Provo • BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick insisted Bear Bachmeier had the whole playbook at his disposal after just 15 practices.
But his true freshman quarterback barely had to use it in a 69-0 trouncing fueled mostly by the defense and running game.
Bachmeier hadn’t even hit 30 passing yards before the Cougars built a 35-point lead. He didn’t complete a pass of more than 5 yards until 20 minutes into the game. And Roderick seemed content to let Bachmeier worry more about handing the ball off as the Cougars rushed for 267 yards before intermission.
It led to a stress-free debut for the 19-year-old — going 7-of-11 passing for 97 yards and five total touchdowns.
The Cougars leaned heavily on everyone around Bachmeier to put away a helpless FCS opponent.
It started early with a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown by linebacker Jack Kelly. On offense, BYU kept finding ways to get Bachmeier inside the 5-yard line for him to punch it in. LJ Martin ripped off four runs of 10-plus yards, including a 49-yard run down the 7.
Martin finished with 131 yards on eight carries.
Bachmeier took care of the rest with a few quick throws. He connected with Chase Roberts for a 4-yard score and Noah Moeaki for a five-yard touchdown. He ran for two more touchdowns of 4 and 12 yards.
The first time Roderick asked Bachmeier to take a shot to the end zone, he found Carsen Ryan for a 22-yard touchdown.
Roderick elected to pull Bachmeier after a half, up 49-0. The freshman put the ball in harm’s way twice, with a potential interception on a jump ball to Roberts and a bad ball to Cody Hagen. But for the most part, it was an uneventful, successful night.
BYU averaged 12.1 yards per play in the first half and had 12 rushes of 10-plus yards. It ended the game with more than 600 total yards of offense and gave up fewer than 100.
Hagen accounted for 92 total yards and a touchdown on his own.
BYU will host Stanford next week in Provo.