BOULDER, Colo. — BYU had enough offense to capture a win in its Big 12 opener on the road Saturday night.
Even if at times, it was barely enough. Or even Bear-ly.
Bear Bachmeier completed 19-of-27 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for 103 yards on 14 carries (before the game-ending victory formation to finish with 98 yards) to help the 25th-ranked Cougars hold off Colorado, 24-21 in front of 52,265 mostly hostile fans Saturday night at Folsom Field.
But with less than two minutes remaining and a 3-point lead, BYU coach Kalani Sitake left the result in the hands of his defense — and a dash of special teams.
Moments after the two-minute timeout, Sam Vander Haar whipped a punt 30 yards to the Colorado 4-yard line, giving the Buffaloes 1 minute and 49 seconds to drive the length of the field to win or force overtime.
Four players later, Isaiah Glasker — the defensive MVP of BYU’s Alamo Bowl win over Colorado nine months ago — intercepted a wobbly pass for the Cougars’ first turnover of the game to ice the result.
Of course, this time there was no celebration, no homage to Deion “Prime Time” Sanders, who led the Buffs from the other sideline. Not even a little, Glasker noted.
Instead, he gave plenty of credit to teammate Jack Kelly, who posted a team-high six tackles including two tackles for loss and a sack that helped bottle up former Liberty quarterback Kaidon Salter.
“When I dropped and saw (Salter) roll out, all I saw was Jack Kelly run in front of me, bringing pressure,” said Glasker, who also had four tackles and a sack on defense. “He forced the throw, and I just did the rest from there.”
Salter, who threw for 119 yards and a touchdown with the interception and ran for 49 yards and a score, led a pair of touchdown drives on the Buffaloes’ first two possessions, including a direct-snap 5-yard score by converted wide out Dre’lon Miller to stretch the hosts’ lead to 14-0 with 5:08 left in the first quarter.
But the Cougars made adjustments, including a sack and two tackles for loss from Kelly to rally back. Colorado (2-3, 0-2 Big 12) scored 14 points on 138 yards over 16 plays (8.7 yards per play) in the first quarter. In the second, BYU allowed just 17 plays for 50 yards (2.9 yards per play) that included a scoreless second quarter.
“Colorado did a great job giving us some different looks. But honestly, once they started gaining some yards, our guys started to press a little bit more. Honestly, maybe things were a little too easy (for the defense) in the first three games,” Sitake said. “When things got really, really tight, guys started doing a little too much, stepped outside their 1/11th, and that’s never going to work.
“Once we were able to settle down and play ball, focus on the simple and little things, then we were able to play better … After the first two drives, the guys responded the right way.”
Bachmeier ended the half with his best effort, leading a 10-play, 94-yard drive — and aided by back-to-back defensive hold/pass interference penalties — before finding Chase Roberts for a five-yard touchdown.
“I think we needed some momentum, knowing we could drive the ball, get something going, and get a little trust from our defense,” said Roberts, who caught a team-high five catches for 49 yards and two touchdowns. “I think we were able to do that, get a little momentum, and just play our game and play BYU football. Once we’re able to do that, we’re a great team. And I think it shows on that 95-yard touchdown drive.
That brought the Cougars within 14-10 at the break, with an identical 188 yards of offense.
Roberts doubled his touchdown tally and gave the Cougars their first lead, converting a fourth-and-2 play into a wide-open 4-yard touchdown.
Salter immediately responded with a TD toss of his own for 19 yards to Miller. But Cody Hagen put the visitors back in front with a 32-yard reverse to open the fourth quarter to put BYU back in front for good.
“We knew they were going to give us their best shot, and they schemed us up pretty well, down 14-0,” Bachmeier said. “We kind of hit adversity in our first Big 12 game, but we kept our poise, and we were calm the whole time. We knew we were going to bounce back.”
After back-to-back games on the road — in addition to an off week — the Cougars return home to host West Virginia on Friday night at LaVell Edwards Stadium (8:30 p.m. MT, ESPN).
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