In my time as a committed BYU fan (roughly since the 2009 Utah game), I cannot remember a season opener as highly anticipated as this one. The ticket sales reflected that anticipation--the announced attendance of 64,494 was the highest at LaVell Edwards Stadium since the Cougars' 2009 matchup with #10 TCU. Yes, the largest BYU home crowd in 16 years showed up to watch the Cougars square off against Portland State, an FCS team that lost 42-0 to Tarleton State last week. Those fans sent a message: it has been a long time since Cougar Nation has been this excited about BYU football. Never mind the fact that the Cougars lost their senior starting quarterback to a bizarre Honor Code incident a month before fall camp. Never mind that his replacement was set to be a true freshman who hadn't even been on the roster during spring ball. In fact, the turmoil at quarterback only added to the interest surrounding the return of BYU football. The game itself largely went as expected: Portland State never seriously threatened and BYU won by the outlandish score of 69-0, the second widest margin of victory in program history (behind only the 1980 Cougars' 83-7 demolition of UTEP).
It's difficult to take too much away from this game--Portland State is likely to be among the worst Division I teams in the nation this year, and lost its first two games of the season by a combined score of 111-0. Still, we did see a few things that should make BYU fans very excited for what this team has the potential to do. After all, the last time the Cougars faced Portland State to open a season, they struggled to a miserable 20-6 win which proved a harbinger of the disastrous 2017 season to come. It stands to reason, then, that we have at least some cause for optimism after a dominant, three-phase win against the same team! Here are some takeaways from a game that was both intriguing and, in the end, gratifyingly dull.
The Good:
Not a whole lot of things have gone wrong if the end result is a 69-0 win. But despite the nature of the opponent, I want to focus on a few things we learned that may actually tell us something about where this team could end up. The first is the play of Bear Bachmeier, who became the first true freshman quarterback ever to start a season opener at BYU. Bear looked a little shaky on the Cougars' first two possessions, struggling to connect with his receivers on a couple of his early throws. But after that, he seemed crisp, confident, and totally in command of the offense. Wearing his trademark #47, which will undoubtedly be a point of discussion in every game this season, Bear was responsible for more touchdowns (5) than incomplete passes (4) and left the game at halftime with a passer rating of 227.71 and his team leading 49-0.
The BYU run game was hilariously dominant against Portland State's porous defense. LJ Martin carried the ball just eight times, but netted 131 yards for a ridiculous 16.4 yards per carry, and he barely looked like he was trying. It's clear that he's put in immense work in the offseason--he looks slimmer, faster, and more elusive, but still has all of the lower body strength that a power back needs. Provided he can stay healthy, he will be the engine that drives this BYU offense. The rest of the run game looked effortlessly efficient, too--propelled by an offensive line that generated an average of about four yards before contact on every rush, the Cougars finished with 468 rushing yards on just 48 carries, for an average of 9.8 yards per carry as a team. Aaron Roderick continued his experimentation with using BYU's speedier receivers in the run game on end-arounds and sweeps, including a marvelous "tornado reverse" trick play that saw Bear Bachmeier fake two different handoffs before pitching to Cody Hagen for what became a 57-yard touchdown run, his first as a Cougar. Another quick young WR, Dominique McKenzie (son of legendary BYU running back Brian McKenzie), scored his first touchdown in a BYU uniform as well, taking a handoff 41 yards to pay dirt.
Jay Hill's defense was absolutely fantastic in this game. Yes, once again, that assessment comes with the caveat that Portland State is awful, even by FCS standards. But even then, the BYU defense's statistics from this game are unbelievable. They look made-up. Portland State gained just 51 total yards for the game, the lowest figure allowed by any FBS defense in the nation this week, including the 47 others that faced FCS offenses. That figure includes 56 passing yards and a hilarious grand total of -5 rushing yards. The numbers just get more outlandish from there--the Vikings gained a total of 4 (four) yards of offense on their final ten possessions. After gaining 47 yards on their first two drives, both of which ended in punts, Portland State only managed four more total yards the rest of the game. The Viking offense had the ball in BYU territory exactly twice--on their first drive, when they made it to the BYU 48 before punting, and on their third drive, when a BYU fumble gave them the ball at the Cougars' 37, from which they ran three plays for a combined -2 yards before attempting a 57-yard field goal that was blocked and returned for a BYU touchdown. A host of defensive players appeared in this game--essentially anyone on the four-deep who wasn't hurt saw the field at least briefly--and it was gratifying to see that some of the BYU defense's best possessions came with backups in the game. This defense is deep, talented, and incredibly well-coached.
