BYU advances to 4-0 yet again this season after the 17-10 win against TCU on Saturday, but it wasn’t pretty.
The Cougars couldn’t seem to find any offensive rhythm, and that partially has to do with the early exit of senior running back LJ Martin.
“LJ is the best back in the Big 12,” said running back Preston Rex after the game. “It’s going to hurt any team when someone like that goes down.”
But Martin wasn’t the only guy to leave the game early due to injury.
“LJ didn’t come back, neither did [Isaiah] Glasker, and I think Cannon DeVries was out too, so we had to make some adjustments,” said head coach Kalani Sitake. “We just made some moves and had some guys change positions and away we go.”
One of the plays that sparked the BYU charge was an interception from Faletau Satuala, who picked off a pass from TCU QB Jaden Craig early in the second quarter, which set up a Bear Bachmeier touchdown run.
“If you look at his lower body, I mean he looks like a big running back,” Rex said. “Those safeties, they try to fly down, they try to go right at his hip and they just bounce off. So, I think we got the right play calls in for Bear to run the ball.”
And he did continue to run the ball. The rain fell throughout the entire game, making the air attack a bit more difficult for the Cougars. Bachmeier had only 62 passing yards.
Bachmeier led the team in rushing yards, putting 66 under his belt, including a game-sealing touchdown run late in the fourth quarter.
The Cougars did escape with the win, but Saturday’s game proved the Cougars have some holes to fill if they want to compete for a Big 12 championship and a spot in the College Football Playoff.
“It’s fun to see Bear just do what he does; he can do that if he needs to,” Sitake said. “But I’d like to see us have more efficiency in the game. We’ll work on that next week. I’m going to celebrate this one and then get our guys ready for next week’s competition.”
The Cougars will be back at home for Week 6’s game against Iowa State on Friday night. Kickoff is set for 8:15 p.m.