Film Review: BYU's Bear Bachmeier Impresses Against Relentless Arizona Pass Rush

On the Bunch Formation podcast, Athletic writer Chris Vannini had this to say about BYU’s pass game against Arizona: “Bear Bachmeier was pretty good? They covered, but I was expecting more from Bachmeier and the passing offense.”

Looking at the box score, that sounds insane. 8.3 yards per attempt, 3 TDs, no turnovers, and a 170 pass efficiency rating is a great game against a good defense any way you slice it. On rewatch though, it’s fair to say BYU’s passing attack looked uncomfortable for long stretches, especially in the first half. So let’s go back to the tape and uncover what happened against the Wildcats and what BYU can improve in the pass game going forward.

Every Bear Bachmeier drop back vs Arizona. What do you notice? pic.twitter.com/sPJiEyIkdn
— Joe Wheat (@joewheat27) September 14, 2026

BYU’s offensive line looked confused by the multiple looks and fronts from Arizona

BYU offensive line against Arizona | BYU Photo

Arizona sent a lot of blitzes and by a lot, I mean 89% of BYU's dropbacks. To BYU’s credit, they only allowed pressure on six of those drop backs with three of those pressures attributed to the offensive line. Watching it back, I found very few examples where a BYU offensive lineman straight-up got beat. Rather, missed assignments caused late reactions, free rushers, and holding penalties that killed otherwise promising drives.

On Arizona’s lone sack of the day, left guard Sonny Makasini wound up blocking no one while Bruce Mitchell and Kyle Sfarcioc double-teamed the other defensive tackle, leaving a free interior rusher to get to the quarterback. Stuff like that feels like missed assignments rather than straight-up getting beat. Holding penalties were generated by bad footing and late reactions, which appear to be caused by not knowing where the rush was coming from.

Bachmeier made great decisions, but Arizona just played really good defense

BYU QB Bear Bachmeier against Arizona | BYU Photo

Bachmeier didn’t have a great completion percentage (62%), but I would say that Bachmeier really only made two bad reads all day, one pre-snap and one post-snap. On the first throw at the 15-second mark, Bachmeier saw the Wildcat corner’s cushion on Kasper and elected to throw the quick slant; however, the corner’s inside leverage and quick break tell me that should have never been thrown, especially with Lyons open on the quick out at the top of the screen.

The second one came at the 1:54 mark, Bachmeier had Frischknecht open on the out, but for whatever reason, Bachmeier did not feel comfortable making the throw fading to his right and wound up reversing field and throwing a back-shoulder to Glasker on the other side.

The rest of Bachmeier’s incompletions were fine with me. Two were bad reads, three were drops, three were intentional throwaways as all receivers were covered, and two were catchable balls with great plays made by defenders. What impressed me most is that outside the near interception to start the game, Bachmeier kept the ball out of harm’s way and didn’t force throws that were not there under pressure. Noah Fifita did that and it might have been the difference in the game.

Arizona did not view BYU’s deep ball as any kind of threat

BYU wide receiver Legend Glasker against Arizona | BYU Photo

As you watch the film, keep an eye on Arizona’s secondary. For almost the entire game, they sat around 7-10 yards deep and did not backpedal at the snap. On 19 of BYU’s 27 pass plays, all of Arizona’s defenders were within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage at the time of the snap. On play action, Arizona safeties crept up at the snap rather than protecting against anything over the top. As soon as BYU’s receivers made their break, Arizona’s defensive backs crashed hard. That worked to their benefit in some ways, forcing multiple pass breakups on slants and hitches, but burned them on others, such as Reggie Frischknecht’s touchdown on the fake screen-and-go, and Legend Glasker’s 61-yard deep ball. If you watch the corner on Glasker’s deep ball, Glasker was able to run by him because the corner hesitates around 15 yards downfield, largely because BYU has not shown that they are willing to send guys deep.

It feels clear that Arizona’s game plan was to force Bachmeier into quick decisions and stop the run. To their credit, it worked, especially if BYU got behind the chains. BYU is not surprising anyone with what they want to be on offense. Now that we have a proof of concept on what BYU can be on deep throws, BYU needs to start stretching defenses down the field if it wants to keep running lanes open and the intermediate passing game a viable threat. More than anything, BYU’s receivers need to do a better job selling vertical on their routes. Watch Kyler Kasper’s route on the near interception by Bachmeier. Did the start of that route look like someone who was a threat to go deep? The DB was able to crash immediately because it looked like a slant the whole way. That is something that needs to be cleaned up as the season goes on.

Bear has clearly progressed in his biggest areas of weakness

BYU wide receiver Kyler Kasper scores a touchdown against Arizona | BYU Photo

Coming into the year, Bachmeier’s biggest areas for improvement were deep balls and red zone passing. 2 weeks into the season, Bachmeier is halfway to his red zone touchdown pass mark from last season and nearly halfway to his passing touchdown total. Why? Bear actually has red zone weapons this season. If Kasper is in single coverage in the red zone like he was Saturday, he is going to score. He is too big not to. If you double him, he’s got other options too. Watch Roger Saleapaga streaking open on Kasper’s second touchdown. BYU is going to be a problem for opponents to defend in that area, especially if Bachmeier is throwing the ball as confidently as he is right now.

While Arizona did not respect the deep ball, they did get burned by it. Bear’s 61-yard completion to Legend Glasker traveled 60 yards in the air, his longest air-yard completion of his career. Now that BYU has that on tape, defenses will have to respect it, which will open up opportunities in the intermediate passing game where Bear is at his best.

Conclusion

Bear Bachmeier was far from perfect Saturday and put up his third-most efficient FBS game of his career. I thought Arizona had a great game plan. BYU got behind the sticks early, which allowed Arizona to get after the quarterback without any real threat from BYU’s run game. Once BYU got back to playing their game on the ground, Bachmeier looked awesome throwing the ball in the second half. The biggest difference I see in Bachmeier this year from last year is confidence. BYU tried to call those deep posts last year, but Bachmeier was not confident enough to pull the trigger. BYU tried to throw the ball in the red zone last year, but Bachmeier was not confident enough to fit balls into tight windows. Against Arizona, he looked awesome in both areas.

Where BYU needs to improve most is protection and stretching defenses. Bachmeier did a great job avoiding the negative play, but outside of one or two throws, never really hurt Arizona on the explosive play. Arizona’s relentless pressure forced him to his checkdowns early or to throwaways to avoid negatives. When Bachmeier had time, he was still decisive and accurate down the field. When he didn’t, BYU’s pass game felt disjointed. In the end, I am encouraged by what I saw. As clunky as it felt at times, Bear Bachmeier's 90.7 QBR was still 6th among all FBS quarterbacks this past week. It wasn’t the cleanest game, but for Bachmeier’s first reps with a real pass rush in nearly 10 months, Bachmeier is only going to get better from here, and that is a scary thought for opponents.

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