IRVING, Texas — BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier was today named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week, while defensive end Tausili Akana was honored as the conference Defensive Player of the Week.
BACHMEIER, who was previously named to the Davey O'Brien Great 8 as one of the top quarterback performances from week two of the college football season, helped led No. 11 BYU to a 28-17 win over Arizona on Saturday.
The 6-foot-2, 230-pound sophomore from Murrieta, California, completed 16 of 26 passes for 217 yards (13.6 yards per completion) and three touchdowns with no interceptions. Bachmeier also rushed for 37 yards and another score to account for all four touchdowns.
With his performance against Arizona, Bachmeier became just the fourth player in Big 12 history to begin a season with two straight games of at least three passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown, joining the elite company of Baker Mayfield (2015), Patrick Mahomes (2016) and Mason Rudolph (2017).
Through two games, Bachmeier is the Big 12 Conference co-leader, responsible for eight total touchdowns, including six touchdown passes and two rushing scores.
AKANA, a 6-3, 235-pound junior from Laie, Hawaii, had four tackles, including 2.5 sacks in the Cougars’ win over Arizona. With just under six minutes to play in the game Akana picked up sack number two on UA quarterback Noah Fifita pinning the Wildcats inside their own 20. On the next play he and team Keanu Tanuvasa sacked Fifita again forcing Arizona to punt the ball away from its own endzone sealing the BYU win.
BYU travels to Fort Collins, Colorado this week to take on Colorado State on Saturday, Sept. 19 at Canvas Stadium. The game will be broadcast live on CBS with kickoff scheduled for 5:30 p.m. MDT.