The BYU Offense Got to Work Through Some Growing Pains Against Stanford

BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier against Stanford | BYU Photo

Growing pains were inevitable for the BYU offense in 2025. The Cougars lost their incumbent starting quarterback in the Summer due to an honor code violation. That sudden change at the most important position opened the door for true freshman Bear Bachmeier to win the starting quarterback job.

Bachmeier was a decorated recruit with a college-ready body, but growing pains were expected. They had to be. That's not a knock on Bachmeier - not at all. Experience is arguably the single most important indicator of good quarterback play in college football, and Bachmeier had no experience. Growing pains would be expected for any quarterback in his situation.

Bachmeier came into the program with the expectation that he would compete for the job in 2026. After a series of unforseen events, he is the starting quarterback for BYU just over 100 days after he transferred from Stanford to BYU.

On Saturday night in BYU's 27-3 win over Stanford, the BYU offense left a lot of points on the table. Four drives stalled in the redzone, including a pair inside the 10 yard-line. Costly penalties cost BYU points and stalled multiple drives.

While the output wasn't at the level BYU will need it be later in the season, the BYU offense got to work through some of those growing pains right before our eyes against Stanford. And it's something that, in the opinion of this author, should pay off later in the season.

The BYU offense was a painful to watch in the second quarter. BYU's first three drives of the second quarter combined for -13 yards. BYU finally got something going in a two-minute drill before halftime, but a Stanford sack knocked BYU out of field goal position.

In the second half, things got better for BYU. The Cougars only had three non garbage-time drives in the second half and all three of them ended in points. BYU put drives together of 72 yards, 43 yards, and 69 yards.

BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier got much more comfortable as well. Bachmeier was 6/9 for 104 yards in the second half.

You could see the growth from Bachmeier in real time. A few things - like the penalites - should be easy to clean up. If not for a few of those penalties, BYU probably wins 35-3 and the sentiment around the offense would be a lot different.

Fortunately for BYU, the defense has been so good that the offense has been allowed some growing pains without threatening the outcomes of games.

There was no world where Stanford was going to win that game, the BYU defense was too dominant. The BYU defense is good enough to carry BYU through the entire month of September. Come October, the BYU offense will need to be much improved. There are signs indicating that the improvement is achievable - we saw it on Saturday against Stanford.

The next stage of growth will be a road test, the first of the young Bear Bachmeier's career. The Cougars will take on East Carolina after enjoying a bye week. The bye week should give the BYU offense some time to work through a few of the kinks that surfaced against Stanford.