Can Bear Bachmeier be expected to carry the load again, this time on the toughest road game of the season so far for No. 11 BYU?
Does the kid have a sore back after triggering a comeback at Colorado, the double overtime win at Arizona, and the clutch 22-yard TD to lift BYU over rival Utah last Saturday?
Can he keep his composure before the largest Big 12 crowd he will face all year at Iowa State?
Can he once again help his team win against another defense that will likely install new wrinkles for him after the Cyclones got an extra week of preparation to perfect the game plan?
How will he perform against another team like Utah that has its back against the wall, fighting for a chance to get to Arlington, a must-win scenario on the field where Iowa State rarely experiences losses?
Can his team avoid a letdown, a hangover, after a win over the Utes and avoid the same post-Utah game crash it experienced last year against Kansas?
These are all serious questions about the Bachmeier story just days after he earned Big 12 Freshman of the Week honors for the fifth time in seven weeks.
If ever there was a time for Bachmeier to succumb to the pressures just months after arriving in Provo, it could be this game at Iowa State. This is the game where the bullets may penetrate his armor. This could be the bear trap everyone has sensed is due.
But this is the same situation many expected would take him down on the trip to East Carolina. The same scenario that would set him back at a packed Folsom Field at Colorado. The same expectation of it all catching up with him on the road at Tucson facing the 3-3-5 defense of Arizona.
And finally, the same predicted failure he was supposed to bow to facing Utah’s feared “Third and Scalley” defense as an underdog on home turf against Utah last Saturday. In that game, he scored the go-ahead TD on a third-and-11 run for a career-high 22-yard touchdown.
In all situations, Bachmeier found a way to make plays, face plans directed at frustrating and surprising him, and help BYU get to 7-0.
Regardless of that lofty mark, this Iowa State game will be a huge hurdle. BYU is 0-5 against the Cyclones, and in the last meeting in Provo, ISU put a beating on the Cougars, 45-13. Iowa State has won eight of their last nine home games. They protect their house.
Bachmeier and Company face a Matt Campbell team respected for its physicality, execution, size and speed. On the other side, ISU has a QB named Rocco Becht, one of the best in the league, a veteran.
Here’s how BYU must counter:
BYU’s offensive line has never played a front like Iowa State’s this season. Three big down linemen backed by fast linebackers. While the pressures will be different, the Cougars must run the ball to be successful and protect Bachmeier.
“They are very physical,” said BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick.
BYU must keep its balance, running and throwing effectively at about a 50-50 rate. So far, the Cougars have averaged 239 yards a game rushing and 203 passing.
Roderick has built a protective bubble around Bachmeier. When he plays inside this cocoon, he excels. Defensive coordinators have failed to penetrate Roderick’s strategy, not Arizona’s Danny Gonzales, not Utah’s Morgan Scalley.
Bachmeier is one of the top four QBs in the country in play-action passing, ranked No. 4, according to PFF statistics, and rated 90.2 last week in the win over Utah. He ranked first in the Big 12 in rushing touchdowns.
In a comparison to Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt, considered one of the Big 12’s most dynamic offensive players as seen in ASU’s upset of Texas Tech, Bachmeier and Leavitt have almost identical statistics. Bachmeier has more rushing yards (359 to 284) and rush TDs (8 to 5) and a higher quarterback rating (75.9 to 66.4) than Leavitt.
“I can’t say enough good things about Bear as a competitor — he’s not a normal freshman,” Roderick told an audience on BYUtv’s “Coordinator’s Corner.”
“I think (Utah was) counting on a freshman quarterback making some mistakes that would turn the game in their favor, and at the end of the game we have no turnovers and they had two, and that was really the big difference.”
By having LJ Martin in the backfield, Roderick enjoys the Big 12’s leading rusher and the No. 5 rusher in FBS as a weapon.
Last week, BYU gained 206 rushing yards against one of the league’s best defenses in Utah. The majority of those yards came by attacking Utah right up the gut, blasting Martin and Bachmeier right up the middle on power runs, fake sweep dives, counters and designed QB runs. There were 19 play calls by Roderick at the heart of Utah’s defense.
Iowa State is capable of plugging up the middle, although the Cyclone defense ranks 64th stopping the rush (BYU ranks 40th).
Roderick told reporters Iowa State mixes up coverages, and that makes it difficult for a QB to make reads.
“It’s not like their corners are just hanging on an island all day in man coverages. They do a lot of good things to keep you guessing.”
Roderick said ISU’s program is built on toughness.
“They have a very unique scheme and they’re very good at it,” said Roderick. “They have good players at every position, very good size. They’re a big team, and they hit, I mean, those guys are hitters. They are a violent team and I respect them a lot.”
Before last week, the mantra was BYU hasn’t played anybody, certainly not anyone as good as Utah.
Then BYU and Bachmeier stacked another win.
This week, ESPN’s CFP Index resume rankings has BYU No. 5.
As in the Utah game, BYU is an underdog to Iowa State this week. Again, much of that is based on not only the game site and the Cyclones having a week off to prepare and heal, but the question of if Bachmeier can handle the situation come Saturday.
It should be a great fact-finding experience for all.
