Bear Bachmeier: Four Interceptions, and What Comes Next

Nov 8

BYU's quarterback threw four interceptions in the Holy War. He has been here before, and he has answered before. His next chance comes Saturday against Baylor.

AI-generated illustration of a football player in a navy jersey kneeling on a field at sunrise, helmet at his side, with a road leading to a lit stadium in the distance — Every great quarterback has a day like this. (AI-generated illustration)

Bear Bachmeier had BYU in control at halftime of the biggest Holy War ever played. Then four passes went the wrong way. Utah intercepted him four times, twice in the final five minutes with the game on the line, and the Utes won 28-20 at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Nov. 7.

It was the hardest day of the sophomore's career. It was also one game. Bachmeier has thrown bad passes in big games before, and the way he answered them is the best reason to believe this story isn't over.

Two halves, two different games

The first half showed who Bachmeier is. BYU fell behind 14-0, then answered with 20 straight points. Bachmeier hit freshman Legend Glasker for a 75-yard touchdown, and at the break BYU had outgained Utah 273 yards to 35 after that early hole.

Then Utah's defense took over, and its coaches deserve real credit. First-year defensive coordinator Colton Swan, promoted when Morgan Scalley moved up to head coach, kept the Utes in tight man-to-man coverage. Scalley said afterward the staff believed Bachmeier was less efficient against man than against zone. Swan also dialed up well-timed blitzes on third down and mixed in looks that kept BYU guessing about who was rushing and who was dropping into coverage.

That disguise paid off. Defensive end Lance Holtzclaw, whose usual job is to rush the passer, came up with one interception. Linebacker Trey Reynolds dropped into coverage for another, at the goal line, where Bachmeier never saw him. Cornerback James Chenault and safety Nate Ritchie had the other two. All four were thrown toward the same receiver, Kyler Kasper, and Bachmeier completed just four of his final 13 passes for 27 yards.

The last two hurt the most. With BYU trailing 28-20 and facing third-and-goal from the Utah 2 with 4:39 left, linebacker Trey Reynolds dropped into coverage and jumped the throw. BYU got one more chance, and Bachmeier's final pass into the end zone was picked off with seconds to play.

He finished 21 of 35 for 272 yards and a touchdown, and ran for a team-high 59 yards. Before Saturday, he had thrown four interceptions in BYU's first eight games combined.

"Bear's being really hard on himself, and I think it's OK."— BYU coach Kalani Sitake

Bachmeier wasn't made available to reporters, and teammates described a quarterback who took the loss hard.

He's been here before, and he answered

Bachmeier, from Murrieta, California, was a four-star recruit who committed to Stanford and enrolled early. He transferred to BYU with his brother Tiger, a Cougar receiver, during spring practice in 2025. That August he became the first true freshman in BYU history to start a season opener.

Bachmeier's freshman year: bad days, better answers

Two interceptions at Arizona, then a clean Holy War. Bachmeier threw two picks and completed just 12 of 29 passes in a double-overtime win at Arizona. The next week against Utah, he threw none, and BYU won 24-21.
A loss to Texas Tech, then his best game in weeks. After a 29-7 loss to the Red Raiders in November, he came back against TCU and threw for 296 yards without an interception in a 44-13 win.
A rough title game, then a bowl MVP. Texas Tech beat BYU 34-7 in the Big 12 Championship Game, and Bachmeier threw two interceptions. Three weeks later he threw for 325 yards, led BYU back from an 11-point deficit to beat Georgia Tech 25-21 in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, and was named MVP.

BYU finished that season 12-2, and Bachmeier was named the Big 12's Offensive Freshman of the Year. This fall, before Utah, he led BYU to a 7-1 start that included a win over Notre Dame, which lifted the Cougars as high as No. 2 in the country.

BYU's Heisman winner had this day, too

BYU fans don't have to look far for proof that four interceptions don't end a career. Ty Detmer threw that many twice in college, and both times he came back better.

The first time: his college debut. BYU opened the 1988 season at Wyoming. Starter Sean Covey got hurt, and Detmer, a redshirt freshman, came off the bench. In the second half he turned the ball over five straight times, four of them interceptions by his own later account. Wyoming won 24-14.

Four months later, Detmer came off the bench again, this time in the Freedom Bowl. He rallied BYU past Colorado 20-17 and was named MVP. He also beat Wyoming in each of his next three seasons. Bachmeier was a freshman bowl MVP too, in last season's Pop-Tarts Bowl.

The second time: the day he won the Heisman. On Dec. 1, 1990, Detmer learned at the team hotel in Honolulu that he had won the Heisman Trophy. That night, Hawaii beat BYU 59-28. Detmer went 22 of 45 for 319 yards with four interceptions, a line close to Bachmeier's at Utah: 21 of 35 for 272.

It got worse before it got better. BYU also lost its bowl game that season and its first three games of 1991, five straight losses in all. Then the Cougars didn't lose again in the regular season. They went 8-0-1 (college football still had ties then) and won a third straight conference title. After throwing 28 interceptions in his Heisman season, Detmer threw just 12 in 1991. He's now in the College Football Hall of Fame.

"It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it."— Ty Detmer

Great quarterbacks have had this day

Detmer isn't alone. Some of the best to ever play the position have thrown four interceptions, or more, in games that mattered. What they did next is why we remember them.

Tom Brady, 2003. The Patriots opened the season with a 31-0 loss at Buffalo, and Brady threw four interceptions. New England never lost again that regular season, beat the Bills 31-0 in the finale and won Super Bowl XXXVIII.
Peyton Manning, 2007. Manning threw six interceptions at San Diego, five before halftime, a Colts record. He still drove his team into range for a winning field goal in the final minutes. The Colts finished 13-3.
Brett Favre, January 2002. Favre threw six interceptions in a playoff loss to the Rams, still the most in a playoff game in the Super Bowl era. He later joked that if he had stayed in, he could have thrown eight. He's in the Hall of Fame.
Trevor Lawrence, January 2023. In his first NFL playoff game, Lawrence threw four interceptions in the first half as Jacksonville fell behind the Chargers 27-0. He threw four touchdown passes after halftime, and the Jaguars won 31-30 on a field goal as time expired.

None of them stopped throwing. That's the common thread: the next pass, the next drive, the next game.

The answer starts Saturday

BYU hosts Baylor at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 14. Kickoff time and TV are set early in the week. Baylor is 6-3 and 4-2 in the Big 12, coming off a 42-31 win over Iowa State behind quarterback DJ Lagway.

The stakes are real. At 7-2, BYU has to win out against Baylor, Kansas and Cincinnati to have any shot at the Big 12 Championship Game, and it needs Texas Tech, Houston and Oklahoma State to each lose once.

Whatever happens in the standings, these three games belong to Bachmeier. He doesn't need to be perfect. He needs to be the quarterback who led BYU back in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, and who answered every bad day last season with a better one.

Knocked down, back up

Much of the reaction since Saturday has said the same thing: he'll learn from this. Some of it hasn't been kind, and that solves nothing. A sophomore quarterback who cared enough to take a rivalry loss this hard isn't the problem. He's the kind of player teams win with.

That's the lesson sports teach better than anything else. You will get knocked down, sometimes in front of a packed stadium and a national TV audience. What counts is that you get back up, go back to work and take the next snap.

Bachmeier has done it before. Saturday against Baylor, he gets to do it again.

Sources

AI tools assisted in the research and drafting of this article. Featured image generated with AI.

CAL TEBBS