BYU Intense Season Opener Against Portland State
- Ella Katzenbach
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
By: Ella Katzenbach
BYU’s football team opened up their season with a shutout win of 69-0 against Portland State this past weekend. With a sold out stadium of 64,494 spectators and a packed student section, the energy at the Edward LaVell stadium was intense. In their first game, starting quarterback Bear Bachmeier, had a total of five touchdowns: three passing and two rushing. He also completed 97 passing yards and totaled 129 yards on offense. Bear also broke records for being the eighth freshman quarterback to start in a season-opening game at BYU. In just the first quarter alone, BYU had scored 21 points. Miraculously, Linebacker Jack Kelly, returned a blocked field goal 54 yards down to the endzone. Chase Roberts was also thrown a 4-yard pass which opened his first ever touchdown in his college football career (ESPN). Just in that game alone, BYU broke their record for having the second most rushing yards of 468 in program history.
The student section was constantly buzzing in excitement and cheering for their boys in royal blue as their team was putting in the work to block out Portland State’s defense. In BYU’s game against Portland, BYU’s defense sacked the Viking’s quarterback twice. They also tallied up forty tackles and only allowed Portland to 56 passing yards as well as negative-five rushing yards (BYU Athletics). BYU hasn’t had this intense of a shutout game since playing New Mexico in 1988 with a finishing score of 58-0.
After the Game, Bear was named Big 12’s freshmen of the week because of his spectacular performance against Portland State and opening up the season with heavy momentum. Head Coach, Kalani Sitake was very optimistic about their team’s efforts against the Vikings and said, “There are a lot of places I think we can improve on, but I was really proud of the entire team from beginning to end”.
During halftime, BYU celebrated their lead against Portland by putting their mascot, Cosmo the Cougar, on top of their stadium, while beating a large drum. This lit up the spectators and student section while loud music, fireworks, cheerleaders and dancers amplified the stadium. Polynesian fire dancers made their appearance as well, showing off their talents of throwing fire while proudly representing their culture.
With a shocking season-opener score of 69-0 and an energetic student section, BYU’s performance against Portland State set the tone for their hunger for dominance in the Big 12 for their upcoming season. Bear’s leadership over the offense and a defense that held up their guard against the Vikings helped the Cougars gain their confidence for their upcoming match against Stanford. Will their momentum carry BYU to another win against the Cardinal?
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