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BYU's Isaiah Glasker (left) and Tausili Akana pull down TCU's Major Everhart in a Big 12 football game at Fort Worth, Texas on Saturday, October 3, 2026.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald

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Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

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Here’s what’s going on inside Darnell’s head as I really, truly hope I’ve mowed my lawn for the last time this fall. Doing the front and the back on Saturday morning before general conference, to be honest, kicked my butt.

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

PRO No. 1: It’s time to panic.

Boy, we are hard to please, aren’t we? BYU is 4-0 and won a road game with toughness and defense. Nothing wrong with that, right? Every season has games where you’ve got to figure out a way to overcome adversity.

Coaches will tell you wins are never to be taken for granted, but that’s not what we’re doing, is it? We’re looking at an offense that can’t move the ball consistently and a glut of injuries to key players heading into a pretty important point in the season.

In 12 days BYU is going to be hosting Notre Dame. As currently constituted, do you have a really strong belief that the Cougars can beat the Irish? Coaches and players won’t be looking past Iowa State on Friday, but Notre Dame is a huge game. If BYU isn’t full strength …

PRO No. 2: The offense is broken.

The references to “wet footballs” and “rainy, damp weather” are just crutches. TCU played in the same conditions and didn’t seem to have as much trouble throwing downfield.

I’m not an offensive coordinator but let’s be real: BYU attacking the perimeter early against TCU’s speed and barely using LJ Martin before he was injured was perplexing. Now Martin is out, at least for the time being.

We came into this season wondering if the new group of receivers could step up and for the first three games it looked like they would. But they were not a factor on Saturday. If the receivers effectiveness is tied so heavily to Martin and the run game, what now?

Don’t forget the offensive line, either. They were dreadful in terms of penalties and seemed to miss a lot of assignments against the Horned Frogs. Kalani Sitake referred to possible disconcerting signals from the TCU defense (sound familiar, Utes?) that led to the procedure penalties.

All I know is the offense put together one good drive in a 60-minute game and that is concerning.

PRO No. 3: Bear Bachmeier has regressed as a passer.

I was honestly surprised when I went back and looked at his first four games as a freshman compared to the first four games this season because the numbers are remarkably similar in almost every category.

But the past couple of games have produced a quarterback rating of 56.2 and 44.6, respectively. Bachmeier seems unsure of what he’s seeing in coverages at times and has not been the accurate passer we were told he was in fall camp.

No one needs to tell me BYU wouldn’t have won the game on Saturday if not for Bachmeier. He’s a gamer and stepped up big-time on the final drive.

But I’m just not seeing a huge leap from last season.

You can point to a new group of receivers and difficulty gripping the ball in the rain against TCU as factors if you want, but the trend I’m seeing is more of the same.

That’s not awful, because he was pretty good as a freshman. But If Martin is out for any extended amount of time, the receivers continue to struggle to get open and the offensive line doesn’t sharpen up, that’s a lot Bachmeier’s shoulders.

And finally, PRO No. 4: BYU is not a Top 10 team.

The Cougars blasted Colorado State and dropped a spot in the Associated Press poll (from No. 9 to No. 10), then barely beat TCU and moved up two spots to No. 8 this week. So it’s not as if the polls really make a whole lot of sense these days and you use it as a measuring stick at your own risk.

However, after Saturday’s game I would say I believe BYU has a Top 10 defense but not a Top 10 offense. How far can that take them? Do you still believe this team can win the Big 12 Conference? A lot of questions remain in the final eight regular-season games (and possibly beyond).

Who Carried the Boats and the Logs?

It would see that Bachmeier is the obvious choice but I want to give it to the youngsters who came in to replace some pretty key starters in this game. On offense it would be freshman Journee Tonga and Preston Rex at running back and Bott Mulitalo and Siosiua Latu-Finau at tackle. They had some rough moments but they got the job done.

On defense it would be linebackers Jake Clifton and Braxton Lindsey and defensive end Kendal Wall, who all made key plays. If the injuries are serious these players will be called up more and more as the season goes on and they showed on Saturday they are up for the task.

Sing along

It happens all the time: I’m covering a high school or college athletic event, a song from 40 or 50 years ago comes on the PA system and the students start singing it word for word.

That this generation knows all the words to ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” (which came out in 1976) just makes me smile.

Finding their game

Rob Neilson took on a pretty big challenge when he replaced Heather Olmstead as the BYU women’s volleyball head coach. Olmstead had been incredibly successful in her tenure and there were some tough moments over the spring and summer as Neilson implemented his system.

The Cougars are 11-1 (3-0 in the Big 12) after sweeping No. 19 Kansas on the road on Friday, even though returning All-American middle blocker Brielle Kemavor hasn’t played yet recovering from offseason surgery. Neilson has made some brilliant moves: Moving to a 6-2 with terrific setters in Alex Bower and Kaylie Kofe; moving Elli Mortensen from a back row passer to an outside hitter; utilizing high-flying freshman Brooke Hardy in the middle and picking up KJ Burgess (now the nation’s No. 1 blocker) in the transfer portal.

Looks like a genius so far.

Memories

Orem High honored its 1996 football team at halftime of the Tigers’ game with Pleasant Grove on Friday. Former head coach Paul Clark was there and he was always good to me when I was a young reporter. I know I’ve probably written this a couple of times in this column but he once gave me maybe the best quote I’ve ever gotten from a coach.

Orem had just lost a first-round playoff game at home and I was looking to talk to Clark for my story. I had to wander around the catacombs under the old gym (real ones know what I’m talking about) before I finally found him.

I asked Clark what went wrong in the game and he stated, “It was breakdown from the head coach all the way to the water boy.”

Get off my lawn

What happened to $2 hot dogs and $1 drinks at high school football games? Now they’re bringing in food trucks that charge $15 for three chicken fingers and cold fries.

That’s all for now, but for this: Way too often these days I’ll get “room amnesia,” which is walking purposefully into a room, stopping dead in my tracks and standing there like a confused NPC (non-player character) in a video game because I forgot why I came.

Well, I’m not giving up yet. Tomorrow is another day. Have a great week and remember to be kind because it costs you nothing.