Last week brought the return of college football, with a handful games played around the country in what has become known as Week 0 before things really get going in Week 1 this week.
Although there were a limited number of games compared to how the rest of the season will be, it just so happened that the Week 1 opponents for BYU, Utah and Utah State all played.
Here’s a look at how each of those opponents — Utah Tech, Idaho and Idaho State of the FCS ranks — fared in their season openers.
Utah Tech (BYU)
For the second year in a row, BYU’s Week 1 opponent got absolutely crushed by a fellow FCS opponent in Week 0.
Last year, the Portland State Vikings lost to the Tarleton State Texans 42-0 in Week 0 before BYU beat it 69-0 in Week 1. On Saturday, the Utah Tech Trailblazers lost to the defending FCS champion (and Big Sky Conference foe) Montana State Bobcats, 54-0.
It was the Trailblazers’ first Big Sky game since moving from the United Athletic Conference, and it was a methodical beatdown, as the Bobcats scored 10 points in the first quarter, 16 in the second, and 14 in each of the final two quarters while keeping Utah Tech off the scoreboard.
The Trailblazers used two quarterbacks — CJ Tiller and Bronson Barben — who combined to complete 19 of 33 passes for 169 yards with two interceptions. Utah Tech also tallied just 58 rushing yards. Mike Williams was the leading receiver with four catches for 42 yards.
Perhaps the result was expected, as Montana State was picked in the preseason to win the Big Sky, while Utah Tech was picked to finish last.
As for this week, ESPN’s Bill Connelly projects the Cougars to beat the Trailblazers 73-0, which led BYU play-by-play announcer Greg Wrubell to share some superlative stats about the Cougars.
Idaho (Utah)
The Idaho Vandals’ game against Cal Poly — another Big Sky clash — was infinitely more exciting than Utah Tech’s game against Montana State.
Unfortunately for the Vandals, they came up just short, as the Mustangs scored the game-winning touchdown with nine seconds left on a 34-yard pass from Anthony Grigsby Jr. to Tayvion McCoy to win 38-34.
The Vandals trailed 21-10 at halftime but slowly chipped away and tied things up at 24 with 9:55 remaining in the game. Then with 6:10 remaining they took the 31-24 lead when Joshua Wood connected with Tony Harste for a 75-yard touchdown.
Cal Poly responded, though, tying the game up at 31 on a 15-yard touchdown run from Grigsby with 2:16 to play.
The drama was far from over.
In response, Idaho started to put a good drive together but it was stymied at the 23-yard line and the Vandals had to settle for a field goal from Owen Forsman to go up 34-31 with 1:09 remaining.
The Mustangs started their drive from the 23-yard line, and their first play went for 41 yards. After an incompletion, Cal Poly’s next play saw a fumble, but the Mustangs recovered it.
On third and 8 from the 34-yard line, Cal Poly had yet another incompletion, setting up fourth down with nine seconds left. Instead of trying a field goal to send the game to overtime, the Mustangs went for it and Grigsby made an incredible connection with McCoy for the dramatic game-winning touchdown.
In the loss for the Vandals, Wood and Harste were the stars. Wood completed 18 of 25 passes for 363 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions and ran for another 42 yards on 11 carries. Harste caught nine of Wood’s passes for 180 yards and both touchdowns.
Idaho State (Utah State)
Finally, a victory for a Beehive State opponent.
Facing the Virginia Military Institute Keydets, Idaho State controlled the first half and then dominated the third quarter en route to a 38-10 victory at home.
Leading 10-0 at halftime, the Bengals scored 28 points in the third quarter to break the game wide open before the Keydets scored the final 10 points in the fourth quarter.
In the decisive third quarter, Idaho State’s touchdowns came on a 49-yard pass, a punt return, an 83-yard pass and a one-play, 38-yard “drive” that began and ended with a big pass completion.
Idaho State quarterback Jordan Cooke was the star of the day, completing 18 of 29 passes for 325 yards and four touchdowns against one interception. He spread the ball around incredibly well, as no receiver eclipsed 100 yards (Eli Aragon came closest with 97) but four different pass catchers scored a touchdown.
Elsewhere in the Big Sky ...
The other two Division I college teams in Utah, Weber State and Southern Utah, also kicked off their seasons on Saturday.
Weber State
In his much-anticipated coaching debut after an incredible run at Corner Canyon High, Wildcats head coach Eric Kjar got his first win as Weber State fended off a late rally from Northern Colorado.
Weber State led 30-20 with 4:02 remaining when the Bears made a field goal to cut their deficit to seven. The Wildcats had to punt 74 seconds later, and Northern Colorado put together a 15-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to make the score 30-29 with three seconds left.
Only the extra point was needed to send the game to overtime, but Weber State blocked the attempt, giving Kjar and the Wildcats the win.
It was a balanced game offensively for Weber State, as Devin Brown went 10-of-20 passing for 179 yards with two touchdowns and an interception before leaving with an injury, while Nate Dahle went 6 of 8 for 54 yards.
Three players finished with at least 20 rushing yards, led by Spencer Ferguson’s 74 on 12 carries, and Kjar’s son Noah led the way in receiving with six catches for 114 yards with two touchdowns.
Southern Utah
The Thunderbirds became a notable topic of conversation on social media as they came out for warmups Saturday wearing white jerseys — the same as the Montana Grizzlies — before changing into black jerseys for the game.
SUU coach DeLane Fitzgerald explained postgame that his staff was expecting rain to come and go during warmup time, so the thought was to let players change into dry uniforms after warmups.
In any event, the Thunderbirds trailed 7-0 at the end of the first quarter and 14-3 at halftime. They won the second half 18-14 but that wasn’t enough in the 28-21 loss.
Quarterback Will Burns led SUU, completing 24 of 34 passes for 251 yards with two touchdowns and an interception and rushing for another 119 yards on 15 carries.