TUCSON, Arizona — Spunky receiver Parker Kingston said there was never a doubt that No. 18 BYU was going to prevail despite being down 10 points in the fourth quarter against pesky Arizona at soggy Arizona Stadium on Saturday night to cap off an absolutely wacky day of college football nationwide.
Forgive Cougar Nation, the thousands and thousands of BYU fans who braved the elements through a five-plus hour ordeal for not exactly believing him.
But Kingston’s bold and brash belief, emblematic of the kind of culture that head coach Kalani Sitake has got going in Provo, turned out to be on target as the Cougars rallied late to tie the Big 12 game and then win it in the second overtime when UofA quarterback Noah Fifita’s pass fell incomplete in the southeast corner of the end zone.
Final score: BYU 33, Arizona 27
Total time from kickoff to massive BYU celebration: Five hours, 10 minutes.
“What a ball game,” Sitake said.
And what a comeback, as the seemingly left-for-dead Cougars blew an early 14-0 lead, waited through a 74-minute weather delay, lost all the momentum they had and fell behind 24-14 before rallying behind their true freshman quarterback to get to 6-0 for the second straight season, the first time that’s ever been done by a BYU football team.
“We gotta enjoy this, man,” said Sitake, who turned 50 on Friday and got a birthday gift he will never forget. “It was a lot of fun. … I love the way the guys stuck together.”
In front of an announced crowd of 47,960 — about 20,000 stayed to the bitter end — the Cougars (6-0, 3-0) essentially won the game when Bachmeier raced in from the 7-yard line on third-and-4, his eye-popping 22nd carry of the contest.
He had 89 rushing yards, while LJ Martin had a career night — 25 carries for 162 yards and a score — and Kingston eclipsed the 100-yard receiving plateau for the second straight game, finishing with 117 on five catches.
“Outstanding job by the boys up front,” said Bachmeier, joking (maybe) that he would make them all “Rice Krispie squares” for the effort.
Bachmeier’s message in the huddle in the second overtime, after taking the blame for having to settle for a field goal in the first OT: “Let’s go win the game.’”
Kingston’s summation of the emotional roller-coaster experienced by both teams and their fans: “It was awesome. There’s not better feeling than winning, especially on the road in double overtime.”
The final stats were as close as the game. BYU ran 80 plays for 430 yards, while Arizona (4-2, 1-2) ran 79 plays for 383 yards. Both teams went away wondering what might have been, but especially Arizona.
The Wildcats simply got too conservative, and the Cougars pounced.
Arizona coach Brent Brennan got a case of cat scratch fever. He played not to lose, and it cost the second-year coach. He short-armed the potential winning free throw, as it were.
“Things looked bleak,” Sitake said. “The guys kept playing. We are not going to give up until there’s no time left on the clock.”
BYU tied it with 19 seconds left on a 2-yard run by Bachmeier and Will Ferrin’s PAT.
Sitake said he thought about going for two after that TD, and quarterbacks coach Matt Mitchell told Bachmeier to get ready to run one, but the head coach’s assistants — most likely Jay Hill — persuaded him not to.
“Everybody talked me out of it,” Sitake said.
That looked like a questionable decision when Arizona got a touchdown run on its first possession of OT, but the TD was called back by a holding penalty — Siale Esera drew the flag — and had to settle for a field goal.
Ferrin then made a clutch 45-yard field goal in the first OT, after having missed a 42-yarder in the second quarter following the weather delay.
Bachmeier then atoned for some early mistakes, including two interceptions.
“Is there any way you can grow up without throwing interceptions?” Sitake said, when asked if the 19-year-old grew up Saturday night. “That would help, too.”
Bachmeier finished 12 of 29 for 171 yards, and a TD, a pretty pass over the middle that Kingston took 75 yards to the house to give the Cougars a quick 14-0 lead, showing his sprinter speed.
