Bear Bachmeier became a legend, even if he doesn’t know it – Deseret News

The rookie delivered.

The Bear is now a legend, and he doesn’t even know it.

He may not fully understand the deed for a few weeks or months, perhaps after folks come up and tell him over and over again.

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Bear Bachmeier led No. 15 BYU to back-to-back fourth-quarter touchdown drives to lift BYU to a 24-21 win over rival and No. 23-ranked Utah Saturday night before the largest crowd in LaVell Edwards Stadium in two decades.

Bachmeier made plays true freshmen are not supposed to make.

He was as calm as a well-fed rhino.

He didn’t turn the ball over, despite facing another team throwing everything from the kitchen sink to spare tires at him.

The win lifted BYU to 7-0 on the season, tied atop the Big 12 standings at 4-0 with Cincinnati after undefeated and No. 7-ranked Texas Tech stumbled at Arizona State earlier in the day.

Bachmeier did something even the legendary Taysom Hill couldn’t do, quarterback the Cougars to a win over Utah.

He joins Jaren Hall and Jake Retzlaff as QBs who ended Utah’s nine-game win streak over BYU and then started a three-game streak of their own in this long, hard-fought, passionate series.

This time Bachmeier had to turn back a Utah team fueled by revenge after a victory slipped away from them last year at Rice-Eccles. Utah had all the fuel and faced a do-or-die, must-win night.

Bachmeier has led BYU to three come-from-behind victories now, one at Colorado, another at Arizona and this one where BYU gave up a narrow lead to the Utes in the second half.

BYU’s go-ahead touchdown came on a dramatic five-play, 81-yard drive capped by Bachmeier completing huge passes to Parker Kingston and Carsen Ryan.

A sweep to Kingston for a 12-yard TD put BYU up 17-14 to start the fourth quarter.

But a dramatic hit in that drive exemplified that this cub has become a grizzly.

On that drive Bachmeier took a brutal targeting hit to his lower helmet and jaw area by Ute captain Lander Barton, who was ejected. Just before that jarring hit, he had the presence to throw the ball out of bounds to save a sack.

The ensuing penalty set up the Kingston jet-sweep score.

Bachmeier had to be rattled.

But he had the presence to lead the drive.

BYU’s final touchdown came on an eight-play, 64-yard drive that consumed 5:02 on the clock. The score came from Bachmeier taking on seven Utah tacklers and winning. He ran 22 yards to pay dirt to put BYU up 24-14 with 9:24 to play in the game.

It was enough.

On that play, Bachmeier got to the 10, cradled the ball in both hands and bowled over Ute cornerbacks Smith Snowden, Jackson Bennee and polished off linebacker Johnathan Hall as he barreled into the end zone.

Earlier in the game, Bachmeier’s rocket pass to senior Chase Roberts was a perfectly placed ball by the pylon and Roberts scored standing up to put BYU up. It was good for 17 yards.

For the game, Bachmeier completed 13 of 22 passes for 166 yards and one touchdown. He completed 59% of his passes against the Utes. He ran for an impressive 64 yards on 11 carries, a 5.8 yard-per-carry average.

But all those stats were overshadowed by his poise, confidence and assurance to his teammates that they could count on him.

Be it leaping, hurdling over a tackler to get a few extra yards, trucking tacklers for gains, or picking himself up off the turf after getting cut in half by Ute rusher John Henry Daley, it all has become part of his young, budding legend.

This game was chapter seven in the Bachmeier legacy.

But getting a win like this puts him in the record book with other big-playmaker Cougars the past two decades, John Beck and Max Hall.

He’s joined their club.

He’s one of them.

He’ll be sore come Sunday, but he walked off the field with a mob swarming him and teammates singing his praise.

What a centaur.

What a bear.