It’s Bear Bachmeier’s first Thanksgiving in Provo and the young BYU quarterback is stuffed full of gratitude for the people sitting around his table.
At the Bachmeier feast, there is a coach who took a chance on him, an offensive line who has protected him, a running back who has complemented him, a slew of receivers who have caught his passes and a defense that has helped to keep him in games.
All those ingredients, combined with Bachmeier’s own unique skillset of passing, running and protecting the football, have cooked up a 10-1 season with a chance at qualifying for the Big 12 championship game this weekend. Along the way, Bachmeier has become one of the biggest stories in college football.
“It’s been so fun,” the freshman phenom told the “BYU Sports Nation GameDay” pregame show. “It’s been a rollercoaster. I think everything happens for a purpose. I’m at BYU and we’re just rolling and there are such great people in this room. It’s just been great.”
Leading a team as a teen is no easy task. Bachmeier has relied heavily on the older players to keep him focused, especially during this stretch where BYU’s one-game-at-a-time mentality has been essential, including Saturday’s final regular-season test against UCF (11 a.m., ESPN2).
Keeping a level head during such a wild and unexpected ride is easy to talk about, but tough to do.
“It’s hard,” Bachmeier admitted. “But the veterans harp on what happened last year, and they don’t want that to happen again. It’s just buying into the culture here and buying into what the veterans say.”
A win for BYU on Saturday or an Arizona State loss to Arizona on Friday will put the Cougars in the Big 12 title game on Dec. 6 in Arlington, Texas. A solid performance can also boost BYU’s narrative for an at-large bid for the College Football Playoff.
“We are really excited. We know what’s at stake,” Bachmeier said. “We just have to take it one practice at a time, one game at a time and just keep rolling.”
It sounds like he’s been listening to his elders.
Jake’s exit
Considering the curve ball that was tossed at the football program last summer with Jake Retzlaff’s unexpected departure, the fact that BYU is contending at all is just as surprising as the kid who is leading them.
Last spring, Bachmeier was at Stanford and competing to start as a true freshman for the Cardinal. When his head coach, Troy Taylor, was fired after spring practice, the former BYU recruit signed to play for Kalani Sitake.
Bachmeier’s initial plan was to win the backup job and get tutored in the offense by Retzlaff so he could compete for the starting job in 2026. Everything changed when word came that his would-be mentor was moving on.
“I didn’t know if it was real or not,” Bachmeier said of the moment he heard the news. “When it sunk in, it was like, maybe this is an opportunity. It’s been kind of working out.”
Very much so.
Bear’s debut
Even as the true freshman claimed the starting job in fall camp, Las Vegas oddsmakers pinned the Cougars to win five fewer games (6.5) than Retzlaff’s 11-2 junior season. BYU was also left outside the preseason AP Top 25 after finishing at No. 13 in 2024.
Sitake, who is no stranger to taking risks during games, knew he had a solid running back, an elite kicker and a tested defense. But BYU had never rolled out a true freshman quarterback on opening night — until Aug. 30 against Portland State.
During Bachmeier’s collegiate debut, the 6-foo-2, 230-pound new kid in town threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more. His big night was over by halftime in a 69-0 victory. The next week, against the team he had planned to play for, Bachmeier and the Cougars beat Stanford 27-3.
Game by game, at home or away, Bachmeier has played more like a veteran than a freshman and after 11 starts, the Cougars are 10-1 and ranked No. 11 in the CFP rankings.
“It’s crazy! It is!” Bachmeier said. “Gosh, it’s been such a fun ride and (there) is not a better place to do it than BYU.”
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.