Bear Bachmeier has already shown he can take a punch and keep moving. The real question now is whether he can do it in one of the toughest road environments in the Big 12.
Saturday’s matchup at Rice-Eccles Stadium will be the first time Bachmeier steps into that building, and the setting is about as unforgiving as it gets. No.
7 BYU is heading into a showdown with No. 3 Utah, with the Utes sitting alone atop the Big 12 standings before kickoff.
The spotlight will land first on the quarterbacks, but the noise, pressure and momentum swings will shape everything around them.
Bachmeier has earned the label of gamer early in his career. He has looked competitive, driven, confident and efficient.
His roughest outing came at Texas Tech, when he was hurt early. He also had trouble in last year’s Big 12 championship game in Arlington, when the Red Raiders’ defense overwhelmed the Cougar offense.
Then came Saturday’s 27-20 win over Arizona State, when Bachmeier helped BYU put together its longest drive of the season in the fourth quarter to close out the game. It was the kind of possession that demanded a response, and he delivered it with two fourth-down conversions, including one from his own 14, plus a 53-yard throw to Legend Glasker.
That kind of poise matters. But road games in places like Rice-Eccles can test even the most composed quarterback.
Houston’s Conner Weigman found that out in Rice-Eccles, looking sharp early before unraveling in the second half. By the fourth quarter, he appeared bewildered and stunned. Utah’s pressure kept coming, and on a safety blitz, the Utes forced a fumble on a critical late possession.
The same kind of thing happened to Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr at LaVell Edwards Stadium. He struggled against a charged-up BYU defense, throwing high, hurrying throws and looking rattled.
And there was Craig Erickson in Provo in 1990, the Miami quarterback who entered that game as the leading Heisman candidate on a No. 1, defending-champion team. He had a rough day, and by the second half his teammates were deriding him from the sideline.
Atmosphere can do that to quarterbacks.
That’s part of what makes this one so compelling, and part of why former BYU quarterback John Beck knows exactly what Bachmeier is walking into. Beck lived through this rivalry himself and helped deliver one of its most famous finishes, finding Johnny Harline with no time left for a historic win.
He still sees the appeal of these games.
“I think the big road games are one of the things that make college football so exciting,” said Beck, now a QB whisperer with 3DQB in Southern California. At 45, Beck remains a BYU favorite and has tutored the best quarterbacks in the NCAA and NFL in his current job.
“The challenge it presents (road games), the way the crowd can be silenced when you hit a big third-down play, there are definitely things you have to prepare for. But it also makes it such a fun atmosphere.”
Beck said the mental side matters just as much as the physical one for quarterbacks facing this kind of setting.
“From a mental and emotional standpoint, you have to play the game like any other game,” said Beck.
“That’s how you keep yourself relaxed and be able to play with poise. But you also have to expect the crowd to try to sway the momentum and have an impact on communication at the line or in the huddle.
“For a lot of players, once the ball is snapped, the crowd and its noise kind of disappear until that ball is caught or a player is making a play; then the crowd comes back into vision and hearing.”
Bachmeier and Utah quarterback Devon Dampier will draw the biggest attention, as quarterbacks always do. Still, the people who know these games best will tell you the outcome may come down to something much less glamorous.
Bill Parcells put it plainly: “I don’t care how good or bad your QB is. If your O-line is getting their (expletive) whipped in the trenches, all bets are off. Games are won in the trenches.”
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