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BYU president Shane Reese crowd surfs after the Cougars' 24-21 victory against rival Utah at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

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Here’s what’s going on inside Darnell’s head as I check my bank account to see if I can help BYU pay the Big 12 fine for the fans rushing the field after beating Utah on Saturday.

Nope. Just had to pay for a new car battery and I need to get my back fence fixed after that wind storm last week.

I’m tapped out.

I find it pretty funny reading social media posts by the “Rushing the Field Police.”

Were you never in college?

Rushing the field has less to do with the magnitude of the game (though, as a higher ranked team, BYU was a 3.5-point underdog to Utah on Saturday) and more to do with it’s fun and crazy and something you can share with 60,000 of your closest friends.

I’ll never forget the time I was walking across the field after a BYU win (in my capacity as a journalist, of course) and the fans rushed the field. Suddenly, somebody jumped on my back.

It was my teenage son, Devin, having the time of his life.

And did anybody see BYU president Shane Reese crowd surfing after the fans rushed the field on Saturday? If it’s good enough for him …

I heard there’s a Cougar booster (the Crumbl CEO, apparently) who is willing to cough up the 50K to the Big 12 for the fine. There is also a waiver possibility if the Big 12 deems the school did what it could to prevent the field storming. The PA announcer did repeat the warning not to storm the field several times and I did see some BYU staffers unreeling a rope along the northwest side of the stadium to slow down rushers, so we’ll see.

Now it’s time for Perfectly Rational Overreactions (PROs).

PRO No. 1: Freshman Bear Bachmeier has achieved legend status just seven games into his career.

Frankly, the only comparisons I can come up with are Ty Detmer in 1991 and Jimmer Fredette in 2010. But neither of those guys were freshmen. To think Bachmeier was a high school senior last fall, playing for good old Murietta Valley High, is just insane. When he did the “Taysom Hill leap” over the Utes Jackson Bennee in the first half, he was just warming up. The play that keeps getting replayed over and over again is his 22-yard touchdown run where he runs through a half-dozen Ute defenders and drags Benne into the end zone. But just moments before, the 230-pound Bachmeier escaped a sure sack and managed to avoid a big loss by throwing the ball away. He was hit hard by Utah linebacker and team captain Lander Barton, who was rightfully ejected for spearing.

After the game, Bachmeier simply said, “I was like, ‘I need to go make a play.'”

So he did.

I mean, those three unforgettable plays were just in ONE GAME. Bachmeier keeps doing this. Clearly, the coaching staff believes the best way to win is to put the ball in the hands of their freshman quarterback when the game is on the line. And he keeps coming through for them.

PRO No. 2: Following the analytics blindly is dumb.

Utah’s Kyle Whittingham said that he followed the analytics and went for it three times on fourth down instead of kicking field goals on Saturday. The Utes came up empty each time. BYU’s Kalani Sitake said he knew the analytics dictated he should kick a field goal late in the game but he decided he didn’t want to and went for it. Didn’t make it.

Why do college coaches hate field goals so much?

I can see good arguments that Whittingham should have kicked the field goals. That’s nine points instead of zero in a very closely contested rivalry game. Easy after the fact, right? I’m sure Whittingham believed his offense could pick up first downs on those plays. BYU’s defense just played better in those situations. And they needed to. I mean, the Cougars gave up nearly 500 yards (470) of offense. Those fourth-down stops were enormous plays in the game.

As for Sitake, yes, kick the field goal next time. Your welcome.

PRO No. 3: Big 12 officials do not understand what pass interference is.

Clearly, neither do I. Because I think a defender has a right to make a play on the ball and when the receiver grabs or pushes him, that shouldn’t be pass interference on the defense. Or when a player falls down then reaches up to grab a receiver so he can’t get the ball, that SHOULD be pass interference. Here’s the deal: Pass interference is very much a subjective play that isn’t reviewable in college football. You either get it right when it happens or you get it wrong and there’s nothing that can be done. Look, lots of college football teams play very handsy defense against receivers and Utah is very, very good at it. The theory is that if you grab and hold every play, the officials won’t call it every time. Same thing happens on the offensive line, where a hold could be literally called every play. The key to being a good official is knowing when holding crosses the line and that’s really, really hard to do. Clearly. And it’s not just a Big 12 official problem, it’s a college football problem.

And finally, PRO No. 4: BYU is destined to win the Big 12 and make the college football playoffs.

BYU fans would much rather see two or three touchdown margins of victory in every game but that’s not the Cougars this year. Three of BYU’s past three wins have been by single digits.

They do good things (mainly by Bachmeier, LJ Martin and Chase Roberts on offense and Jack Kelly, Evan Johnson and Isaiah Glasker on defense). Then they do bad things like dropping passes, picking up dumb penalties, forgetting to cover receivers and missing tackles.

But there is something about this team that allows them to make big plays when it matters. And that has carried them to a 7-0 record. The trick is figuring out how to not let the emotional toll of the rivalry spill into the rest of the season. Remember, BYU beat Utah last year and then prompty lost its next two games.

Who Carried the Boats and the Logs?

I feel like I should choose Bachmeier, but that’s too easy. I mean, he’s carrying airliners and redwoods every game. This week, I want to give it up to the BYU offensive line. I’ve given them some grief for much of the season but the Cougars needed to be able to run the ball against the Utes to get the win and they did that (202 yards, 4.8 yards per carry). Not only was Bachmeier effective as a runner but Martin went over 100 yards as well. And there is a cumulative effect on the Utah pass rush. They had to respect the run and couldn’t tee off every time to head hunt Bachmeier.

Making his way

The past two weeks — with senior Raider Damuni shelved by injury — sophomore safety Faletua Satuala has been in absolute beast mode. He’s logged 23 tackles in those two games, 12 against the Utes. The guys is turning into a star right before our eyes.

More crosswalk dancing

I mentioned last week that I witnessed one of the BYU fire dancers making his way across a street in Provo doing his routine. This week while driving to BYU volleyball I saw an obvious Ute fan flashed the “U” hand signal at every car as he traversed the crosswalk.

Joke’s on him.

By the way, who was the genius who scheduled a BYU women’s volleyball match AND and a BYU women’s soccer match on same night in October? Between two sports events and BYU students, I had to park at old Provo High and hoof it over to the Smith Fieldhouse.

While I’m whining, I think BYU should take some of that Big 12 money and buy the proper chairs for their cameramen at Cougar volleyball games. There are two guys who sit directly in front of the media spots on press row. The problem is they sit in regular chairs and block our view pretty effectively. I’ve been to NCAA events where the cameramen sit in specially made chairs that are just a few feet off the ground.

Look into it, Brian.

That’s all for now, but for this: Five stars leaves no room to reward players who go the extra mile.

Think about it.

Have a great week and try not to gloat too much about BYU’s victory against Utah. Be like Kalani.