains for the Utes.

However, in the second half, Dampier turned it on.

The quarterback finished the game as Utah’s top rusher as the Cougar defense time and again failed to bring the slippery quarterback to the ground as he kept escaping for large gains.

One rush ultimately set up a beautifully-placed corner throw caught by Braden Pegan as he fell into the back pylon to retake the lead 21-20.

#GoUtes | #RSNB | 📺 ABC https://t.co/k3C864j6Z3pic.twitter.com/D5zYtlNWlr

— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) November 7, 2026

Dampier even had a stellar catch of his own as he lined up against Raider Damuni one-on-one and made the play after a flee flicker thrown by wide receiver Creed Whittemore. The quarterback caught the ball well above his head to record the catch for 29 yards.

Devon Dampier, are you serious?!

What a catch from the QB 😱 pic.twitter.com/rXEEZFR9qw

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 7, 2026

The only downer to his highlight catch for Utah was the missed field goal to end the drive.

The Utah signal caller ended the game with 111 yards rushing, 177 yards through the air and a 29-yard reception. BYU was able to make him uncomfortable at times, but ultimately his playmaking ability shined as he accounted for two passing touchdowns and two on the ground.

Perhaps Dampier will capture more of a spotlight from the national media after his performance against his rival.

Takeaways were the X factor

Entering the game, turnovers were discussed as something that factor into the outcome, and they did. In a game that is so often decided by thin margins, any extra possession for your offense can shift the tide and lift your team.

Utah was the first to find that out when Dampier completed a pass to Braden Pegan who was stripped by Tommy Prassas and with ball being recovered by Trey Alexander, setting up the BYU offense at midfield.

Eight plays later, BYU running back LJ Martin, who returned from an ankle injury, found himself in the end zone to shift the score in favor of the Cougars, 20-14.

BYU forced the next turnover with 1:17 left in the half with an opportunity to score and receive the ball in the second half. But Utah’s James Chenault Jr. negated the turnover and gave his offense the ball again after nearly bobbling away a poorly-thrown ball from Bachmeier to save the Utes from falling in a two-score hole at halftime.

From there, the Utah defense played a stellar second half by taking the ball away at opportune times, including a goal-line interception as the Cougars were on the 2-yard line looking to score. Bachmeier saw Kyler Kasper in the end zone, however, he did not see Utah linebacker Trey Reynolds, who dropped into coverage and came up with the timely and crucial interception.

#GoUtes | #RSNB | 📺 ABC https://t.co/gaNTstRo1ppic.twitter.com/6eHCaRUPOY

— Utah Football (@Utah_Football) November 7, 2026

Bachmeier had another opportunity for a tie and redemption as BYU got the ball back with 54 seconds left, but after barely scraping by for a first down, the quarterback tried for Kasper in the end zone again but was easily picked off for the fourth interception thrown by the quarterback in blue.

The pick was a fitting ending to the game as Utah doubled BYU’s takeaways to make the difference.

Advertisement