Did we witness the second-best season in BYU football history?

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Despite being snubbed by the College Football Playoff committee for the second-straight year, Kalani Sitake’s squad in 2025 has to be considered as one of the best BYU football teams ever — right up there with the undefeated 1984 national championship team and the 1996 team that went 14-1 and won the Cotton Bowl.

The Cougars went 12-2 against arguably the hardest schedule ever, lost only twice (to No. 4 Texas Tech in its home state) and came from behind to beat a nationally ranked Georgia Tech squad 25-21 in the Pop-Tarts Bowl. The 1983 team was also dominant, going 11-1 and winning the WAC championship before a Holiday Bowl victory over Missouri.

From this vantage point — as a beat writer who has covered the program on a daily basis since 2008 and casually followed it for the past 40 years or so — it was the second-best season in BYU history, behind only 1984. If nothing else, the past two seasons have been as unexpected as any ever in Provo, as BYU has won 23 of 27 games when Las Vegas predicted the Cougars would get only 11 victories in 2024 and 2025 combined.

Of all the amazing accomplishments — the emergence of a true freshman quarterback, the third-straight win over rival Utah, the rise to No. 7 in the CFP rankings before the first loss at Texas Tech, getting 12 wins for the first time since 2001 — the one that stands out here is that BYU displayed an uncanny ability to pull victory out of the jaws of defeat, time and time again.

According to BYU football media relations and communications coordinator Kenny Cox, BYU’s five wins in games in which it trailed by 10-plus points is the most in the nation. UNLV had four, while Arkansas State, Houston, North Texas and Troy had three.

Most of the big comebacks came away from LaVell Edwards Stadium, as BYU fans often made away stadiums an extension of LES. Pop-Tarts Bowl officials privately worried when Notre Dame turned down an invitation to play BYU that it would be one of the least-attended postseason games in Orlando in recent memory, but acknowledged afterwards that BYU fans made up the majority of the more than 34,000 fans at Camping World Stadium.

Comeback Cougs were also road warriors in 2025

BYU trailed Colorado 14-0 before winning 24-21 at Boulder, trailed Arizona 24-14 before winning 33-27 in Tucson, trailed Iowa State 24-10 before winning 41-27 in Ames, trailed UCF 14-0 before winning 41-21 in Provo and trailed Georgia Tech 21-10 before winning 25-21 in Orlando.

Last Saturday’s comeback win was probably the most improbable of all, with star players LJ Martin and Jack Kelly out with injuries and freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier hobbling on a sprained left ankle. The Cougars had an 8.4% win probability with three minutes remaining in third quarter.

Perhaps the most stirring comeback for those who side with the blue wasn’t after a double-digit deficit, but also came in the fourth quarter. The Cougars trailed Utah 14-10 early in the fourth before downing their rivals 24-21 at LES.

In 14 games, BYU outscored opponents 131-68 in the fourth quarter; In the five double-digit comebacks, BYU outscored opponents 49-7 in the fourth quarter.

“It felt like we got ourselves in a rough spot (a lot),” Sitake said after the win over the No. 22 Yellow Jackets. “Unfortunately, we have been in that position before. I think the goal is to not be there so much in 2026, and try to find ways to get ahead or maybe play with the same type of urgency from the beginning and carry it on for 60 minutes. If we can do that, we will be in a really good spot.”

The 23 wins is the most for BYU in back-to-back seasons since it won 24 in 1984 (13-0) and 1985 (11-3).

“Really proud of the guys (for) getting to 12-2,” Sitake said. “Really proud of the coaches, staff and support staff. Really proud of the fans that showed up.

“I am proud of these guys for what they were able to accomplish in the bowl prep. I feel like we made a step towards becoming a better team, and I want to ride that momentum into 2026,” he continued. “Still a lot of work for us to do, but at this time we should be thankful and celebrate the win.”

