Bear Bachmeier has a new fan in Rich Rodriguez.
West Virginia’s head coach had plenty of praise for the BYU freshman sensation Friday night, as Bachmeier threw for a career-best 351 yards in a 38-24 win over the Mountaineers in Provo.
“We made him look like the Heisman winner in the first half, hand him the Heisman,” Rodriguez said of Bachmeier after the game. “He’s a good player. (He’s) tough, (he) runs. His accuracy on his deep balls was great. Their guys made some nice plays, and we didn’t. But I thought (Bachmeier) was outstanding.”
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BYU put up 516 yards of offense against the Mountaineers, with Chase Roberts and Parker Kingston each surpassing 100 receiving yards and Bachmeier making a number of high-level throws downfield to burn the secondary.
“We can’t make a play on the ball in the air, all those long pass plays,” Rodriguez said. “They did whatever they want. (We) don’t make them punt. If you don’t make the other team punt, you’re probably going to lose.”
As for West Virginia’s own freshman quarterback, Khalil Wilkins made his first career start Friday against BYU, throwing for 81 yards with two interceptions while logging 23 carries for 89 yards and a touchdown.
“(Wilkins) played hard, he competed,” Rodriguez said. “A freshman in that environment, I thought he was into the game. I think he’d like to have a lot of plays back, but I also think he competed his tail off. … Shoot, that was a tough environment to get your first start in.”
Though the mood at LaVell Edwards Stadium felt somewhat subdued Friday night compared to other late contests — Jack Kelly’s early injury might have had something to do with that — Rodriguez still appreciated what he saw from the Cougar crowd.
“I hadn’t been here for a game, I’ve heard about it. (It was) kind of like our student section, our students get into it and theirs do too,” Rodriguez said. “When we were back up a little bit in there, it was hard to hear a couple of times. They did a nice job of that whole atmosphere.”
With the loss to BYU, West Virginia falls to 2-4 on the season and 0-3 in Big 12 play.
It’s a tough stretch ahead for the Mountaineers, who are seemingly in danger of missing out on bowl eligibility, but Rodriguez — currently in Year 1 of his second stint leading West Virginia’s program — knows the rebuild will require both patience and a complete buy-in from his group.
“We’re going to evaluate and see what we can do or coach better, we’ll see how we can play better,” Rodriguez said. “I told the guys in the locker room, ‘Is everybody doing everything they can to help us win?’ If they are and we still ain’t winning, I know how to fix it. You know, it’s not my first rodeo, I know how to fix it. Some of it’s going to be fixed after the season.
“But are we doing everything we can to win? Every person in the program? I’m not saying we’re not, but I think there’s another level we can get to.”
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