For BYU’s sophomore quarterback, his four touchdown performance not only ushered the Cougars into the national spotlight, but also served as personal vindication for a previous experience in his recruiting process. 

“Out of high school, Notre Dame disrespected me and my family pretty badly, and there was no way I was going to lose to those guys tonight,” Bachmeirer said postgame.

Bachmeier did not elaborate on the circumstances that led to the hard feelings — and later expressed that he has love for Notre Dame and quarterback CJ Carr.

He let his play on the field do most of the talking.

Marcia Harris, Special to the Herald

Bachmeier delivered the elusive football hat trick, scoring two rushing touchdowns, a receiving touchdown and a passing touchdown in BYU’s 28-24 win over the No. 2 Irish at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo.

His passing touchdown proved the biggest of them all, a six-yard strike on third-and-goal to Walker Lyons to take the lead with 1:47 left in the game.

The pass completed a 10-play, 55-yard drive BYU needed to avoid losing a game it led by double digits in the second half. Bachmeier made multiple plays with his arm and legs to set up the score, including a third-down completion to Kyler Kasper, a 26-yard pass to Legend Glasker and a trio of rushes to push near the goal line. 

BYU coach Kalani Sitake credited his toughness and resilience for allowing him to deliver in the clutch. Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said that Bachmeier can be hit but can’t be broken, and that in the crucial moments “the ball will be in his hand.”

Bachmeier was just doing whatever it took to win.

Marcia Harris, Special to the Herald

“We’re not playing to lose, so we put our balls on the chopping block, and we’re going to be aggressive, and that’s what we did,” he said. 

Entering the game, national college football analysts questioned whether BYU could consistently move the ball against Notre Dame without starting running back LJ Martin and against a vaunted Irish secondary.

In the first half, Bachmeier showed that the Cougars could do so efficiently, scoring touchdowns on three of their four first-half possessions, with Bachmeier going 13 of 18 passing. He looked poised in the pocket, making his reads and throwing passes to six different receivers.

“I wear the number 47, and you know I like to run the ball, but at the end of the day, I’m a quarterback and I want to be a point guard,” Bachmeier said. “Just being a distributor. So then when you get a lot of guys touching the ball, good things happen.”

When the opportunity presented itself to use his legs, though, he took it, scroring rushing touchdowns of 5 and 1 yards, and a 15-yard touchdown reception on a trick play screen pass. 

“He was able to identify coverage really well, keep us off balance with the run game, and so I think that was the biggest thing,” Notre Dame linebacker Drayk Bowen said. “We didn’t necessarily shut him down like we needed to in the first half.” 

Yardage was tougher to come by in the second half, as the Irish became more physical and rushed Bachmeier in the pocket. BYU gained just 37 yards on its first three second-half drives, and after the fourth appeared promising, Bachmeier underthrew a deep ball into the hands of Jayden Sanders for an interception. 

When he was needed most, though, Bachmeier delivered with the game-winning touchdown. As fans swarmed the field around him postgame, he celebrated with his family, then went into the postgame interview and pulled out the receipts, both from a personal standpoint and as a team. 

“We’re tired of being disrespected,” he said. “We know who we are, and man, this was a great win for sure.”