WVU Will Dial Up the Pressure Against BYU Quarterback Bear Bachmeier

On Friday night, BYU will host the West Virginia Mountaineers for the first time at Lavell Edwards Stadium. The two programs have played each other twice or the last decade and the Mountaineers lead the all-time series 2-0.

This time around, BYU is a heavy favorite against a WVU team that has struggled in conference play. As of this writing, the Cougars are favored by three scores.

When BYU is on offense, it's safe to expect the WVU defense to bring a lot of blitzes. According to Cam Mellor, WVU ranks sixth nationally in blitz rate. The Mountaineers blitz 43.6% of the time.

Highest blitz rate, FBS defenses:

1) Colorado State: 65.0%
2) Boston College: 51.5%
3) Arizona: 46.3%
4) Utah State: 44.9%
5) San Jose State: 44.4%
6) West Virginia: 43.6%
7) FAU: 43.5%
8) Illinois: 42.5%
9) Eastern Michigan: 42.0%
10) Michigan: 41.7%
11) Colorado: 41.6%
12)… pic.twitter.com/wlQFz95eYX
— Cam Mellor (@CamMellor) September 30, 2025

WVU's blitz packages are, for the most part, effective. WVU ranks eighth nationally in pressure rate. The Mountaineers get pressure on the quarterback 42.5% of their pass-rush attempts.

Highest pressure rate, FBS defenses (pressures per pass-rush rep):

1) Boise State: 48.8%
2) Louisville: 48.4%
3) Missouri: 47.3%
4) Oklahoma: 46.2%
4) Pittsburgh: 46.2%
6) Utah: 44.7%
7) Washington State: 42.9%
8) West Virginia: 42.5%
9) Miami-FL: 41.0%
10) Alabama: 40.4%… pic.twitter.com/n6YXHq79Wy
— Cam Mellor (@CamMellor) September 30, 2025

BYU is the better football team in this game. If both teams play a clean game, the Cougars will win going away. The best chance for WVU to stay in the game? Pressure BYU's true freshman quarterback and try to force him into mistakes.

In fact, that's exactly what opposing defenses have tried to do against Bear Bachmeier.

Stanford blitzed Bachmeier on 45% of his dropbacks. ECU blitzed on 35% of dropbacks and Colorado blitzed on 29% of dropbacks.

Bachmeier could make WVU pay for blitzing too often. That's exactly what he did against ECU. Bachmeier was 11/16 for 125 yards (7.8 yards per attempt) against ECU when he wasn't blitzed. When he was blitzed, he was 7/9 for 121 yards (13.4 yards per attempt) and 1 touchdown.

Bachmeier struggled against the blitz in his first FBS game against Stanford, but he has handled the blitz fairly well in the last two games. A big reason for that is Bachmeier's processing speed. Bachmeier averages 2.35 seconds to throw the football which ranks sixth nationally.

Bear doesn't hold on to the ball long, so WVU would need their blitzes to get home quickly or else they could be exposed on the back end.

WVU's best win this season was against rival Pitt. Quarterback pressure played a major role for the Mountaineers in the game - they tallied six sacks. But what does Pitt quarterback Eli Holstein tend to do? Hold onto the ball too long. Holstein ranks 80th nationally in average time to throw and that played a big role in the sack total.

Bachmeier has showcased his ability to make defenses pay when they blitz. Bachmeier has six touchdown passes this season and five of them have been against the blitz. However, WVU will still dial up exotic blitzes and Bachmeier will have to be ready for it.

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