Bear Bachmeier Accounts for Four Touchdowns as No. 12 BYU Beats Baylor 28-7

A week ago, Bear Bachmeier threw four interceptions in Salt Lake City and watched a halftime lead turn into a rivalry loss. On Saturday night in Provo, the BYU quarterback did not throw one. Bachmeier ran for three touchdowns, threw for a fourth, and No. 12 BYU beat Baylor 28-7 at LaVell Edwards Stadium in a game that nearly did not happen on Saturday at all.

The Bears could not fly out of Waco on Friday because of the nationwide FAA ground stop, and with BYU's longstanding policy against playing on Sundays, the schools and the Big 12 slid kickoff from 3:30 p.m. ET to 7 p.m. ET instead. Undrafted tracked that scramble here. Whatever the travel day took out of Baylor, BYU made sure the Bears never got comfortable once they arrived. The Cougars led 21-0 at halftime in front of an announced crowd of 63,008, held the ball for 37 minutes and did not commit a turnover.

BYU improved to 8-2 overall and 5-2 in the Big 12. Baylor fell to 6-4 and 4-3, and its two-game winning streak under interim coach Joe Klanderman is over.

Two drives, two scores

BYU's first offensive series set the tone for the whole night. The Cougars went 58 yards in nine plays, with LJ Martin ripping off an 11-yard run and Bachmeier hitting Walker Lyons to get into the red zone. Bachmeier finished it himself from 8 yards out with 9:14 left in the first quarter.

Baylor's offense, meanwhile, never found its footing early. DJ Lagway was sacked on the Bears' first possession, and their first two drives ended in punts. BYU's second scoring drive was the more grinding kind: 12 plays, 86 yards and nearly seven minutes off the clock. Martin broke a 15-yard run late in the quarter, and Bachmeier scored on a 5-yard keeper with 10 seconds left in the period. It was 14-0 after one quarter.

The 96-yard march that broke it open

Baylor's best answer in the first half was a 12-play drive in the second quarter. It covered 38 yards, stalled and ended in a punt at the 10:43 mark. Palmer Williams pinned BYU deep, and for a moment it looked like the Bears had flipped the field.

Instead, BYU produced the drive of the night. Starting at its own 4, the Cougars needed 18 plays and 9:03 to go 96 yards. They leaned on the run, mixed in short throws and pulled out a trick play when they needed it: Kyler Kasper, who had caught a 12-yard pass from Bachmeier earlier, threw a 19-yard completion to Lyons that moved BYU to the Baylor 16. A Baylor offside penalty then shortened a fourth down inside the 10, and Bachmeier ran for the first down. Two plays later he scored from 1 yard out with 1:40 left before halftime.

That drive was the game in miniature. BYU went 2 for 2 on fourth down, kept Baylor's offense on the sideline and turned a field position disadvantage into a 21-0 lead.

A quiet third quarter and a missed chance

The second half opened with a burst that did not count. Cannon DeVries returned the kickoff 81 yards to the Baylor 19, but a BYU holding penalty pulled the ball back to the Cougars' 12. From there the third quarter became a field position battle that neither team won outright. BYU punted twice, Baylor punted once, and nobody scored.

Baylor's best shot at getting back into the game died late in the quarter. Lagway's pass was intercepted by BYU's Tommy Prassas at the Cougars' 40. BYU moved into Baylor territory, converted a fourth-and-1 at the Baylor 37 on a Bachmeier run, and then came away empty when Matthias Dunn missed a 45-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter. It was Dunn's only miss of the night; he made all four extra points.

Baylor finally strikes, then the door slams

Given new life, Lagway delivered Baylor's only sustained push of the game. He hit Hawkins Polley for 17 yards, scrambled for 18 and found Jadon Porter for a 31-yard gain. On the eighth play of the drive, Lagway threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Matthew Klopfenstein with 11:18 to play. The drive covered 73 yards in 2:10, and suddenly it was 21-7.

The comeback window lasted about five minutes. BYU's defensive front took over Baylor's next possession, sacking Lagway twice on the drive, the second for a loss of 13 yards, and the Bears had to punt from deep in their own end. DeVries made it count this time, returning the punt 44 yards to the Baylor 26. Three plays later, Bachmeier lofted a 23-yard touchdown pass to Jojo Phillips with 6:43 left, and the 28-7 final was all but settled.

Baylor had one more scare on its next drive when Michael Turner fumbled, but Porter recovered for the Bears. Their final possession ended near midfield as time ran out.

The numbers behind the night

The box score reads like a BYU coaching clinic on complementary football. The Cougars outgained Baylor 312 to 238, ran for 189 yards on 47 carries and won time of possession 37:01 to 22:59. They piled up 23 first downs to Baylor's 16. Baylor was respectable on third down, converting 9 of 16, but the Bears went 0 for 1 on fourth down, were flagged nine times for 80 yards and never generated a second scoring drive.

Bachmeier's line was not flashy through the air. He completed 14 of 24 passes for 104 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions. But he also ran 15 times for 54 yards and three scores, and every one of his rushing touchdowns finished a long drive. Martin added 49 yards on six carries, Sione Moa ran for 37 and Preston Rex combined 28 rushing yards with four catches for 25 more. Lyons led BYU with three catches for 49 yards.

On defense, Bodie Schoonover was the most disruptive player on the field, with two sacks among his four tackles. Viliami Po'uha added a sack and five tackles, while Raider Damuni and Faletau Satuala had five tackles each. BYU sacked Lagway three times in all.

Lagway finished 21 of 37 for 159 yards, a touchdown and an interception, and led Baylor with 42 rushing yards on 11 carries. Gavin Freeman caught six passes for 37 yards and Porter had a career-high five for 50. Travion Barnes made 10 tackles for the Bears, Kyland Reed had eight and Traevon Mitchell recorded Baylor's lone sack. The punters were busy all night: Williams averaged 48.2 yards on six punts with a long of 64, and BYU's Fuller Shurtz, a Ray Guy Award semifinalist, averaged 47.6 yards on five and dropped three inside the 20.

What it means

For BYU, this was a necessary reset. The Cougars came in off the 28-20 loss at Utah and were ranked No. 10 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings. CBS Sports framed the stakes plainly before kickoff: a third regular season loss would likely end BYU's playoff hopes. The Cougars avoided that, stayed in the thick of the Big 12 race at 5-2 and now lead the all-time series with Baylor 4-2. BYU plays at Kansas on Nov. 21 and closes the regular season against Cincinnati in Provo on Nov. 28.

Baylor's turnaround since the coaching change had been one of the better stories in the league, starting with a 41-9 rout of UCF in Klanderman's debut and continuing with a 42-31 win over Iowa State. The Bears are already bowl eligible at 6-4, and they return home to host Texas Tech on Nov. 21 before finishing at Houston on Nov. 28.

Closing take

The headline number for Bachmeier is four touchdowns, but the more telling one is zero. After a four-interception day against Utah, BYU's quarterback played within the offense, protected the ball and let a physical running game and a fast, aggressive defense carry most of the load. Baylor, which spent Friday stuck on the ground and Saturday getting to Provo, never got to play the game it wanted. BYU never let it. The full box score is on ESPN (opens in a new tab), and Baylor's account of the night is in its official recap (opens in a new tab).

Sources: ESPN, BYU Athletics, Baylor Athletics, CBS Sports, The Salt Lake Tribune, Associated Press.

Photo: Baylor Athletics.