Quarterback: A

Bear Bachmeier continues to make significant strides with every game, and in Saturday’s win, he made his biggest leap forward to date. After some initial struggles he led the way, as much as any player on the BYU football team in securing the thrilling comeback win. Overall he finished with 19-27 passing for 179 yards, two touchdowns, and most importantly, no interceptions. As good as the freshman was through the air, he was better on the ground, rushing for 103 yards on just 15 carries. Considering the venue, and the unique circumstance of playing from behind for the first time this season, Bachmeier deserves a straight A.

Running back: B-

LJ Martin encountered some tough sledding for the first time this season and averaged just 3.9 yards per carry while incurring several runs for loss. But he proved effective in big spots nonetheless and contributed one of his better games as a receiver, hauling in four receptions for 36 yards to help keep the Buffalo defense honest. Other than Martin it was only Enoch Nawahine receiving touch, gaining four yards on just his single carry. Overall Martin was solid, as can be expected game in and game out, but help behind him could be an issue moving forward with the absence of Sione Moa due to injury.

Wide Receivers/tight ends: B+

Again it was a mixed bag by the Cougar wideouts, but considering the strong finish, the group deserves a relatively high grade. Leading the way was Chase Roberts, who torched single coverage for both of his touchdowns while hauling in a critical reception in a 3rd-and-7 situation late. Cody Hagen’s touchdown off a brilliantly-designed tornado reverse was the call of the game and executed brilliantly, although the sophomore continues to be absent in the passing game. Both Parker Kingston and Carsen Ryan contributed big receptions and the group overall did enough to force several critical pass interference calls against the Buffaloes.

Offensive line: C+

The offensive line did well in cleaning up a lot of the penalties incurred the week prior versus East Carolina, but still lacked a good and consistent push upfront against an otherwise porous Colorado rush defense throughout. The pass protection was generally good, and overall the unit did enough to elevate solid offensive production, but there’s still much to improve upon in asserting their overall will on opposing defenses for the rest of the season.

Defensive line: C-

The defensive line play has been great all season, but it definitely took its share of lumps against the Buffaloes. From the outset the unit was getting gashed up and down the field, and especially when Colorado chose to run away from defensive line standout Logan Lutui. Overall Colorado had 211 yards rushing for the game, and the defensive line did buckle down in key moments. With regards to applying pressure with a 4-man rush, it largely wasn’t there throughout the game.

Linebackers: B+

The lack of a stout rush defense throughout most of the first half, and at certain junctures of the second, falls on the linebackers, too. But overall the game changed due to the play of both Jack Kelly and Isaiah Glasker, who again proved to be one of the best outside linebacker tandems in BYU football history in Saturday’s win. Kelly tracked down multiple open field tackles, along with Glasker, who effectively ended the game with his interception.

Defensive backs: B

Evan Johnson contributed several key open field tackles and didn’t have much of anything completed in his direction. Mory Bamba, seeing most of the reps opposite Johnson was flagged for a bad 15-yard facemask early on, but overall had his best game of the season in being allotted more reps than he has in any game prior. Both Raider Damuni and Faletau Satuala both contributed big plays, although Canon DeVries was exposed in coverage on Colorado’s final touchdown pass of the night.

Special Teams: B-

Sam Vander Haar’s punt late, which pinned Colorado on its own 3-yardline is certain to be overlooked by too many fans, but shouldn’t. It was huge and played a big impact in securing the final outcome. It’s hard to fault any kicker for a missed 55-yard field goal, so we certainly won’t downgrade Will Ferrin’s overall grade component in that regard. But the biggest mark against the special teams was Tiger Bachmeier in making the ill-conceived action of fielding two punts well inside the five yardline. He was summarily pulled from his duties late with Parker Kingston taking over.

Coaching: B+

BYU was not prepared sufficiently for what Colorado presented and that’s on the coaches. But the adjustments made throughout the game were stellar, and perhaps particularly for the offense, with Coordinator Aaron Roderick calling some outstanding plays, most notably the aforementioned tornado reverse by Cody Hagen which caught Colorado completely off-guard. A lot of the improvements Bear Bachmeier showed throughout the course of the game in large part was due to Roderick’s play calling, which wasn’t perfect by any means, but was otherwise outstanding.