No. 8 BYU beat No. 2 Notre Dame 28-24 on Saturday night in Provo, Utah, with quarterback Bear Bachmeier throwing the go-ahead touchdown pass with 1:47 left. The win pushed BYU to 6-0 and immediately reshaped the national conversation around the Cougars’ College Football Playoff outlook.
BYU stopped Notre Dame at the goal line as time expired to seal the victory, ending the Fighting Irish’s 16-game winning streak and dropping them to 6-1. It marked BYU’s first win over Notre Dame since 2004, played in front of 65,179 fans at LaVell Edwards Stadium, the largest crowd there since the Irish’s last visit that same year.
The Decisive Drive
Trailing 24-21 after Jonaz Walton’s 3-yard touchdown run gave Notre Dame the lead with 9:31 remaining, BYU answered with defense first. Jayden Sanders intercepted a Bachmeier pass at the Irish 15-yard line with 8:05 to go, but Notre Dame could not convert the turnover into points.
Bachmeier then directed a 10-play, 55-yard drive that ended with a 6-yard touchdown pass to tight end Walker Lyons, who joined BYU from USC this year. The score gave BYU a 28-24 lead with 1:47 on the clock, setting up Notre Dame’s final chance.
The Irish drove to the BYU 9-yard line with four seconds left, but the Cougars’ defense held at the goal line to close out the win. BYU coach Kalani Sitake, speaking on ABC after the game, credited the pressure his team applied down the stretch. “They wanted some pressure, we gave it to them. And it worked out for us,” Sitake said.
What It Means For BYU’s Playoff Case
BYU started 6-0 for the third straight season, but this win carries different weight given the opponent and the stage. Notre Dame entered the game ranked No. 2 nationally and carrying the nation’s No. 4 scoring defense, allowing just 11 points per game. BYU hung 28 on that unit while Bachmeier accounted for three touchdowns, two on the ground and one through the air, to go with 224 passing yards.
The result also lands amid broader chaos atop the sport. Five of the top eight teams in the AP Top 25 lost on Saturday, including No. 1 Georgia, marking the first time the top two teams in the country lost on the same regular-season day since Nov. 17, 2012. That volatility at the top of the rankings could open room for BYU to climb, though no specific ranking projections have been reported.
BYU has more wins since 2024 than all but one team in college football, a point CBS Sports highlighted in framing the program’s long push for national respect. That history includes criticism over past struggles against AP top-10 opponents, such as two blowout losses to Texas Tech last season, a narrative this win directly challenges.
Context Behind The Matchup
The game came together after Notre Dame’s rivalry with USC fell apart, prompting the Irish to call BYU in the spring to schedule the matchup, according to Yahoo Sports. There was also a personal thread for Bachmeier, who tried to commit to Notre Dame in 2023 before the Irish held out for quarterback Deuce Knight instead.
BYU built a 21-10 halftime lead behind touchdown drives of 75, 75 and 72 yards, with Bachmeier completing 72% of his passes in the first half. Notre Dame cut the deficit to 11 points by the break despite a costly CJ Carr fumble on a spike attempt in the final seconds of the first half, recovered by Isaiah Glasker. It was only the Irish’s second turnover of the season, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Notre Dame clawed back with field goals after a failed BYU fake punt and a muffed punt return gave the Irish short fields. CJ Carr finished 27-for-49 for 261 yards, and Nolan James Jr. ran for 77 yards and a touchdown. A third-quarter touchdown catch by JoJo Phillips was wiped out by a pick penalty on Kyler Kasper, costing Notre Dame a potential 39-yard score.
Team Impact And Program Outlook
BYU’s roster budget trails Notre Dame’s by roughly half, according to figures cited by CBS Sports, a gap that makes Saturday’s result notable beyond the scoreboard. Preston Rex contributed 66 yards on 10 carries to support Bachmeier’s performance. Sitake tempered the celebration afterward.
“This is a big one, we want to celebrate it and be happy. But we need to progress. We still need to get better.
We are a program of loving and learning, about humility and hunger, and we need all of those things to work,” he said. A teammate, Damuni, described the win in personal terms: “It’s one of those moments that you dream of as a kid. Growing up as a BYU fan, you dream of playing in these games and winning these games.
That’s the most fun I’ve ever had playing a college football game.”
What’s Next
BYU’s next major test comes Nov. 7 against fellow unbeaten rival Utah, a game that will carry its own playoff implications if the Cougars remain undefeated. BYU’s path through that stretch will shape how selection committees view the program after this signature win, following its earlier victory over Iowa State behind Bachmeier and its matchup previewed in BYU’s top-10 showdown preview. BYU also still has a meeting on its schedule against TCU, detailed in the Cougars’ preview for that Fort Worth matchup.
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