The BYU special teams unit had a slightly weird day (more on that in a moment), but there was still a whole lot to like from Kelly Poppinga's unit in this game. Parker Kingston perpetually looked ready to break a punt return for a touchdown and did have a nice 31-yarder. John Taumoepeau blocked Portland State's 57-yard field goal attempt (with his face, as it turned out) and Jack Kelly returned it for the game's opening score, sending the ROC into a frenzy. And Will Ferrin--the ever-reliable Big Game Bill--added to his BYU record streak of consecutive made field goals, which now stands at 18, while also tying the program record for the longest made field goal with a 56-yarder in the 3rd quarter that looked like it would have been good from 60. It seems like just a matter of time before Ferrin sets the distance record in his own right. He might just have the best leg in the history of BYU football.
Finally, I have to mention the crowd. Gone are the days of rain-soaked November slogs against FCS teams in the independence era, which routinely drew well under 60,000 fans on paper, and still fewer actually in the stands. BYU-Portland State was sold out a week before kickoff, and the largest Cougar crowd in nearly two decades showed up for what, on paper, seemed like anything but an entertaining matchup. The fans stayed to the end, too--the roar that greeted freshman walk-on Charles Miska's touchdown run on BYU's final possession was nearly as loud as those that accompanied the Cougars' first half highlights. It's clear that BYU fans are incredibly excited about this team, and LaVell Edwards Stadium, already a challenging place to play, may take a serious step up as a home environment this season.
The Bad:
There were a few issues worth noting in what was otherwise basically a perfect performance against an inferior opponent. BYU's first drive ended in a punt after Bear Bachmeier missed a deep ball to Chase Roberts, and the Cougars' second possession was very short indeed, beginning and ending with Parker Kingston's punt return and fumble. The Cougars' first points of the 2025 season actually came on Jack Kelly's subsequent blocked field goal return, a frankly unbelievable turn of events. BYU got off to a slow start on both sides of the ball, struggling to move the ball on offense and allowing a couple of chunk plays on defense. Thankfully, it took less than a quarter to sort out those issues, and the Cougars were basically perfect thereafter.
It was a little concerning to see how extremely conservative ARod's playcalling was for most of this game. Granted, that may partially have been an effort to avoid running the score up, but even when the 1's were in, Bear Bachmeier only attempted eleven passes. He also didn't complete a pass that traveled beyond the sticks through the air until BYU's seventh possession of the game. Bear executed his short and midrange passes with precision--a frequent gripe with Jake Retzlaff, incidentally--but his long balls looked a little shaky, and he had a couple of interception-worthy throws which Portland State's defense was unable to pay off. I still mostly liked what I saw from Bear, and his action was too limited to really get a feel for his game, but I will feel much better if he is allowed (and able) to really uncork the deep passing game against Stanford and East Carolina.
There were a few sloppy mistakes in this game, especially in the first half when the Cougars were playing less conservatively. I've already mentioned Parker Kingston's strange punt return fumble--his dynamic speed and vision notwithstanding, it seems like my concerns from last year about his ball security are still relevant. Also, Ephraim Asiata was ejected early in the game for one of the most flagrant targeting penalties I've ever seen a BYU player commit. Thankfully, because it happened in the first half, Ephraim will be eligible to play against Stanford, but that's a mistake that absolutely cannot happen and is somewhat out-of-character in a Jay Hill defense.
Really, I'm nitpicking here. BYU was unstoppable in this game virtually from start to finish, and put together a complete performance leading to the most satisfying result possible against such an outmatched opponent. Next up for the Cougars is another opponent likely to be very outmatched (though certainly not to this extent): the Stanford Cardinal. Stanford is really, really bad this year. They fired their head coach, Troy Taylor, after spring ball for...some reason, a decision which directly led to Bear and Tiger Bachmeier transferring to BYU. Frank Reich is their sorta-interim head coach, but his status is somewhat confusing, especially because the program's GM, Andrew Luck, seems to be calling a lot of the shots. Whatever the case actually is, the Cardinal figure to be the second-worst team BYU faces this year, and by a substantial margin. If this game is even remotely close, there is probably cause for concern. That said, I don't expect it to be close. BYU should win by a minimum of three touchdowns.
It's really great to have BYU football back, and Cougar fans are right to be excited about this team. It's as skilled, athletic, and deep as any in the program's illustrious history, and if the offense can at least replicate its performance from last year, this group should compete for a Big 12 title. It's an incredible time to be a BYU football fan.