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BYU freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier takes a photo with Cougar fans after a 34-13 victory at East Carolina on Saturday, Sept. 20, 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 contemplate the future of an AP Top 25 BYU football team, finally.

If Saturday’s 34-13 win at East Carolina had you worried for a while, especially in the first half, well, get used to it.

Once again defense and special teams had to carry the Cougars until the offense finally found its mojo in the second half. Jay Hill’s defense was pretty spectacular until fatigue set in during the fourth quarter and special teams was terrific aside from a long return allowed on the opening kickoff.

The offense sputtered and shot itself in the foot plenty in the first half, managing just two field goals. The defense scored a touchdown on Evan Johnson’s stunning pick six right before halftime for a 13-3 lead at the break.

In the second half, freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier shredded the East Carolina secondary like tissue paper, leading the Cougars on three impressive touchdown drives.

You can look at Bachmeier adjusting to his first road start, or offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick finally finding some play calling rhythm, or maybe BYU’s superior size finally wearing out the Pirates defense as the reason things picked up in the second half.

Just understand that this is where the Cougars are at three games into the season. The defense is very, very good. Special teams is very, very good.

The offense? Well, still very much a work in progress.

Next week, a trip to Colorado starts the Big 12 gauntlet. BYU’s success in those nine games will depend on how well the offense continues to improve.

Strong defense and special teams, is a good formula for winning games. But you’re going to need a consistent offense to win big games.

Now it’s time for Perfectly Rational Overreactions (PROs) from BYU’s victory against East Carolina.

PRO No. 1: The BYU offensive line has a problem with holding.

At least the Cougars were equal opportunity foulers: The offense was hit with five penalties for 50 yards and the defense five penalties for 52 yards. Tackle Isaiah Jatta was tabbed twice for holding and tight end Keayen Nead got the other one. Tackle Andrew Gentry was also flagged for a personal foul (hands to the face).

Of course, if you ask BYU fans, the officials missed a dozen holding calls on East Carolina.

LJ Martin has three straight 100-yard rushing games but the Cougars gave up eight tackles for loss against ECU, and that’s not very good. Bachmeier wasn’t sacked, so that’s a plus. I felt like it was kind of an uneven performance by the offensive line but give some credit to East Carolina’s defense for creating some havoc.

PRO No. 2: Bear Bachmeier is a second half quarterback.

Yeah, I know, he didn’t play in the second half of the opener against Portland State, but you know what I’m saying. In the first three games, Bachmeier has finished much stronger than he started. On Saturday, Bachmeier was 9 of 11 passing in the second half and at one point completed seven in a row. He was throwing absolute dimes and the Cougars were moving with ease. Roderick’s play calling was pretty conservative in the first half but I thought he was much more aggressive in the second. ECU was run blitzing and stacking the line to stop BYU’s run game and the Cougars finally took advantage of that in the second half. We’ve heard a lot about how smart Bachmeier is and he’s proving he’s learning as the game goes on.

PRO No. 3: The BYU defense is elite and will dominate all season.

Yeah, the Cougars are pretty good on that side of the ball with playmakers and depth all over. To nitpick, BYU allowed too many third-and-long conversions against ECU and was fatigued in the second half. The Pirates managed a 97-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter where the Cougars missed a bunch of tackles.

Look, BYU’s defense faced 77 plays including ECU drives of 12, 14 and 14 plays, and another one of nine plays. Those 49 plays yielded just 10 points. Considering how much the offense sputtered in the first half, the Cougars can live with that. As for dominating all season, that depend on health and how much the offense improves.

Finally, PRO No. 4: The Cougars are the top contender for the Big 12 title.

I’m willing to say BYU is ONE of the contenders. After watching Texas Tech (4-0) dismantle Utah (3-1) in Salt Lake City, the Red Raiders are the frontrunner right now. They are, as they say in Utah “the rill dill.”

Iowa State (4-0) and TCU (3-0) have impressed me. Arizona could be trouble (3-0), same with Kansas (3-1) and Arizona State (3-1). Heck, even upstarts like Houston (3-0) and UCF (3-0) could make a run in this crazy league. The thing is, the Cougars offense has to continue to grow and start putting pressure on the opposing defense in the first half. Watching the Texas Tech-Utah game shows that eventually your defense is going to wear down if the offense can’t get things done. That’s what happened to the Utes on Saturday.

Who Carried the Boats and the Logs?

The guy they call “Shmev” is a pretty cool success story for the Cougars. Evan Johnson was a three-star recruit out of California and didn’t make an immediate impact in Provo. He’s a redshirt junior, which means this is his fourth year in the program. He was patient and played behind one of BYU’s all-time greats in Jakob Robinson. Johnson’s first interception against East Carolina saved a touchdown and his second put the first touchdown on the board. How much more can a DB affect the game?

I wrote on X last night, “Evan Johnson is so good that if he was at the University of Utah, Kyle Whittingham would play him on offense.”

Real ones know.

Hold onto my wallet

I hate to be grumpy old man, but I took my son to a local gourmet burger establishment for his birthday last week (I won’t mention the joint but it does have initials you’d recognize) and paid $53 for two burgers, two fries and two shakes.

Seriously? Are they importing the ingredients from Tibet?

What’s more, we went to another fine local restaurant (you know the one) later in the week and got two dinners with steak, ribs, all-you-can-eat rolls and four sides for $10 less.

The world has officially gone insane.

That’s a fact

Every week I write up something we call “Five True Facts” about BYU football’s upcoming opponent. Somehow, I missed the fact that a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the appropriately named Dr. Nephi Moroni Jorgensen) was the first athletic director at East Carolina and started the football program there.

A 2016 story in the Deseret News indicated that from 1947 to 1997 there was “an unbroken time when there was either a Jorgensen on the faculty or as a student” at ECU.

I wonder when they ran out of Book of Mormon names for his descendants.

Out of my way

Hello, Angry Old Man here again: This is a message to all high school athletic directors.

Could you do us working stiffs a favor and clean up the sidelines at your football games? There were about 100 people on the sidelines at Thursday’s Lehi at Skyridge matchup that had no credentials and no legit reason for being there. I saw a few of them bring folding chairs to sit on and one family actually put down a blanket to eat dinner at halftime like it was a picnic area.

It has to be some kind of safety issue and it’s difficult to find a place to shoot photos and cover the game when you’re dodging so many civilians.

That’s all for now, but for this: My wife sent me a text that read, “Your great.” I responded with, “No, you’re great.” She’s been walking around smiling all day, Should I tell her I was just correcting her grammar?

Have a terrific week and make sure to get out to see the leaves as they change to fall colors. It goes by pretty fast.