“He plays like a vet,” Kingston said of Bachmeier. “He doesn’t get down. …. (the weather delay) kinda threw us off our rhythm. We just came out slow.”
BYU was controlling the game before the weather delay, which came at 5:50 p.m. local time and just as the second quarter was about to start. BYU’s last weather delay came before kickoff in 2022 at South Florida.
The Cougars had a 14-7 lead at the time, having racked up 171 yards off offense against a defense that was giving up only 244 per game.
The Cougars averaged 10.7 yards per play in the first quarter, but their streak of scoring in 32 straight quarters was broken when they failed to get points in the second quarter, and the third, for that matter.
BYU’s defense was weakened when starting safety Raider Damuni collided with Esera and sustained a blow to his rib cage midway through the first quarter.
Damuni did not return to the game.
The Cougars were also without star linebacker Jack Kelly, who was a game-time decision but did not play.
“If you ask him, he wants to go,” Sitake said in a pregame radio interview. “But we have to do what is right for him and his career.”
When play resumed after a one-hour, 15-minute break for lightning in the area, the Cougars attempted an ill-fated fake punt, and punter Sam Vander Haar was stopped 3 yards short of the line to gain.
Sitake took the blame for the call, saying 4th and nine might be a little too far.
A few plays later, defensive tackle Keanu Tanuvasa was ejected for targeting, and things were going south for the Cougars. However, BYU’s defense stiffened after UofA had a 1st and goal at the 6, and the Wildcats settled for a field goal to trim the deficit to 14-10 with 9:32 left in the first half.
The miscues continued, however, as the Cougars attempted 11 straight running plays to get to the Arizona 24, but saw Ferrin miss a 42-yard field goal in the heavy rain.
One of the 11 running plays was a give to Preston Rex, and he was caught for no gain, putting BYU behind the chains on a drive in which Martin was getting 4-5 yards a carry.
Arizona quickly capitalized, driving yards to take its first lead, 17-14, with :40 remaining in the half. Receiver Chris Hunter got behind backup BYU DB Jayden Dunlap, and Fifita’s 35-yard TD pass was pure.
“Not a great second quarter. … We gotta be more physical on both sides,” Sitake said as he headed to the locker room for the 12-minute halftime break.
Suffice it to say the third quarter was wild and crazy, even absurd at times in terms of the officiating. But neither team scored in the 15 minutes, and Arizona took its 17-14 lead into the fourth quarter.
Arizona took the second half kickoff and took 7:47 off the clock, running 14 plays, but came away with no points. The drive was prolonged by a questionable roughing-the-passer penalty on Isaiah Glasker, who actually ended the drive with an interception inside the 5 yard line on fourth-and-3.
“We had trust in the guys who stepped in,” said Esera, who had a career-high 16 tackles in the absence of Kelly.
After an exchange of punts in the third quarter, BYU looked OK and possibly driving for a tying or go-ahead score. But that’s when Bachmeier made perhaps the most costly mistake of his young career. His late throw over the middle after gathering a bad snap over his head was picked off by Arizona’s Dalton Johnson.
The Wildcats then drove 74 yards in 10 plays to make it a two-score game, the touchdown coming on a 4th-and-inches play when Kedrick Reescano broke Esera’s tackle and sprinted 35 yards to the end zone.
The Cougars answered, but the drive took its toll — on the clock. BYU drove 69 yards in 15 plays, took 7:06 off the clock — way too much time — and settled for a 24-yard field goal that cut the deficit to 24-17 with 4:08 remaining.
The Cougars got the ball back with 2:55 remaining — Arizona coach Brent Brennan got way too conservative — and drove 47 yards to tie it up and force overtime.
“I feel like that was a good game for us,” Sitake said. “We needed this type of game. We just welcome adversity right now. … It was one of those games where we made one more play than they did, and we are really fortunate and thankful that we got the win.”
Like there was ever a doubt. Just ask Parker Kingston.