Bear Bachmeier passed for 296 yards and one touchdown and added a score on the ground to help No. 12 BYU cruise to a 44-13 victory over TCU on Saturday night in Big 12 play at Provo, Utah.
LJ Martin rushed for 88 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries and Parker Kingston added a scoring run for the Cougars (9-1, 6-1 Big 12), who impressively rebounded from last week’s 29-7 loss to then-No. 8 Texas Tech.
Carsen Ryan caught a touchdown pass and Tanner Wall returned an interception for a score for BYU. Bachmeier completed 23 of 33 passes and added 59 rushing yards, Kingston caught five passes for 80 yards and Faletau Satuala also had an interception for the Cougars.
Josh Hoover completed 10 of 23 passes for 183 yards and two interceptions for the Horned Frogs (6-4, 3-4), who lost their second straight game. Jon Denman rushed for a touchdown and Eric McAlister had four receptions for 107 yards.
The Cougars outgained TCU 447-298. BYU didn’t punt until the game was more than 50 minutes old.
The Cougars took control of the game with a strong first half.
Will Ferrin opened the scoring with a 52-yard field goal and he booted a 35-yarder as time expired in the first half as BYU led 27-10 at the break.
Kingston scored on an 11-yard run to give the Cougars a 10-0 lead with 2:13 remaining in the first quarter. Bachmeier tacked on a 17-yard scoring run to give BYU a 17-point advantage with 10:16 left in the first half.
TCU got on the board when Nate McCashland kicked a 22-yard field goal with 7:17 left, but BYU answered with Bachmeier’s throw that Ryan turned into a 43-yard scoring play to make it 24-3 with six minutes left.
Denman scored on a 13-yard run to pull TCU within 14 with 1:14 left in the half.
In the third quarter, McCashland kicked a 33-yard field goal for the Horned Frogs and Ferrin had a 29-yarder as BYU took a 30-13 lead into the fourth quarter.
Martin scored from the 1 to boost the BYU lead to 24 with 13:36 left in the game.
Wall piled on with a 68-yard interception return as Hoover’s throw was high and caromed off the hand of McAlister. The ball went directly into the grasp of Wall, who displayed his running skills while scoring. Wall began his BYU career in 2021 as a receiver.
