Steve Young, Pat McAfee relive Provo’s ‘College GameDay’ magic

Steve Young, Pat McAfee relive Provo’s ‘College GameDay’ magic

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Steve Young, Pat McAfee relive Provo’s ‘College GameDay’ magic
Pat McAfee celebrates alongside Steve Young after picking BYU to win against Notre Dame during the ESPN College Gameday show near the Helaman Halls on BYU campus in Provo Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026.
Pat McAfee celebrates alongside Steve Young after picking BYU to win against Notre Dame during the ESPN College Gameday show near the Helaman Halls on BYU campus in Provo Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026.
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Lukas Katilius, Deseret News

It’s only been three days since ESPN’s “College GameDay” visited Provo, but Pat McAfee and Steve Young are already reminiscing about the morning before BYU beat Notre Dame 28-24.

Young, Saturday’s guest picker, appeared on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Tuesday, where McAfee told the former BYU quarterback that it was a “legendary day.”

“That was a special day there in Provo,” McAfee said. “That was a special ‘GameDay’ for us. I want to let you know that. I know that you know the BYU community and you know the energy and the hype around the football team and the organization and everything around Provo.”

Picking BYU over Notre Dame

Young and McAfee were the only ones on the desk who picked BYU to upset Notre Dame.

On Tuesday, McAfee said that wasn’t the plan.

“When I woke up, I didn’t know who I was going to pick going into Satruday,” he said. “I woke up and felt that atmosphere and I thought to myself about what Bear (Bachmeier) had been through. I watched a highlight reel of Bear Bachmeier before I left the bus in the morning, and I was like, ‘I’m picking BYU.’”

He added that Young saying he had a fifth year of eligibility “really just hammers it on top.”

Steve Young on Bear Bachmeier

On Tuesday, Young had a lot of praise for BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier, who threw for 224 passing yards and a passing touchdown and rushed for 45 yards and two touchdowns against Notre Dame.

“That morning I said, ‘Look, I thought Trinidad Chambliss’s the best player in the nation. He’s the most talented and he’s going to go prove it. By tonight, you’re going to be talking about Bear Bachmeier’ because he’s the kind of kid, he’s ready,” Young said. “He can grow into it. How do you define him?”

Young noted the comparisons to former Florida and NFL quarterback Tim Tebow, but he said that doesn’t do Bachmeier justice.

“I’m like, ‘Come on, man. Like yeah, Tim, but the dude can rip it down the field,” he said. “He can do this. How good of a passer can he become? Can he become a pro at No. 47? Can he jump into a pro squad and wear the No. 47 and do that?”

‘We’re in the upper echelons’

McAfee congratulated Young on going a perfect 10-0 with his “GameDay” picks, which he described as an “outrageous” feat after five of the top seven teams lost on Saturday.

“This is such an abnormality in college football world,” McAfee said. “It was great to see how confident you were. It was also great to see you embrace the way you were by the entirety of BYU.”

McAfee then asked Young if he enjoyed it and what his expectations were going into Saturday. Young said he loved being on the program before diving into BYU football’s under-the-radar success.

“This has been building for awhile,” he said. “You think about all the schools that might struggle in the NIL era … (and that) BYU would struggle with that. But we’ve jumped in and we’ve said to ourselves, ‘We’re in the Big 12. We got to compete. If we’re going to compete, let’s go win it.’”

He added that the university found its own “BYU way” of keeping players, and he attributed it to “beloved” head coach Kalani Sitake.

“They hang out and take less money to be with him. That’s the spirit of what BYU is building, and I think the campus feels it. And you felt it on Saturday morning when they camped out since Tuesday.”

Young described the passion around BYU football as “rabid,” and now people across the country are discovering what BYU has been building.

“We’re in the upper echelons,” he said. “We’re not just punching above our weight anymore. Like, some people have us No. 1 right now, and legitimately. We have a quarterback that really — like what are you going to do? Like, he’s one of one, bro. He’s like, ‘Who is this guy?’”

Young repeated the stat he shared Saturday of only five teams having more wins than BYU in the last six years.

“This is us,” he said. “We’ve been building and so now all of a sudden, Saturday was like, for everyone else in the nation, maybe a bit of a coming out party, but like overnight success over many, many years. And I feel like we’re in the thick of it and it’s super fun.”

Up next, No. 2 BYU plays UCF on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. MT.

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