​Utah Utes head coach Morgan Scalley puts up a “U” after the Utah Utes won against the BYU Cougars in a football game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026.
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Tess Crowley, Deseret News
The first half of Saturday’s marquee matchup between No. 3 Utah and No. 9 BYU was a bit of a roller coaster, as Utah quickly jumped out to a two-touchdown lead before relinquishing it to a 20-point BYU run before halftime. However, Morgan Scalley’s Utes scored another two touchdowns and took the ball away from Bear Bachmeier four times on the day and won, 28-20.After congratulating BYU and head coach Kalani Sitake on a hard-fought game, Scalley commented on how he loved the atmosphere of the rivalry this year.“(Kalani and I) wanted to make it about what’s good. We wanted to have a less toxic environment when it comes to the rivalry. I thought we had that today,” he said. “Grateful to our fans, grateful to our players. Not a lot of extracurricular stuff after the plays. But I have nothing but respect for Kalani, that staff, the way they prepare their guys and the way their guys play.”Moving on to his own analysis of the game, Scalley said not everyone gets to see halftime but his players “Were so united. Just talking to each other saying, ‘We’ve got this. We’ve been here before.’”Being down six at halftime, the team never fractured according to the Utah coach as the Utes “flipped the script” in the second half.Physicality and takeawaysAfter only one takeaway in the first half and a stalled offense outside the first two drives, Scalley said his group executed the game plan in the second half.“The emphasis going into this game was we have to be able to out-physical them. We’ve got to be able to turn the ball over and protect the ball as well. Well, the first half, man, did we fail,” he chuckled.“At the same time, in that second half, we completely flipped the script. The takeaways were huge.”Bachmeier was seeing ghosts all day as four different Ute defenders were able to nab his passes for turnovers, none bigger than when BYU was two yards away from scoring the potential game-tying touchdown, when Trey Reynolds reached up and picked off a pass that was heading to a wide-open Kyler Kasper in the end zone.“I love that the last two interceptions came from (Reynolds and Nate Ritchie), guys that stuck with a program, that were about development and about loving a culture.“So grateful for those two,” he said after an emotional pause.Scalley on Dampier’s performance“Devon Dampier: warrior. Second player in FBS in the last 30 years — he’s one of two to have multiple passing touchdowns, multip