BYU moved to 5-0 and within a victory of bowl eligibility though Cougar Nation has much higher aspirations. BYU did the job against an overmatched West Virginia squad as the Mountaineers are definitely scuffling losing their third straight and four out of their last five.

One of the exciting elements of BYU’s win Friday night was the passing game.

Bear Bachmeier was 18-for-25 for 351 yards with one touchdown and one interception. And Bachmeier was certainly bullish on the ground with 12 rushes for 43 yards giving him 393 total yards offense.

Wide receiver Chase Roberts has truly established himself as an elite receiver in the Big 12 the last two games. In this contest he had four catches for 161 yards including the second-longest reception at 85 yards since Steve Sarkisian connected with Dustin Johnson on a 87-yarder clear back in 1996. But his 98 yards of YAC (yards after catch) was indeed impressive.

Parker Kingston also contributed some big-time YAC with 70 on his 111 total yards receiving. All total, the Cougars had 216 YAC.

This shows three important elements. Bachmeier is delivering good balls hitting the receivers in stride. Meanwhile, the receivers are doing their part advancing the ball and eluding defenders while other receivers and tight ends are blocking well down field to spring this extra yardage.

BYU’s offense has definitely improved game by game and went for 516 total yards. Meanwhile, West Virginia was held to 291 with a bulk of that coming in the final stanza.

Cougar running back LJ Martin was bottled up a bit but finally broke through with a 32-yarder that pretty much ended any hope West Virginia had for getting the ball back. Martin finished with 90 yards on 21 carries for 4.3 yards a clip.

BYU also executed a nice fake field goal with holder Sam Vander Haar faking a lateral between his legs to Will Ferrin before sprinting up the field for 11 yards and a first down. The drive eventually stalled and Ferrin connected on a 37-yard field goal. BYU was 4-for-4 on fourth down conversions with one of them being this well executed trick play.

On defense Therrian Alexander III had his first career interception for BYU and nearly took it to the house on a 47-yard return before being tackled at the 4-yard line. He was brought down by the Mountaineer QB Khalil Wilkins via a horse collar tackle. This set up BYU’s first score of the game, a 1-yard run by Parker Kingston.

Safety Faletau Satuala led the Cougars with eight tackles, six of which were solo and one was a tackle for loss. Defensive lineman Logan Lutui had six tackles with a pass break up and one hurry. Safety Tanner Wall also had a pick that thwarted a West Virginia drive.

BYU also had a great goal line stand in the fourth quarter that effectively ended any hope of a West Virginia comeback and the Mountaineers were 0-for-2 on fourth down conversions.

One concerning aspect of the game was the turnovers.

Though West Virginia scored 24 points, the Cougar offense gift-wrapped two Mountaineer scores, turning the ball over two times in their red zone with an errant pitch by Bachmeier giving the Mountaineers the ball inside the Cougar 5-yard line. BYU’s true freshman QB also threw an interception on West Virginia’s half of the field.

One thing BYU did great last year was avoiding penalties. But BYU has committed many more penalties this season and had 10 this game for 68 yards. West Virginia had just three for 26 yards as contrast.

BYU’s defense didn’t get to the quarterback at all with zero sacks and just one hurry. Wilkins is definitely a mobile quarterback and the Cougar defense failed to drop him in the backfield.

Extra points: BYU has now scored in 31 consecutive quarters dating back to last season–a new program record. … Roberts has caught a pass in 31 straight games. Former tight end Dennis Pitta holds the record with 39 games and former wide receiver Glen Kozlowski is next at 38 games. … Captains for the coin toss were tight end Carsen Ryan, defensive tackle John Taumoepeau, linebacker Jack Kelly and Roberts. … The USA flag was carried by defensive tackle Ulavai Fetuli while offensive lineman Joe Brown carried the Utah flag and punter Fuller Shurtz carried the Big 12 flag. … The alumni flags were carried by former defensive tackle Paul Beckett (1983, 1986-1988), former linebacker Matt Bauman (2004, 2007-2009), former tight end Matt Bushman (2017-2020) and former wide receiver Talon Shumway (2015-2019). … Donna Hill, a season ticket holder for 54 years, lit the Y before the game. Her husband Dick was a BYU football player and later the head football coach at Provo High School, where he was also the athletic director. … Former BYU running backs Jamaal Wililams and Tyler Allgeier were in the house Friday night to cheer on the Cougars. Williams played seven seasons in the NFL with three different teams (Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions and New Orleans Saints) while Allgeier has played all his NFL career of four years with the Atlanta Falcons. … BYU won the coin toss and elected to defer their choice to the second half. BYU is 5-0 in coin flips this season. … Announced attendance was 63,917 and fans were encouraged to wear blue.