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BYU junior quarterback Jake Retzlaff looks to make a play during the game against Southern Illinois at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald

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BYU junior quarterback Jake Retzlaff runs the ball during the game against Southern Illinois at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024.

Marci Harris, Special to the Herald

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BYU junior quarterback Jake Retzlaff gets tripped up during the game against Southern Illinois at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024.

Marci Harris, Special to the Herald

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There is no doubt that BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff took a huge step in his progression Saturday leading BYU to an easy 41-13 win over Southern Illinois.

Retzlaff was 20-for-30 for 348 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. But most importantly, he got his first win as a starter.

The redshirt junior showed off a big arm with a touchdown covering 57 yards to Jojo Phillips where he basically hit Phillips in stride with a beautifully thrown spiral. This type of play is exactly what the Cougar faithful want from their quarterbacks.

Retzlaff was happy with his play but also quick to praise his teammates.

“I thought I played pretty well and the guys played pretty well,” Retzlaff said. “It was a total team effort.”

The big throw to Phillips was impressive but so were the little things Retzlaff did during the game. He showed his ability to scramble and moved the chains with a 11-yard scramble on third down. BYU was also 3-for-4 on fourth down conversions as Retzlaff was on the mark with short throws that kept Cougar drives alive.

But again, this level of execution was not a surprise to the Cougar signal caller.

“We are confident in ourselves,” Retzlaff said. “I thought the guys played as well as we knew they could play, and I’m super proud of that.”

Retzlaff also earned high praise from BYU head coach Kalani Sitake.

“I love the person that he is, and he just happens to play great football,” the Cougar head coach said.

Sitake also feels lucky to have depth in that position with the very capable Gerry Bohanon, who was locked in an intense battle with Retzlaff to win the starting job. Sitake said Bohannon has been a great team player through it all.

“We feel really good about both of them,” said Sitake. “Gerry was so supportive. He’s a special human being. He’s awesome. He’s been supportive of Jake.”

Bohannon got some playing time toward the end of the game but didn’t have any pass attempts.

Offensive standouts

Chase Roberts was the favorite target for Retzlaff in this contest. Roberts was targeted eight times coming up with seven catches for 108 yards including some critical catches on fourth downs. He also had two runs on jet sweeps that covered 10 yards.

Ta’ase Mata’ava had his first career touchdown reception hauling in a 19-yarder in the third quarter.

BYU ran the ball effectively as both LJ Martin and Hinckley Ropati split time as the feature running back with 13 carries each.

Ropati scored BYU’s first touchdown of the season with a 2-yard plunge and rushed for 57 total yards. Martin had two touchdowns, one receiving and one rushing, and had 67 yards on the ground.

Miles Davis got some time running the ball five times for 24 yards while Retzlaff himself had eight rushes for 16 yards. All total, BYU had 179 yards on the ground.

Special teams and defensive standouts

On special teams, Will Ferrin booted two field goals including a career long of 50 yards toward the end of the first half and added a 41-yarder in the final stanza to complete the Cougar scoring. Parker Kingston also had a 17-yard punt return.

Defensively BYU held Southern Illinois to 231 yards, most of it coming from Saluki quarterback DJ Williams who ran for 121 yards and two touchdowns to go along with 98 yards passing.

Cougar linebacker Jack Kelly led the team with five tackles, three solo, while John Nelson and Isaiah Bagnah each registered a sack. Bagnah also had 1.5 tackles for loss. Jakob Robinson secured an interception, the lone takeaway for either team in the entire game.

Holding the ball

Another eye-popping statistic that exhibited Cougar dominance was the time of possession. BYU controlled the pigskin for 39:14 or nearly two-thirds of the game and ran 77 total plays to just 51 for Southern Illinois.

With the blowout win, BYU was also able to give playing time to 75 players.

Extra points

• It was a special moment as 54 members of the 1974 Cougar team that gave legendary Cougar head coach LaVell Edwards his first conference title and the program’s first bowl appearance at the Fiesta Bowl lit the Y just prior to the game.
• John Betham (WR), Gary Stoddard (OL) and Gary Shaw (DB) from the 1974 team carried the alumni flags, Current BYU players Sam Dawe (DL) carried the American flag, Aisea Moa (LB) carried the State of Utah flag, while Payton Vansteenkiste carried the Big 12 flag.
• Captains participating in the coin toss for BYU were Jake Retzlaff (QB), Connor Pay (OL), Chase Roberts (WR) and Tyler Batty (DL).
• BYU won the coin toss and elected to defer their choice to the second half. The Cougars are 50-53 in coin tosses under head coach Kalani Sitake.
• BYU had an impressive presence at the 2024 Paris Olympics and these Olympians were honored at halftime. Highlights of Kenneth Rooks silver medal performance in the steeplechase brought a nice ovation from the fans.
• There has been a changing of the guard with the red hat/shirt official, the person that fans sometimes love to hate and who notifies the officials, along with the crowd, how long each television commercial break will be. Shawn Porter, a 1998 graduate of Provo High and longtime season ticket holder, takes over for Blyden Loutenstock who did this job for decades. Loutenstock has had a distinguished career as a high school and collegiate baseball umpire, along with being a longtime official in high school basketball and football.
• At game time the temperature was 90 degrees and retreated to 72 degrees by the final gun. Winds were light at five miles per hour coming from the west with hardly a cloud in the sky making it a very pleasant night for players and fans alike.
• Official attendance was 63,712 and fans were encouraged to wear royal blue for the game.