After joining a long list of quarterbacks who have struggled against Texas Tech’s well-built and well-compensated defense, BYU freshman Bear Bachmeier was “hard on himself” immediately following the Cougars’ 29-7 loss to the Red Raiders last Saturday, according to offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick.
“He felt like it was his fault,” Roderick said Tuesday. “I’m not surprised. As a freshman, he finally had a bad game. It is what it is. He’s played so well all year, and each week, he’s exceeded our expectations, and then this game, he had a tough game, just like all of us did, me included, and he felt really bad.”
Bachmeier committed two turnovers — an interception and a fumble — and was part of an offense that could generate only 255 yards in windy Lubbock. After playing brilliantly in 8-1 BYU’s first eight games, he looked like a freshman, at times, while battling the nation’s top defense, a raucous and rowdy crowd, and the ever-present wind at Jones AT&T Stadium.
“I’ve just been trying to let him know that it’s a team game. We need all 11 guys to play their best, and our coaches (to coach their best),” Roderick said of his chats with Bachmeier this week. “We all have to coach better, and I expect him to bounce back and play well this week.”
Although he was sacked just once, Bachmeier faced relentless pressure from Tech’s defensive front the entire game and could never get his running game going, either. He had 11 carries for 12 yards.
“I mean, you always want to compete, and you just hate losing, so yeah, you are always gonna look back (with some regret),” Bachmeier said Tuesday. “You shouldn’t harp on it forever. But you kind of look at the negatives early on, and kind of get emotional. But yeah, you turn that into gratitude and just being grateful for the moment. We just gotta bounce back.”
Bouncing back should be more doable this week as the Cougars, who tumbled from No. 7 to No. 12 in the College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night, are back at LaVell Edwards Stadium for the first time since beating No. 13 Utah 24-21 on Oct. 18. They will face former Mountain West rival TCU (6-3, 3-3) at 8:15 p.m. MST Saturday knowing they can’t afford another loss if they hope to stay in the hunt for a spot in the CFP, or a place in the Big 12 championship game next month.
Bachmeier, LJ Martin healthy and ready to go
Bachmeier acknowledged that Texas Tech’s defense was as good as advertised.
“We play great teams. For example, Texas Tech,” Bachmeier said. “We got ourselves in a hole. Sometimes you can’t dig yourself out of that hole against great teams. So we just gotta start faster.”
The good news is that Bachmeier says he came out of the game “healthy and feeling good,” and Roderick said running back LJ Martin “felt good” after leaving the 41-27 win over Iowa State with an upper-body injury. Martin was held to 35 yards on 10 carries vs. Texas Tech.
“We weren’t able to give him a lot of carries, because in the second half, once we got down three scores, we had to just go two-minute (drill) and try to stay in it,” Roderick said. “He’s ready to play again this week.”
Roderick said even though Tech took away Bachmeier’s signature powerful runs, he won’t hesitate to continue to use the QB in the run game moving forward.
“They were pretty dialed in on stopping Bear from running the ball,” Roderick said. “But yeah, he’ll be a part of our running game every game.”
Asked if he would have game-planned differently, in retrospect, Roderick nodded and then added: “Yes, but I am not going to tell you what it is.”
He said the wind “was a little bit of a factor in the passing game, but no excuse there. I mean, we did not play well enough to win.”
BYU expects Bear to bounce back
In his weekly press briefing Monday, Kalani Sitake said that BYU’s inability to run the football after the first quarter played into Texas Tech’s ability to make life difficult for Bachmeier.
“Bear is going to respond the right way. He knows that it wasn’t his best outing. It was not the best for our entire team,” Sitake said. “But I know one thing about him. He’s willing to work. He has great work ethic, and he’s going to be better next time, and so we’re looking forward to seeing the improvement, and he’s committed to doing that.”
Tight end Carsen Ryan, who was asked to block more than usual against Texas Tech as Roderick went with a seven-man protection scheme to block the Red Raiders’ four terrific down linemen, said Bachmeier will bounce back nicely.
“He’s a really tough guy, and he’s hasn’t experienced a loss in college before, but I’m sure he’s lost a football game at some point in his life,” Ryan said. “We (will) tell him: ‘It’s the same thing, dude, you just gotta bounce back. You just gotta move on, look at what mistakes we made and what we can do better, and how we can learn from it.’ … Bear, he’s a really mature guy. He will be fine.”
BYU offensive lineman Austin Leausa said Bachmeier remained composed and positive throughout the game, despite the adversity, and will respond with more of the same against TCU.
“He’s kept his poise all year. I don’t think anything really distracted Bear. I don’t think it really did anything to him personally,” Leausa said. “Bear has done his job. He’s done more than just his job.”
