But what bore out during the Cougar’s 69-0 romp over the Vikings on Saturday is a certain team identity and subsequent method which procured much of their success during last season’s 11-2 breakout campaign and is a good bet to lead out throughout the coming season, and probably beyond that.

With the BYU offense presenting a true freshman quarterback, it was again incumbent on a defense and special teams unit that didn’t pose nearly the question marks surrounding the offense to get things going on Saturday.

It’s a role both units embrace completely.

Take BYU defensive tackle John Taumoepeau as one of the most apparent examples during Saturday night’s win. During the game’s very first play from scrimmage, the 6-foot-2, 300 defensive tackle beat his blocking assignment and summarily dropped Portland State running back Jacques Badolato-Birdshell at the point of attack for no gain.

“One thing Coach (Gary) Andersen said was, ‘Let’s set the tone of the game,'” Taumoepeau said. “…To be able to set the tone like that right in front of the (student section) like that was very exciting.”

Andersen is a so-called special assistant on the defense and focuses on coaching up a defense line that includes defensive tackles coach Sione Po’uha, edge coach Kelly Poppinga and defensive analyst Chad Kauha’aha’a, all of whom received particular praise from BYU Head Coach Kalani Sitake in Saturday’s postgame, along with the players they’re coaching up.

“They’re in the system now,” Sitake said. “There’s a lot of guys who have been here for a while and they’ve spent a lot of time with (Defensive Coordinator) Jay Hill and the entire defensive staff. Having the entire defensive staff intact was…huge for us and it shows in (how) these guys were ready.”

Taumoepeau then asserted himself on BYU’s special teams unit, blocking a long field goal attempt from Portland State with his facemask which was then scooped up by linebacker Jack Kelly and returned 54 yards for the game’s first touchdown at the 3:58 mark of the first quarter.

All of it was noted with great appreciation from the sidelines by the many of the Cougar offensive players, including tight end Carsen Ryan.

“It was sweet. There were tons of big hits, especially in the first quarter,” Ryan said. “…I knew we had a great defense going into this game and they’re going to be great this whole season. It’s great to have that confidence that they’re going to make plays.”

Indeed Kelly’s return for a touchdown, along with the defensive assertiveness seemed to jump-start a Cougar offense that sort of sputtered out of the gate.

Touchdowns came rapidly thereafter, with true freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier throwing touchdown passes to receiver Chase Roberts, tight end Noah Moeaki and then finally to Ryan to finish out the second half with a 49-0 lead. Oh yeah, Bachmeier also galloped for touchdown runs of four and 12 yards with sophomore wideout Cody Hagen scoring on a 57-yard fly sweep to completely overwhelm the Vikings.

“I think he did a great job,” Sitake said of Bachmeier’s overall performance which included 7-11 passing for 97 yards and the aforementioned three touchdowns on top of 32 yards rushing on five carries. “Once he started getting hit a little bit he started to settle down…The guys felt really good about him leading the offense. I felt good about how he finished the first half.”

Also toting the rock strong was running back LJ Martin, who put up receiver-like numbers with his 131 yards gained on just eight carries.

“I was really excited that he was able to break tackles,” Sitake observed. “That’s what we’ve been able to see from him throughout the last couple years. He’s started really coming into his own as a leader. He’s a team captain…and I’ve been really, really impressed with his leadership.”

But as well as the BYU offense performed overall, it was again the defense and special teams unit that led the way on Saturday.

Consider the stat line of just 56 yards allowed passing with -5 yards yielded rushing, which largely speaks to the Cougar defensive dominance in and of itself.

But perhaps the most promising aspect of the win came in the second half when Sitake pulled almost all of his starters for the game’s final 30 minutes without much performance regression, at all.

Despite vanilla play-calling, the Cougars manufactured 20 points in the second half, rotating backup quarterbacks McCae Hillstead, Treyson Bourguet and even Cole Hagen while using every single player to them on the sidelines. Freshman receiver Dominique McKenzie contributed a 41-yard touchdown run which was topped off with a 5-yard burst into the endzone by walkon Charles Miska.

At the outset of the second half was kicker Will Ferrin booting through a somewhat pedestrian 25-yard field which was followed up with a BYU football record-tying 56-yarder, which he put through with room to spare. In the postgame interview, the senior kicker provided one of the more insightful quotes regarding the team’s overall culture which is exemplified by many starting offensive and defensive players willingly taking part with the special teams units.

“It’s big and I think it speaks to a couple of things,” Ferrin said. “I think it speaks to the depth that we have. Today we were rolling through guys…and it also speaks to the unity of our team. Special teams is cool because you have the offense and you have the defense, and then the special teams is where everyone plays together. Having a united team with a lot of depth makes it so people are ready to go and perform.”

No, Saturday’s game wasn’t perfect and BYU will certainly face much sterner tests on the horizon, but it was a very satisfying and promising start to the 2025 season.

“I’m proud of a lot of things I saw in the game,” Sitake concluded. “Obviously I’m going to be a coach and say that it wasn’t perfect, and there’s a lot of places we can improve, but I was really proud of the entire team from the beginning to the end.”