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BYU's Mory Bamba recovers the football after a Cougar punt in a Big 12 game against Iowa State at Ames, Iowa, on Saturday, Oct. 25, 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 congratulate BYU fans: You are cheering for a Top 10 college basketball team AND a Top 10 college football team right now.

I mean, you’re paying for it from your wallet with $90 single game basket tickets (at the Delta Center) and $8 donuts (Cougar Tails), but still …

Kevin Young’s Cougar basketball team checked in at No. 8 in the preseason AP poll. With an extremely challenging non-conference schedule that includes Villanova, UConn, Wisconsin and Clemson, it will be difficult to stay there, but it’s a terrific place to start.

As for the football team, which checked in as No. 10 in Sunday’s AP poll, I can tell you this: If you want to beat BYU, you’d better come ready to play all 60 minutes, because that’s what it’s going to take to beat them.

Iowa State likely couldn’t have played better than it did in the first 28 minutes on Saturday Most of their early game plan worked to perfection, including a 75-yard touchdown pass on the game’s first play born of watching two weeks worth of film during their bye.

The Cyclones had to feel pretty good about a 24-10 lead. The Cougars looked pretty cooked. Then BYU made a clutch drive in the final moments of the first half resulting in a touchdown pass from Bear Bachmeier to Parker Kingston to trim the deficit to 24-17.

From that point on, the Cougars dominated the game.

Credit goes to a lot of people, from head coach Kalani Sitake all the way to the grad assistants. Everyone will be talking about “halftime adjustments” but the critical work with this team took place in spring, offseason, fall camp and the week leading up to the game.

The kind of toughness it takes to beat Iowa State in that game  — not just physical toughness, but mental toughness as well — isn’t something that just appears. It’s built over time.

BYU dipped into the reservoir of toughness against Iowa State. The Cougars did the same in close wins against Colorado, Arizona and Utah.

They’ll need to keep accessing that toughness over the final four games, but who says they can’t?

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

PRO No. 1: Saturday was the greatest comeback in BYU history.

With all due respect to the Holiday Bowl Miracle and LaVell Edwards final coaching victory (the Cougars trailed Utah by 16 points in that one), BYU’s 41-27 victory at Iowa State after trailing 24-10 might be the greatest comeback in school history.

The Cougars trailed by 20 in the fourth quarter of the Holiday Bowl and McMahon to Brown is a college football classic, but in the end it was just a bowl game. Edwards’ last win was a very emotional moment for BYU fans. But Saturday was a game that meant more because it has national implications.

There, I said it.

The win kept the Cougars undefeated and as a member of the Big 12, that means something. There’s simply more at stake as every week progresses. That’s what makes this comeback one for the ages.

PRO No. 2: BYU coaches made incredible adjustments at halftime.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall, right? What led to a 24-3 finish? I would contend the comeback really started on the final drive of the second quarter, cutting a 24-10 deficit to 24-17 at halftime. That BYU trailed by just seven at half was a miracle in itself because the Cougars were getting dominated by Iowa State, especially at the line of scrimmage.

So that final drive gave BYU some belief headed into halftime. The Cougar coaches only have a few minutes in the locker room to work with so they couldn’t make a ton of changes. It’s more likely they went over some points of emphasis that focused the players more on their 1/11th and less on the scoreboard. We often hear about players going outside their responsibilities when things go haywire, and getting them back on the game plan is usually the right move.

PRO No. 3: BYU is the luckiest team in college football.

I’m seeing this a lot on social media (mostly Iowa State and Utah fans) and I’ve got to say that’s a massive coping mechanism. There are generally 130-150 plays from scrimmage in a college football game and every one of them impacts the final score. To pick out one of two key ones is to ignore everything that when on before. Besides, even if you acknowledge that the Cougars did get some breaks (they did) you also have to recognize all they had to overcome: Giving up a a long touchdown on the first play of the game, losing its engine and top running back LJ Martin after just one quarter, falling behind by two touchdowns, all of it. It’s never about what happened, it’s about what you’re going to do about it.

And finally, PRO No. 4: BYU is a legitimate CFP contender.

The first College Football Playoff rankings come out Nov. 4, and since BYU is 8-0 and has a bye, it will obviously be somewhere on the list. If you remember, the Cougars were 8-0 last season and No. 9 in the first CFP rankings. Busting through and actually making the CFP will take a monumental effort with Texas Tech, TCU, Cincinnati and UCF left on the schedule, but this is where you want to be, right? You win and you control your own destiny. More and more, this looks like a team that can get it done.

Who Carried the Boats and the Logs?

Every time I think I’ve seen everything from Bachmeier, he does something else that simply amazes me. I’m pretty sure part of Iowa State’s game plan was “stop the run game and force the freshman quarterback to beat us through the air” and when Martin went out to start the second quarter, the Cyclone defensive coaches had to be rubbing their hands together with glee.

All Bachmeier did was log his second 300-yard passing game, continuing finding Parker Kingston and Chase Roberts for big gains. Give credit to the offensive line for keeping Bachmeier pretty clean in the pocket despite not having the threat of Martin running the ball.

Honorable mention to sophomore safety Faletau Satuala, who gave up the first Iowa State touchdown but got his revenge with 10 tackles and the clinching pick-six in the fourth quarter.

Chill out, bro

I wrote a story on mental health during BYU-Utah week. Riley Jensen, who is a mental health professional and former college quarterback, told me one of the best bits of advice he can pass on is to be “less offensive and less offended.”

Sounds good to me.

That’s how they get you

Remind me never to look for car insurance on the internet again. My phone has been ringing non-stop ever since and I chose a new carrier like five days ago.

Nodding in agreement

At the Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, there is an official BYU-Utah Rivalry bobblehead, featuring the mascots, Cosmo and Swoop. That’ll set you back $50 plus shipping.

The rivalry has finally made it.

That’s all for now, but for this: Lost a really good neighbor and friend this week in Wayne Scholle. He was one of those guys that was always up for a discussion about BYU sports and I never minded when he came up to talk to me between meetings at church. Plus, when my wife and I were ward activities coordinators, he stepped up to play Santa Claus at our Christmas Party when someone else fell through.

Have a really amazing week and be kind to someone. You’ll like how it feels.