LJ Martin could only watch the second half of BYU’s rain-soaked game at TCU from the sidelines, dressed in street clothes with a blue hoodie.
The senior running back was joined on the injury list by Isaiah Glasker, whose QB hurry forced an interception in the first half before he, too, was relegated to the bench with an undisclosed injury.
With two of BYU’s biggest stars saddled with injuries, Bear Bachmeier carried the team on his 6-foot-2, 230-pound shoulders.
The sophomore quarterback threw for 62 yards and ran for a team-high 66 yards and two touchdowns as the No. 10 Cougars improved to 4-0 with a 17-10 win over TCU at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas.
Journee Tonga added 28 yards on seven carries for BYU (4-0, 2-0 Big 12), which won in Fort Worth for the first time since current defensive coordinator Kelly Poppinga was a junior linebacker in 2006.
“LJ is the best back in the Big 12; it’s going to hurt any team when someone like that goes down,” said BYU running back Preston Rex, who ran for 21 yards on eight carries. “But we learn from the best; coach Harvey (Unga) is the best in the nation, Journee is really good in between the tackles, and I feel like I’m a change-of-pace guy. We’ve got the talent; it was just our time to step up.
“We did enough, and we got the job done tonight.”
And they did it with the reigning Big 12 offensive player of the year exiting with an apparent lower leg/ankle injury after just three touches.
“Bear just took over,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said after the Cougars won a game with the fewest offensive yards since a 10-3 victory at Hawaii in 1986.
“I felt like we needed this type of game,” Sitake added.
BYU had just 101 yards at halftime and didn’t cross 200 until Bachmeier scored on a 21-yard run with 2:06 remaining.
Blame it on the rain, on Milli Vanilli, or on injuries to a couple of BYU’s biggest stars. But give credit to the Cougars’ defense, too.
Without Martin, who averaged 109.3 yards rushing per game in the first three games, BYU rode Bachmeier, and Bachmeier rode a strong defensive performance to a 4-0 start for a third consecutive year for the first time in program history.
Faletau Satuala had the most yardage on a single play in the game, when the star safety pulled down an interception and returned it 59 yards to set up Bachmeier’s first rushing score for a 7-0 lead with 7:52 left in the half.
Twelve total punts and Jaden Craig’s game-tying touchdown to Kari Ashley later, Bachmeier tucked it again, this time from 21 yards out on second-and-12 as the Cougars ran a quarterback draw to perfection to stretch the lead to 17-7 with 2:06 remaining.
“We didn’t really have a great drive until that last drive as an offense,” admitted BYU center Bruce Mitchell. “And Bear is such a tough kid; we’re down a couple of backs, and he stepped up big time for us.”
Jake Clifton — the Kansas State transfer by way of a church mission to Nicaragua — had the Cougars’ fourth sack of the night, tied for the most since totaling five against Navy in 2020.
He also had six tackles, tied for the second-most behind safety Tommy Prassas’ seven.
Texas transfer Tausili Akana had two of BYU’s eight tackles for loss, including a sack against TCU (2-3, 0-2 Big 12).
“It just shows everybody on the team that we can win these matches,” Clifton said. “Later on, when we got these kinds of opponents, and it is a boxing match, we played against TCU in a close one and came out with a win.
“It’s just confidence.”
No doubt, the weather impacted the game, especially on offense. So did TCU’s defense, which entered Saturday allowing 271 yards and 15.7 points per game.
“I don’t think Bear was able to grip the ball the way he wanted to be able to rip it,” Mitchell said. “But great teams find a way to win.”