- BYU's Bear Bachmeier excelled against Colorado, completing 19-of-27 passes for 179 yards.
- He ran for a career-high 98 yards, overcoming a 14-0 deficit for BYU's win.
- Bachmeier's performance earned praise from both Deion Sanders and BYU's Kalani Sitake.
BOULDER, Colo. — This time, there wasn't a monstrous performance from the run game or a dominant defensive effort to carry BYU to another win, though both certainly had helpful moments.
But in the fourth game of quarterback Bear Bachmeier's collegiate career, the burly bruiser, in some ways, stood alone.
Pass the test? This was closer to an A+.
Bachmeier completed 19-of-27 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for a career-high 98 yards on 15 carries (though it should be noted that he had 103 rushing yards before a pair of knees taken within a victor formation) in the Cougars' 24-21 win over the Buffaloes that inched the visitors up to No. 23 in the latest Associated Press Top 25.
The true freshman from Murrieta, California, had to bear a 14-0 deficit by the Buffaloes (2-3, 0-2 Big 12), who carved up the Cougars on the first two drives of the game with their own dual-threat quarterback in Kaidon Salter.
"The young quarterback is phenomenal," recounted Colorado's Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders, himself knowing a thing or two about "phenomenal" athletes. "Proud of him. He did what he had to do to win the game."
BYU's Kalani Sitake echoed his well-respected CU counterpart.
"I thought he did a great job," Sitake said of Bachmeier. "It didn't ever look like, from my perspective, like he was frazzled or that he was shell shocked at all. He came like that. So credit to his family and the way he was raised.
"He was a cool customer, and I loved the way he was leading up there. We just have to be better so we don't have to put ourselves in a hole like that."
Through four games, Bachmeier has thrown 697 yards and six touchdowns with no interceptions. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound former four-star recruit has also run for 163 yards and four touchdowns.
That makes him the only quarterback in BYU history to account for 10 total touchdowns without a turnover through the first four games of the season.
The past five weeks since Bachmeier was introduced to college football as the Cougars' first-ever true freshman starting quarterback in an opening game have been, if nothing else, "exhilarating," the newly-turned 19-year-old said.
"The best moments are in the locker room, with your brothers after the game," he added. "That's the memories that you cherish forever. But yeah, it's been a fun ride. We've just got to keep it rolling."
Of course, he also had some help, too.
He leaned early on LJ Martin, who strung together three consecutive 100-yard games. The junior tailback also ran for 70 yards on 15 carries against Colorado.
Then there was BYU's defense, which led the nation with fewest points allowed and didn't allow a touchdown in wins over FCS Portland State and Stanford.
But in front of a raucous crowd of 52,226 fans at Folsom Field — many of them hurling profane chants about BYU and the university's sponsoring institution, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — Bachmeier had to … well, bear it alone.
When the Cougars were down two scores after two drives, he also trusted: in his teammates, his coaches, and the system that brought the early enrollee at Stanford and his older brother Tiger to Provo out of the transfer portal.
And he didn't doubt, either.
"It's the culture of BYU," he said of that calm comeback. "We knew they were gonna give us their best shot, and they schemed us up pretty well, down 14-0.
"We kind of hit adversity in our first Big 12 game. But we kept our poise, we were calm the whole time, and we knew we were going to bounce back."
Then Bachmeier went to work. He leaned on veteran wide receiver Chase Roberts, who passed the 2,000 career receiving yard mark with five catches for 49 yards and two touchdowns, his first in a BYU uniform. He found Cody Hagen with a 32-yard rushing touchdown on a similar reverse as the 57-yarder on which he scored against the Vikings.
He dished to Parker Kingston for a career-high five receptions for 38 yards, as well as two rushes for 25 yards.
"I'm glad Bear kept trusting me and getting the ball to his receivers," Roberts said, "and we were able to come back and get a couple of receptions after that, which was good."
But mostly it was Bachmeier and a defense that allowed 291 yards of offense, but shut out the Buffaloes in the second and fourth quarters while earning their first turnover on Isaiah Glasker's interception with 59 seconds left.
"We just have to keep working. You have to keep grinding it out," Sitake said. "And eventually things will pop for us. You don't worry about trying to make it (back) in one big play. Just try to stack plays on plays.
"Once the guys just focused on that, I thought things started to work and started to swing our way."
