BYU football is the surprise story of 2025 – so far.
Armed with a true-freshman quarterback, the Cougars are 7-0 and ranked No. 11 in the country. Ahead of Saturday’s game at Iowa State (1:30 p.m., FOX), BYU is now the team to beat in the Big 12 and has the best odds to reach the College Football Playoff.
Winning keeps the wheels turning, but even with a loss or two, the Cougars are in prime position to contend down the stretch.
Their current standing is mind bending, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the path that brought them here — an improbable quest that began with an announcement at Stanford, 810 miles away from Kalani Sitake’s football office.
The moment the Cardinal fired coach Troy Taylor on March 25, at the conclusion of spring practice, the Cougars’ good fortune started to turn. Taylor beat Sitake in the recruiting battle for Bear Bachmeier and the true freshman was expected to start for Stanford in the fall.
With Taylor out — Bachmeier was out too — and Sitake was back in. Sitake just didn’t know at the time how badly he would need him.
BYU cruised through spring drills with senior quarterback Jake Retzlaff. Fresh off an 11-2 run, including a decisive win in the Alamo Bowl and a No. 13 final ranking, optimism was high for the Cougars to do even better in 2025.
However, just as Stanford was stunned by their coaching change, a bombshell staggered BYU, too.
On May 21, allegations of sexual assault became public after a woman filed a civil case against Retzlaff. The case was eventually dropped, but collateral damage to the quarterback and the Cougars remained.
On May 25, Bachmeier transferred to BYU. His initial plan was to spend a year learning the offense with the intention to compete against McCae Hillstead and Treyson Bourguet for the starting job in 2026.
On July 11, facing a multi-game suspension for violating BYU’s honor code, Retzlaff withdrew from school and transferred to Tulane.
With the starting job suddenly open, Bachmeier intensified his summer workouts with Cougar alum and quarterback guru John Beck in Southern California.
BYU reported to fall camp on July 30 and on Aug. 19, offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick announced Bachmeier would become the program’s first true freshman quarterback to start in the season opener against Portland State.
For the 19-year-old who hardly had a history — the rest is history.
Bachmeier won his debut 69-0 and with the older players rallying around the new kid in town, he has kept an imperfect team perfect through seven games. The Cougars are already bowl eligible and knocking on the door of the top 10 in the national rankings.
Learning on the job hasn’t been without mistakes, but the ups have dwarfed the downs as the 6-foot-2, 230-pound former running back/linebacker has thrown for nine touchdowns while running for eight more — and all with just four turnovers.
On Bachmeier’s watch, the Cougars have experienced victories of all shapes and sizes, ranging from blowouts to comebacks. During the always-emotional BYU-Utah game, the kid played like a man. His 22-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, where he ran through the Utah defense like a bear moves through Yellowstone, will live on in rivalry-lore long after Bachmeier’s playing days are over.
The really good news for BYU is that he’s just getting started — and he’s not doing it alone. Another unexpected story is playing out right next to him.
LJ Martin not only leads the Big 12 in rushing (774 yards) but he also ranks among the top five nationally — the first Cougar to get there since Jamaal Williams in 2016. Running healthy since the Alamo Bowl last December, the 6-foot-2, 220-pound junior is a dream-come-true for any coach who is playing a true freshman quarterback.
As Bachmeier shined at Arizona — Martin rushed for a career-high 162 yards. As the new QB beat the Utes, Martin ran for 122. How Bachmeier will do at Iowa State on Saturday will likely be linked to Martin’s success. They run together. They win together.
Apart from the pleasant surprises of Bachmeier and Martin, the offensive line, receiving corps, defense and special teams are doing what they have done over the last 20 games where, no matter who is playing quarterback, the Cougars are an astounding 18-2.
Had Retzlaff stayed at BYU, he would have been eligible to play this weekend against Iowa State. But with Bachmeier 7-0, and Retzlaff’s Green Wave 6-1, it may just be an unexpected case of all’s well that ends well — that nobody saw coming.
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.