CINCINNATI — With a chance to clinch a spot in the Big 12 championship game, either mathematically or effectively, the 11th-ranked BYU football ran, then ran so far, and ran so far away.
At a school that once revolutionized the passing game under Hall of Fame coach LaVell Edwards, one of the late legend’s former fullbacks is bringing the power-run game back in style.
LJ Martin ran for a career-high 222 yards, and quarterback Bear Bachmeier added 46 yards and a touchdown on the ground to help the Cougars escape the Queen City with a 26-14 win over Cincinnati in front of an announced crowd of 38,034 fans at Nippert Stadium.
The Cougars (10-1, 6-1 Big 12) gave up plenty of yards to a Cincinnati offense in its regular-season home finale.
But the Bearcats scored 0 points on four drives inside the 25-yard line, including a late fumble recovered by linebacker Isaiah Glasker at the BYU 17 in their third straight loss.
That, combined with 265 of their 392 offensive yards on the ground, propelled BYU to the cusp of the Big 12 championship game.
Bachmeier also threw for 127 yards, completing 15 passes on a night top receiver Chase Roberts missed all but the first minutes of the contest. Parker Kingston had seven catches to lead the Cougars’ receivers for 39 yards.
Brendan Sorsby threw for 300 yards with two touchdowns to lead Cincinnati, but also delivered a pinpoint pass to BYU safety Tanner Wall to open the second half.
His 19-yard strike to Jeff Caldwell pulled the Bearcats (7-4, 5-3 Big 12) within 20-14 with 4:37 remaining, but the Cougars added another score with a minute left to play to seal the victory.
This story will be updated.