TUCSON, Arizona — After the Legend of Bear Bachmeier grew exponentially on a soggy, weather-delayed night at Arizona Stadium late Saturday night with two touchdown runs and a touchdown pass, giving him 15 total TDs, BYU 's freshman quarterback glanced at the stat sheet and let out a sigh.
"Holy cow," said the 19-year-old. "Twenty-two carries."
He found the end zone on the final carry, bulling in from the Arizona 7 to give the never-say-die Cougars the 33-27 win over the Wildcats in double overtime. The Wildcats drove to the BYU 7, but Noah Fifita 's fourth-down pass slipped out of his receiver's hands and the Cougars had their sixth win, and their third Big 12 win.
Bachmeier gained 89 much-needed yards on those 22 carries, and has more carries than anyone not named LJ Martin on the team, by a wide margin. Bachmeier has packed it 71 times, gaining 341 and losing 46.
In the third spot is Sione Moa, who had 17 carries for 90 yards before sitting out the last two games.
Martin, BYU's bell cow and arguably best player, had a career-high 25 carries for 162 yards (and a 28-yard TD run) against an Arizona defense that was giving up only 98 rushing yards per game.
Is Bachmeier getting accustomed to the heavy work load on the ground?
"I guess so, yeah," he said. "But I know (22) is not the ideal number, so we will possibly turn it down here coming up."
They almost certainly will have to, or the sturdy, 6-foot-2, 220-pound Bachmeier might not make it through the season. He has also thrown only three interceptions (all in the last two games) and passed for 1,220 yards, with a passer rating of 148.5 Midway through the season, the former Stanford commit from Murrieta, California, has exceeded even the loftiest expectations.
"He plays like he's a veteran," said receiver Parker Kingston .
Speaking of running a lot, Martin is also in that category — out of necessity as much as anything else.
"LJ had a freakin' baller night," said Bachmeier. "I mean, he is a dog. So yeah."
Martin is sixth in the nation in rushing yards per game at 108.7 per game. Converted safety Preston Rex, who is now RB2 on the depth chart, got two carries for 1 yard Saturday. Rex had a 16-yard reception two plays before Martin's 28-yard TD run gave the Cougars a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
Told that Bachmeier had 22 carries, Sitake acknowledged, "Yeah, that's kind of a lot. But he can handle it, and LJ can handle his 25 runs, too. So we will be good there. I was really proud of Preston stepping in and making plays.
"And so we feel like we got great talent. But when it came down to the time to make a play, we needed LJ, and we needed Bear. And sometimes you're gonna have to ask Bear to run the ball, and he is OK with it."
Tight end Carsen Ryan didn't record a reception after an early drop, but made several key blocks at the end of regulation and in the second overtime.
"I just didn't see any panic," Sitake said. "… We practice (late-game plays and drives) all the time. I know people were getting a little nervous. … But we knew exactly what we wanted to accomplish and how we wanted to get it done. And LJ was a big part of that."
As was Bachmeier, who humbly described his game-winning touchdown run thusly: "I kinda had three options on that deal. I saw a crease and just went with it, saw the goal line."
Bachmeier said he will relish the "great memory," but won't let it get to his head.
"You gotta keep rolling forward and keep this thing going," he said.
Obviously, the next one is huge, as No. 23 Utah visits No. 15 BYU for the rivalry game Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium (6 p.m MDT, Fox). Sitake said the Cougars will turn their attention to the 5-1 Utes, who demolished Arizona State 42-10 before their own dynamic running quarterback, Devon Dampier , on Monday.
"Yeah, we're gonna have fun with this (win) and then hopefully keep the momentum rolling to next week," he said. "It is going to be back to hard work on Monday and focus on our opponent, and we will do that when that happens.
"Right now. I want our guys to enjoy it and just kind of relish in the victory. It would be foolish of us to all of a sudden turn around and say, 'Hey, let's get focused on the next one, even if it's a rival game. We go through the process. We do things in order. We will feel good about the way we show up when it happens next weekend."
No. 23 Utah (2-1, 5-1) at No. 15 BYU (3-0, 6-0)
• Saturday, 6 p.m. MDT
• At LaVell Edwards Stadium
• Provo, Utah
• TV: FOX
• Radio: 102.7 FM/1160 AM
