The 2025 college football season kicked off Saturday with a handful of games before a full slate next week, and the BYU Cougars’ first opponent was one of the teams that played.
If Saturday’s result between the Portland State Vikings and Tarleton State Texans is any indication, the Cougars should beat the Vikings by a whole lot of points next Saturday as they break in true freshman starting quarterback Bear Bachmeier.
The Vikings fell to the Texans — a fellow FCS foe — by a score of 42-0. Tarleton State scored just seven points in the first quarter and just another seven in the second but then put up 14 in each of the final two frames for the resounding victory.
Perhaps the result shouldn’t have come as a huge surprise, as the Texans were picked in the preseason to win their conference (the United Athletic Conference, which also features Southern Utah and Utah Tech, which were picked to finish fourth and ninth, respectively, in the nine-team league), while the Vikings were picked to finish 10th in theirs (the Big Sky Conference, which also features Weber State, which was picked to finish eighth in the 12-team league).
Defensively, Portland State gave up 301 rushing yards. Offensively, the Vikings still had a quarterback competition going entering Saturday, as Gabe Downing started but he and two others — Tyrese Smith and John-Keawe Sagapolutele — all played at least a quarter.
Each threw an interception, and receiver Andre Miller lost a fumble as Portland State committed four turnovers on the day compared to just one for Tarleton State.
“The positives are I saw three quarterbacks play at least a quarter, so we have a good idea on how to approach next week,” said Vikings head coach Bruce Barnum, who is one of the more colorful personalities in all of college football. “The defense did a really good job early to keep us in the game. Early on it was a back-and-forth game.”
Next Saturday’s contest between BYU and Portland State is scheduled to kick off next Saturday at 6 p.m. at LaVell Edwards Stadium on the Cougars’ campus.