Somewhere, wherever they all are, on God’s green earth or up there, out there on the green turf in the Great Beyond, LaVell Edwards, Doug Scovil, Ted Tollner, Mike Holmgren, Norm Chow are smiling. Edwards, of course, never smiled, not even when BYU won. But he might have let a grin slip out on Saturday afternoon in Ames, Iowa.
Here’s why …
A whole lot of people thought BYU had had its run of fun, its run of good fortune, its run of tight wins, its run of ground-and-pound football, and that Iowa State, playing at home, would put an end to so much running at Jack Trice Stadium.
Those guesses were right on the one count, oh-so wrong on all the others.
The Cougars had averaged 232.9 rushing yards a game, and only 203.9 passing yards. Not exactly LaVell’s — nor any of his offensive lieutenants’ — preferred way of winning. Those guys had to have the ball primarily spinning through the air to give their teams a chance, so they ordered it up and let it fly.
And that’s what the Cougars did — had to do — for their eighth straight victory this season against no losses, beating the Cyclones, 41-27, and leaving all those who doubted them in a fog of befuddlement, not in a cloud of dust, three yards or otherwise.
BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier sends a pass downfield against Iowa State during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Ames, Iowa. (AP Photo/Matthew Putney)
“It’s a beautiful thing,” Kalani Sitake said.
After a start on Saturday that wasn’t so beautiful, that looked as though BYU — in the wake of all the talk about not repeating this season what happened last year, namely, a hangover and a crushing letdown loss following an emotional win over Utah — was on its way to suffering its first defeat, the Cougars found that former familiar method to reverse their negative flow.
They aired it out. They did it the old way. Via the pass.
They had no choice.
Bear Bachmeier, then, for one afternoon at least, fell in line with the guys who had gone long before, hurlers named Sheide and Nielsen and Wilson and McMahon and Young and Bosco and Detmer, not because he wanted to, rather it was required of him.
After his defense gave up a 75-yard touchdown throw on the game’s initial play, and BYU fell behind by 14 points in the first half, and even worse, after blue-ribbon running back LJ Martin got knocked out of the game with a dinged shoulder, the Cougars were dead in the water, or in a cornfield. Was it heaven? No, it was a hellish kind of Iowa. So it seemed.
It was not what it seemed.
BYU’s coaches, both on defense and offense, who were badly out-coached through most of the first 30 minutes by Iowa State’s guys, flipped the script in the second 30, recognizing what needed to be done and properly trusting their players to execute all of it, most of it, anyway.
“They had a great game plan,” Sitake said. “They made things really difficult for us.”
Said defensive end Logan Lutui: “Before this game, we had our mind set on just being us, being able to play our football. That’s what we didn’t do at the beginning of the game for whatever reason. I’m glad we were able to flip the switch. … and be able to play our ball.”
On the defensive side, BYU still had some troubles, yielding 152 yards and two touchdowns to Cyclone running back Carson Hansen. Quarterback Rocco Becht threw for 311 yards. That was Iowa State’s good news.
“The biggest thing [defensive coordinator] Jay Hill pushed on us was to be more physical,” said safety Faletau Satuala, who later made a huge play. “They were real physical in the first half and coach Hill came in and told us, ‘If you want to win this game, you’ve got to be more physical.’ That was the biggest adjustment.”
It worked.
Going the other way, more bad news for the Cyclones was that the Cougars pretty much abandoned the run, except for when Bachmeier churned forward, and turned what had been a forgettable mess into a most memorable affair. That defense, after appearing embarrassingly porous in the early going, transformed into a problem the Cyclones and especially Becht couldn’t solve. The normally stellar QB threw three interceptions, gifting BYU momentum and killing any shot Iowa State had of keeping up with the Cougars. Another turnover, a bouncing punt that got unwittingly toe’d by a Cyclone player, hurt the home team even more.
“Every moment we had the opportunity to kind of break this thing open, we kept them in the football game,” said Iowa State coach Matt Campbell. Realizing that might sound a bit like “we blew it, they didn’t win it,” the coach said, “Unfortunately, you can’t do that against a real good football team.”
In the midst of all that, those who had wondered whether BYU’s freshman quarterback could win a game, if called upon, on the strength of his eyes, his mind and his arm, saw what they saw — a QB who could.
All told, the Cougars, without Martin through most of the game, ran for a mere 103 yards, Bachmeier getting nearly half of them. He passed for 307 yards and two TDs, no interceptions, and with the boost from his friends on the other side of the ball, which included a pick-6 by Satuala, Bachmeier delivered the victory. He delivered it to Parker Kingston (7 catches, 133 yards, 2 touchdowns) and Chase Roberts (8 and 128). His offensive line sealed off Iowa State pressure that earlier had seeped through and unsettled the rookie.
(Matthew Putney | AP) BYU running back LJ Martin (4) runs in a touchdown against Iowa State during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Ames, Iowa.
The more he threw the ball, the more settled he became.
It was contagious. The more settled he became, the better the defense played.
It was like watching a puzzle come together, piece by piece.
“That guy’s a competitor, he’s a winner,” Lutui said. “He’s the right man to head this team.”
Added Satuala: “That dude is tough.”
“Bear Bachmeier has improved every week,” Sitake said. “He’s gotten better.”
On account of that, what this game proved, again, is that BYU is not some lucky bunch that has built its unbeaten streak and status on beating lesser teams in advantageous circumstances. The Cougars just might be the threat they’ll need to be in order to face down the Big 12 challenges that lie ahead, particularly those that await on the road.
Roberts said something only dangerous teams can claim: “We battle adversity. We never feel like we’re out of it, even if we’re down a couple of touchdowns. … We knew we were going to pull out with a win. … We knew we had to make plays.”
Lutui put it this way: “We’re a team that knows how to win. It comes back to our culture, to our brotherhood, to the unity that we have. … No matter what happens, we know we can trust each other. The offense kept us in the game that whole first half; we knew as a defense, once we stepped it up, we’d start running the score up.”
Roberts agreed, saying: “We just go win games.”
So, they do. Enough to crease upward the face of the legendary coach who built the program, wherever he is.