There were both good things and bad things you can takeaway from WVU football's Week 6 loss to the BYU Cougars, but it's hard to paint the Mountaineers' effort in containing BYU freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier in a positive light.
Bachmeier absolutely diced up WVU's defense all night on Friday with both his arm and his legs, showing that not only does he live up to the hype he's been receiving this season, but that he might be one of the best quarterbacks in college football altogether.
If he's not, WVU certainly made him look like he was as he went 18-of-25 passing for 351 yards, one touchdown, and one interception while also adding 43 yards and one touchdown in the run game. WVU has struggled with mobile quarterbacks before and did so again with Bachmeier, but the true freshman was able to shred the Mountaineers' secondary and look their pass defense look silly in a way no other quarterback has yet. After the game, Rich Rodriguez was blunt in his assessment of Bachmeier's play.
"We made him look like the Heisman winner in the first half. Hand him the Heisman," Rodriguez said. "And he is a good player. He’s tough. He runs. It was everything we thought.
WVU did manage to force an interception and a fumble off Bachmeier in the first half, the latter of which resulted in a Mountaineers' touchdown, but the young signal caller never once looked rattled and responded well to moment of adversity. In the end, he proved that he's in a different tier of player than those WVU defenders trying to stop him, and that the Bear Bachmeier hype is for real.