PROVO, Utah -- In 1990, Kalani Sitake was in high school when he rushed the field after BYU, led by eventual Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer, took down No. 1 Miami for its first win against an AP top-2 opponent.
Thirty-six years later, BYU secured its second such victory, shocking No. 2 Notre Dame 28-24 as Sitake coached from the sideline and then celebrated with the cascade of fans pouring onto the field at LaVell Edwards Stadium. The most anticipated BYU home game since possibly 1990 ended with another of the program's most historic victories.
"I got really emotional thinking about it in the locker room," said Sitake, a former BYU fullback who has led his alma mater's program since 2016. "Just so much gratitude. Why do I get to be the one who's the head coach and have the best seat in the house? I've just had a lot of really good people around me that sacrificed for me to be here."
Sitake "grew up a BYU fan first," before becoming a Cougars player and coach, and said that he's "trying to make sure that the fan doesn't interrupt the coach," which might have happened at times Saturday night. BYU was aggressive with certain calls, including a failed fake punt from its own 28-yard line with a 21-13 lead, which led to a Notre Dame field goal.
But the Cougars' pedal-down approach helped them convert 8 of 12 third-down attempts and turn back the talented Irish, including on the game's final drive, which reached the BYU 8-yard line before quarterback CJ Carr's pass to wide receiver Jaden Greathouse fell incomplete.
"We're not playing to lose, so we put our balls on the chopping block, and we're going to be aggressive," quarterback Bear Bachmeier said.
Bachmeier, in his second year as BYU's starter after transferring from Stanford, accounted for two rushing touchdowns, a receiving touchdown on a gadget play and the go-ahead passing touchdown to tight end Walker Lyons on third-and-goal from the Notre Dame 6-yard line with 1:47 to play. He and his teammates noted the lack of respect for No. 8 BYU, which came in as a double-digit home underdog despite a 28-4 record since the start of the 2024 season.
The game was especially personal for Bachmeier, who Notre Dame offered out of high school before ultimately adding another quarterback, Deuce Knight, who eventually signed with Auburn.
"Out of high school, Notre Dame disrespected me and my family pretty badly," Bachmeier said. "There's no way I was going to lose to those guys tonight. ... There are some receipts kept."
Bachmeier declined to elaborate on what happened and later said he loved Notre Dame and Carr, but his performance was a difference-maker against the Irish, especially in the red zone, where BYU scored touchdowns on all four of its trips.
"When you want to beat good teams, you've got to get that four-point swing," said Cougars running back Preston Rex, who filled in for injured star LJ Martin and rushed for 66 yards on 10 carries.
Notre Dame made five red zone trips but scored only two touchdowns and twice came away empty. Trailing 21-10 late in the first half, the Irish reached the BYU 5-yard line when Carr attempted to spike the ball with five seconds left. But the ball slipped out of his hands, leading Sitake to challenge the call.
Officials ruled Carr fumbled and BYU recovered.
"I just thought that maybe he could have lost control of it, but honestly, I was just super biased, I was just taking shots in the dark," Sitake said. "I said, 'Well, did he spike it? Did he lose it?' And then some of the [players] were saying that, 'Yeah, he actually lost control of the ball,' so I wasn't going to move off the field until they reviewed it.
"I've been wrong many times before, especially with the refs, so on that one, I was more prayerful than anything."
Notre Dame's defense controlled play for most of the second half, holding BYU to just 36 yards in the third quarter. Carr, who had a career-high 10 overthrows and completed just 3 of 16 attempts 15 yards or more downfield, seemingly found his touch on Notre Dame's final drive.
But BYU still turned him away.
"People look at BYU as, they can make it to those big games, but when they get to those big games, they don't win," Cougars safety Raider Damuni said. "Having that in the back of our mind the whole offseason, knowing this is the game that we wanted. We wanted to play Notre Dame, and we knew this was an opportunity to earn that respect."
The Cougars are now 29-4 since the start of the 2024 season, the nation's second-best winning percentage (.871) behind Indiana (.917). Although Sitake downplayed the possibility of being ranked No. 1 in Sunday's AP Poll, BYU is eyeing its first College Football Playoff appearance after finishing just outside the rankings in each of the past two seasons.
"A lot of people weren't respecting us," linebacker Cade Uluave said. "That's just the final truth. A lot of people think we were flukes. Some people didn't think we were all that, and now we just went and beat the No. 2 team in the nation.
"So, hopefully, that puts some respect on our name."