PROVO — Some home cooking in BYU's first home game in nearly a month was exactly what the Cougars needed after last week's humbling 29-7 loss at Texas Tech.
Bear Bachmeier completed 23-of-33 passes for 296 yards and a touchdown and ran for 59 yards and a score as the 12th-ranked Cougars rebounded for a 44-13 win over TCU in front of a sold-out crowd of 64,447 fans at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
LJ Martin added 88 yards on 21 carries including a 1-yard TD plunge for the Cougars (9-1, 6-1 Big 12), and Parker Kingston totaled 93 yards and a touchdown as BYU rolled up 448 yards of offense.
TCU quarterback Josh Hoover completed just 10 passes for 183 yards and two interceptions in the third loss in five games for the Horned Frogs (6-4, 3-4 Big 12). Bachmeier, meanwhile, connected on 10 of his first 13 passes for 108 yards, and also ran for a 17-yard touchdown as the Cougars opened the second quarter with a 17-0 lead.
It was the kind of fast start BYU could occasionally on dream of — certainly, in last week's loss to a Texas Tech team proving to be the top team in the conference and a College Football Playoff contender.
Chalk up plenty of it to a healthy Martin, who missed the second half of BYU's win at Iowa State with an apparent shoulder injury and was limited to 35 yards on 10 carries against the Red Raiders.
"I don't think it was health, I think it was more confidence," he said after the game. "Tonight I had more confidence, and I was able to get going earlier."
That also helped set up Bachmeier's passing game, one that included 80 yards to Kingston, 50 more on five catches to Chase Roberts and a career-high 78 yards and a touchdown to Carsen Ryan.
"I'm really proud of all that Carsen does," BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. "Tonight he was able to catch the ball, but he's been amazing all year long, blocking, working with Keyan and the other tight ends. But it was good to see him get the ball and score."
Added Ryan: "Our mentality going into this game was just to get back to where we were."
One week after last week's humbling loss to now-No. 6 Texas Tech, BYU out-gained TCU with 136 yards in the first quarter that included an 11-yard touchdown from Parker Kingston to open the scoring.
Bachmeier added to his haul with a 43-yard touchdown for Ryan, and the Cougars held the Frogs out of the end zone until Jon Denman scored from 13 yards out on fourth-and-1 with 1:14 remaining in the half.
But Bachmeier responded to that setback by leading a 10-play, 58-yard drive in the final 1:14, finding Roberts with a 13-yard gain on 3rd and 10 to set up Will Ferrin's second field goal — a 35-yarder as time expired to go up 27-10 at the break.
Bachmeier accounted for 239 yards passing and 46 yards on the ground of the Cougars' 344 yards of offense in the first half. Defensively, Keanu Tanuvasa, Tausili Akana and John Taumoepeau combined to sack Hoover twice and pin TCU to 192 yards, including just 50 rushing yards.
BYU ran for 105 yards in the first half against the Big 12's third-best rushing defense, including 47 yards on nine carries from tailback LJ Martin and an 11-yard end-around touchdown, while scoring on all five of their first-half offensive possessions.
Faletau Satuala added a third-quarter interception, picking off Hoover for just the ninth time in 2025 and the third pick of the year for the former four-star prospect from Bountiful.
BYU didn't punt until the 10:42 mark of the fourth quarter, when freshman Fuller Shurtz pinned the Frogs at the 16-yard line with a 41-yard boot.
On the next play, Evan Johnson sacked Hoover for the third time, and the Horned Frogs punted it back after less than 90 seconds of game time.
THE GREAT WALL.
— BYU FOOTBALL (@BYUfootball) November 16, 2025
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The Cougars' defense even made up for a fumbled snap on only the second punt of the night, when Tanner Wall returned an interception 68 yards for a touchdown to ice the game.
"In my head, I was like, don't get tackled. I'm glad we found a way," said Wall, who scored for the first time since his senior year of high school in 2017, before adding with a chuckle: "I got a little boost there at the end.
"It's been a while since I've been in the end zone with the ball."
BYU hits the road again next week to face No. 25 Cincinnati, which dropped its second straight game 30-24 to Arizona to fall to 7-3 and 5-2 in Big 12 play.
