ORLANDO, Fla. — Once again, the Pop-Tarts Bowl, cheekily advertised as the “People’s National Championship” and the best bowl game not part of the College Football Playoff, lived up to its billing.
Crazy good for No. 12 BYU.
Bear Bachmeier completed 71% of his passes for 325 yards, a touchdown and an interception; and Evan Johnson intercepted a pass in the end zone with six seconds left to help the Cougars overturn a 21-10 halftime deficit to beat No. 22 Georgia Tech 25-21 in front of 34,126 fans at Camping World Stadium.
Carsen Ryan had a career-high 120 yards on eight catches to lead BYU, and Parker Kingston added 96 yards on offense and 38 more on punt return for the Cougars.
But it was Jovesa Damuni, who had 63 yards before Saturday night, who won the game with a 4-yard rushing touchdown with two minutes left.
Haynes King threw for 254 yards and two touchdowns with a pick for Georgia Tech (9-4), and Eric Rivers caught four passes for 102 yards and a score for the Yellow Jackets.
Nusi Taumoepeau, the former Stanford commit who flipped to BYU in late March, had six tackles, three quarterback hits, a tackle for loss and a a career-first forced fumble, and Faletau Satuala and Isaiah Glasker each made six tackles for BYU’s defense in the second-half shutout.
No stop was bigger than Johnson, though, who admitted he “got beat” by Rivers for a 66-yard reception on the final drive before sealing the win four plays later with his fifth interception of the year.
“I was really just thinking about the play after that,” Johnson said with a smile, later joking that he likes to remind his coaches he used to play receiver in high school. “It came to me, coach Hill made a great call, and I got my opportunity to go make a play.
“I had a play like that against Texas Tech that I didn’t go get. My only thought in my mind after that was to make a play on that ball.”
Missing its top rusher — Big 12 leading rusher LJ Martin — and a top linebacker in Jack Kelly, BYU got down in a big way. The Yellow Jackets took advantage of a pivotal 13 seconds of game time in the first half, too.
King found Rivers for a 5-yard touchdown with 5:28 left in the half to give Georgia Tech its first lead of the game 14-10.
Moments later, Cody Hagen muffed the ensuing kickoff coming out of his end zone and King hit J.T. Byrne for his third touchdown of the half to go up 21-10 at the break.
“Haynes King is a really good player,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “I felt like he led them from a tough spot … It’s hard to run away from that kid.”
Bachmeier, too, pulled himself up by his one healthy ankle and won a game with his arm, throwing for the second-most yards of his freshman campaign and the most since going for 351 yards in a 38-24 win over West Virginia back on Oct. 3.
BYU Cougars defensive back Evan Johnson (0) intercepts a pass to Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets running back Jamal Haynes (1) in the endzone sealing the 25-21 win for the Cougars in the Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando on Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025. (Photo: Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
It helped to have Ryan, the journeyman tight end from American Fork who showed what he can do after being underutilized in stops at UCLA and Utah before his season season with the Cougars.
His 120 yards were enough to overcome King, who led the Yellow Jackets to 401 total yards with 27 of Georgia Tech’s 131 rushing yards, in addition to five passes to Malik Rutherford for 105 yards.
And Bachmeier did it on one — OK, maybe one-and-a-half — ankle, after being injured in the Big 12 championship game against No. 4 Texas Tech.
Tough kid. Both of them.
“The ball came my way a lot, and I was able to get the opportunity to make plays,” Ryan said.
“It’s just special. I’ve had a different journey here; this is my one season with this team and these guys,” he added. “But I’m so special for the chance I had to be here: the friendships I’ve made, the brotherhood I’ve found, everything I’ve learned … I wish I could spend more time with these guys. But hindsight’s 20/20, and everything happens for a reason. For tonight and today, I’m grateful for that.”
But BYU’s defense dialed in after the break. Taumoepeau stripped King to open the second half, and Glasker recovered to give BYU a chance to get back into the game.
The ensuing drive ended with Bachmeier’s seventh interception of the season, as Rodney Shelley forced BYU to come up empty for the third time in its first five possessions.
After Keanu Tanuvasa — who announced on postgame radio he was coming back to BYU for his senior season — blocked Lou Groza Award finalist Aidan Birr from 35 yards out, Damuni had a pair of big runs for 31 yards to power an 80-yard drive capped by Enoch Nawahine’s first touchdown since an 18-15 win over SMU last year.
King found Rivers for a 66-yard strike with less than a minute left. But Johnson secured the win in the sprinkle-covered end zone to give BYU its 12th win for the first time since 2001.
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