BYU beat a lot of really good teams in 2025

What was BYU’s best win in 2025? The take here remains that it was Utah (the 10-2 Utes face Nebraska in the Las Vegas Bowl on Wednesday), while the win over Georgia Tech (9-4) can’t be discounted due to the fact that the Cougars were shorthanded and banged up.

Other teams with eight or more wins that BYU beat include Arizona (9), East Carolina (9), Iowa State (9) and TCU (9). Iowa State opted out of bowl game, while Arizona plays SMU on Friday

Cincinnati (7-5) can get to eight wins on Friday against Navy in the Liberty Bowl.

“I think the fact that we did it against a Big 12 schedule says that these guys are great athletes, great players, great talents,” Sitake said. “… They have been able to be leaders themselves, but also to connect with the leaders that we have that are upperclassmen. It has been a nice thing for me to see in 10 years of being a head coach, and I am really excited about year 11, too. … We are just barely starting.”

Speaking of which, Sitake’s career record at BYU is now 84-45; LaVell Edwards was 86-32-1 in his first 10 years and Bronco Mendenhall was 90-39 in his first 10 years.

That success has earned Sitake five contract extensions, the most recent on Dec. 2. Now he’s facing another challenge, with three-year defensive coordinator Jay Hill seemingly headed to Michigan and offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick apparently fielding some offers to move on as well.

“I feel really good about what we have going here, and with the players and the coaches, we will go with what we have,” Sitake said after the bowl win. “I feel good about this staff, how we established the foundation. Jay (Hill) is a big part of what we were able to do defensively for the last three years, and A-Rod’s been doing that for a number of years, too. We feel really good about where we are at overall as a team, and it is those guys that made it happen for us.”

National acclaim has been slow to come for a (possible) top-10 team

Aside from the 44-13 win over TCU, BYU wasn’t particularly dominant in 2025, a perceived shortcoming that probably cost the Cougars a spot in the CFP. That, and those two blowout losses to Texas Tech (Bachmeier suffered the ankle injury with the Cougars leading 7-0 in Arlington).

For his part, Sitake never complained. Asked about the snub before the bowl game, he took the high road, as he always does.

“In terms of the playoff committee and all that stuff, listen, they made the decision, and we are fine,” Sitake said. “We have to move on and just keep playing football. … It is a hard decision for them to go and put that (ranking) together. It just so happened that we are outside of it, and that is OK. Your reaction is (how) everybody is going to eventually define you.”

Where will the No. 12 Cougars finish in the final AP poll? Of course, a lot depends on how teams around them fare, and look, in CFP games. Will No. 7 Texas A&M and No. 8 Oklahoma fall behind them? And what will media voters do with No. 11 Notre Dame after the Irish dubiously opted out of playing BYU in the bowl game?

According to the highly informative @Cougarstats account on X, the only program that went 12-2 and did not finish in the top 10 of the final AP poll was Ohio State in 2013. The Buckeyes lost their last two games to go 12-2 and finished at No. 12.

BYU safety Tanner Wall said it would be nice to break into the top 10, but won’t really matter in the long run.

“It is amazing to end (my) college story on this note,” Wall said. “Coming out with our 12th win of the season, first one in 25 years, going 23-4 over the last two seasons, it is amazing to see all that we’ve been able to accomplish, and I am just grateful to everyone who has had a small part of that.

“Not just teammates, players and coaches, but support staff and everyone else,” Wall continued. “There are so many people behind the scenes that do so much to help us.”

BYU will finish ranked for the 21st time in its history, and will appear in the final AP poll for the 14th time in 51 years when it was unranked at the beginning of the season. It’s highest ranking was No. 1 in 1984, followed by No. 5 in 1996, No. 7 in 1983 and No. 11 in 2020, when Zach Wilson led the Cougars to an 11-1 record against a pandemic-weakened schedule.

Last year, BYU finished with a No. 13 ranking after a 36-14 walloping of Colorado in the Alamo Bowl.

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