Talking about catching bad juju? Nobody knows it better right now than the BYU Cougars quarterback, Bear Bachmeier. Kalani Sitake’s quarterback came up with yet another heroic feat. During the Cougars’ last fight against Utah, Bachmeier came up with 13 of 22 passes for 166 yards and one touchdown. He just pressed the ‘repeat’ button in their latest feat against the Iowa State Cyclones. But hardly did he know that the picture-perfect day would end in heartbreak. No, not a defeat.

Bachmeier’s stats of the day- 22 of 35 passes, 307 yards, and two touchdowns were spectacular enough to seal a 41-27 victory. However, a bitter surprise awaited the Cougars fans in the post-game presser. On October 25, after the game, Jay Drew came up with the disturbing update. “BYU QB Bear Bachmeier was wearing a sleeve-like bandage deal around his lower right leg in the postgame interview. He said it was nothing more than a bruise, and he didn’t know it happened until a trainer told him they needed to wrap it,” confirmed the analyst. But how did that happen?

Well, we have no proper information about what made Bachmeier take extra care of his leg. After all, he came off as a picture-perfect deal, throttling the Cyclones. His heroic feat made the fans forget its awful start and key injuries. Was it easy for Bachmeier? No way. After all, he was unlucky enough not to have his most dependable playmaker, LJ Martin, around, who was sidelined in the first half with a shoulder injury. 

So, it definitely left Bachmeier feeling stranded on an island, all by himself, for the first time this year. But he chose to turn the tables. Playing with essentially no running game, Sitake’s quarterback carried the Cougars with his arms. Down 24-10, most would’ve panicked. Bachmeier didn’t. He shouldered the offense and led the Cougars on a comeback for the ages.

Late in the first half, Bachmeier revved up his gameplay, finessing a perfect toss over the linebacker to find Parker Kingston for six. Then came the third quarter, and he followed that up with brute strength, dragging defenders into the end zone for BYU’s first lead. And in the fourth, with the game deadlocked, he evaded pressure and lofted another beauty to Kingston, who hauled it in through tight coverage. 

An absolute masterpiece from their quarterback led Sitake’s squad to a perfect 8-0 clean slate. Not even a single game could tarnish their streak. As the Cougars move to the much-needed bye week, guess who must be feeling the proudest right now? The Barstool Sports founder, Dave Portnoy. 

Bear Bachmeier ensured to keep Dave Portnoy’s trust in BYU intact

Bachmeier had yet to put up his fabulous feat against Iowa State when Portnoy had already taken a stand in their defense. The analyst went off on Associated Press voters during Saturday’s airing of “Big Noon Kickoff.” What did he even fight for? The discrimination is prevalent in the college football conference structure. 

Portnoy specifically pointed to BYU, which then sat at 7–0, yet was out of the top 10 race. The AP Poll ranked Bachmeier and Co. at No.11. And what struck Portnoy, leading him to address the matter? Six one-loss teams occupy top-10 spots, which, according to the analyst, says a lot about national voters turning a blind eye to the Big 12. “There is a conference out there that I think folks should be giving a little bit more love and respect,” Portnoy blew the whistle. “I mean the top 10 rankings. If you look at what we got, six teams with a loss in it, and you got BYU, sitting there undefeated in the Big 12. Not the top 10.”

Despite being 4.5-point underdogs, the No. 15 Cougars pulled off a thrilling 24-21 upset, vaulting to No. 11 in the post-Week 8 AP Top 25. And after Bachmeier pulled off a bold feat against Iowa State, Portnoy’s fight became more powerful. Meanwhile, even after keeping the BYU boat floating, this time beating all the odds, will Josh Pate still hold the same feeling for Bachmeier? On the October 17 episode of his podcast, the analyst had made a bold statement: “Can Bear Bachmeier throw to win if he needs to? Coz I trust Devon Dampier a lot more than I trust Bear Bachmeier at the moment.” 

The Arizona game was a hiccup: two turnovers. Outside of that, Bear Bachmeier threw just one pick against WVU and kept a clean slate in the remaining six contests. Let’s cross our fingers that the bruise behaves itself and Bachmeier avoids a major setback.