BYU limps in but rolls late in dramatic bowl win over Georgia Tech

There are bowl games, and then there was this one, a down-to-the-wire, dramatic No. 12 BYU comeback 25-21 victory over No. 22 Georgia Tech.

It was a Jerry Bruckheimer script with James Cameron directing in Orlando at the Pop-Tarts Bowl Saturday.

BYU showed up looking like something straight out of that Archibald Willard “Yankee Doodle” painting of banged-up, bandaged soldiers marching with a pipe and drum.

You had Cougar star LJ Martin sporting a sling as well as defensive captain and sack leader Jack Kelly in street clothes, wearing glasses, looking like a lost accountant.

Then there was freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier gingerly limping around, unable to be his Bear self with his ground game.

But somehow this group, fueled by the frenzy of thousands of their fans in the stands, overwhelmed Georgia Tech in the waning moments, willing their teammates to a triumphant end.

This show produced the first 12-win Cougar season in 24 years. It was a doozy.

It had BYU’s defense force a fumble, block a field goal and get an interception, and a limping offense found a way.

Evan Johnson’s end zone interception of ACC Player of the Year Haynes King completed an 11-point comeback win for the Cougars. It also completed a BYU defensive second-half shutout of a Yellow Jackets team that was ranked as high as No. 7 in the country this season.

Offensively, Bachmeier engineered two fourth-quarter touchdown drives of 11 plays for 80 yards and 9 plays for 70 yards.

On that first TD, a 2-yard Enoch Nawahine run, Bachmeier converted a two-point conversion with his only Bear-like run off a broken play.

He met GT linebacker Kyle Efford at the 5 yard line and dragged him into the end zone to draw BYU within 3 at 21-18 with 11:13 to play in the game.

Before kickoff, we learned Kelly was out. Days before, we were told Martin, the Big 12’s top rusher, was out because of shoulder surgery. Bachmeier was not completely healed up from an ankle sprain suffered early in the second loss to Texas Tech.

How in Cosmo’s Cave would BYU mount any kind of offense without a run game?

Well, they kind of couldn’t.

But they got just enough out of Nawahine (10 carries for 31 yards) and freshman Jovesa Damuni (7 carries for 48 yards). Each ran for a short touchdown.

Barely enough.

Meanwhile, offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick used Parker Kingston on jet sweeps and short swing passes to create a problem for GT’s defense to solve by bringing more help in the box.

Then you had two senior star studs deliver final game fireworks.

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Tight end Carsen Ryan had a career game with 8 catches for 120 yards, with a long of 38. Chase Roberts hauled in 7 catches for 57 yards, and Kingston caught 5 passes for 76 yards.

GT’s defense struggled to stop this adjusted BYU air attack. Late in the game, the Yellow Jackets absolutely could not slow it down.

They were run over by a hospital ward.

Defensively, BYU applied so much pressure to Haynes, he wished he was back in the ACC. They chased him like angry Scots after a goat. They disrupted his timing, forced him to improvise and throw the ball high, low and way out of bounds in the fourth quarter.

The blocked third-quarter field goal by Keanu Tanuvasa and fumble recovery by Isaiah Glasker set off an explosion amongst Cougar players.

You could sense it, feel it.

If you were seeing this as a BYU fan, you probably felt your post-traumatic stress disorder rise up for three quarters, especially with a muffed kickoff and Bachmeier interception in the end zone, some missed pass interference calls and no power run game when in scoring position.

But this is a BYU team that won comeback games at Colorado, Arizona and Iowa State.

They don’t quit.

And somewhere in the rewind, BYU fans in the stands must be given credit. They poured energy into this squad. BYU outscored GT 15-0 in the fourth quarter.

At the end of this game, BYU’s offensive line was pushing GT around and the Cougar defensive line looked like scalded cats looking for something to scratch.

BYU’s got its second wind heading down the stretch. It was evident. Bodies were thrown around. Guys were clobbered and run over. Cougar physicality took a clear step up over GT.

And the limping Bear packed off the MVP trophy.

Somebody had to pack the pipe and drum and unwind all the bandages.

This was BYU’s 19th bowl victory in 42 appearances with its 23rd win the last two seasons. This is the fourth 10-win season in the last six years.

It may rank right up there with the most entertaining.

And we’ve seen quite a few of those finish from Las Vegas to San Diego.