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BYU's Logan Latui (7) pulls down Portland State's Jacques Badolato-Birdsell during a college football game at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

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Here’s what’s going on inside Darnell’s head as I try to add up the number of times BYU’s kickoff coverage team ran down the field on Saturday against Portland State.

(Silently counting on my fingers) Looks like 12. BYU kicked off 12 times: Once to open the game, nine times after touchdowns and twice after field goals.

Man, those guys on kick cover don’t need to run sprints this week in practice, do they?

Everyone figured the BYU-Portland State game would be a mismatch and a 69-0 victory for the Cougars confirms that. As a power conference program, playing a Football Championship Subdivision team in the non-conference kind of comes with the territory most years. But the Cougars might want to examine which FCS team they schedule.

North Dakota proved that a good FCS team can put a scare into you: Kansas State had to score in the last minute to preserve a close win on Saturday.

Portland State’s been outscored 111-0 in its first two games and was clearly out of its depth.

Now it’s time for Perfectly Rational Overreactions (PROs) from BYU’s victory against overmatched Portland State.

PRO No. 1: Bear Bachmeier is the greatest freshman quarterback to ever play college football.

Bachmeier accounted for five touchdowns in the first half (three passing, two rushing) and in the final analysis, getting into the end zone is what really matters. He missed a couple of throws early but was accurate in the red zone and made good decisions. There will be stiffer tests for sure, but he passed the first one pretty well. He’s surrounded by good talent on offense and BYU had a big boost from special teams and the defense. That combination will win a lot of games as Bachmeier gets used to playing against better opponents.

PRO No. 2: BYU’s running game is elite.

The Cougars rolled to 468 rushing yards (9.8 yards per attempt) against the hapless Vikings, with LJ Martin going for a career-high 131 yards on just eight carries and 13 other Cougars carrying the ball at least once. The offensive line was dominant in both run and pass blocking. Against better competition those numbers won’t be as gaudy, but it was nice to see Martin breaking tackles and carrying half the Portland defense on one particular carry.

PRO No. 3: The Cougar defense is going to be impenetrable this year.

After a few missed tackles on the first couple of series, the BYU defense was in lockdown mode. Portland State managed just three first downs and 51 yards of total offense for the entire game. The Cougars substituted freely and there have been plenty of games where that kind of situation led to a big let down on the defensive side. Not on Saturday. Third and fourth string defenders were just as dominant as the starters.

And finally, PRO No. 4: With the win BYU was the most impressive Big 12 team this week.

That might be damning with faint praise. Texas Tech beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff 67-7, Iowa State topped South Dakota 55-7 and West Virginia beat Robert Morris 45-3. But Kansas State barely held off North Dakota 38-35. UCF, Oklahoma State, Houston and Cincinnati were less than impressive in games. It’s really hard to tell who anybody is this early in the season. Certainly, the Cougars looked the part of a contender by destroying Portland State but there is still much to prove.

To be honest, the most impressive performance might have been Utah’s destruction of UCLA in the Rose Bowl. Maybe the Utes are back?

Who Carried the Boats and the Logs?

I’m going to give it up to both lines. The offensive line was overpowering at the point of attack and really made things easy for Bachmeier and Martin. The defensive line, rebuilt after heavy losses to graduation, showed well. Portland State didn’t have a chance if it couldn’t compete on the line of scrimmage and BYU made sure that was the case. John Taumoepeau and Keanu Tanuvasa were especially effective.

So what did we learn?

The game amounted to little more than a preseason scrimmage for BYU. It was supposed to win big and it did. Pretty much everybody in uniform got reps. The participation list was so long it was like reading the graduation program at BYU commencement. That’s great for the coaching staff to evaluate backups and great for those guys who likely won’t play a lot in 2025.

The coaches will have to work pretty hard this week to keep this team focused and not too impressed with themselves. The team captains have to be part of that as well.

All we know is BYU is 1-0 and still a work in progress.

Sorry

BYU head coach Kalani Sitake said his wife, Timberly, talked to him on the phone after the game and told him he needed to look happier when his team scored. Sitake didn’t want to run up the score against his old friend Bruce Barnum, Portland State’s head coach. I think it’s difficult to tell your backups to not play hard. The Cougars were pretty conservative in the second half but still put up 20 points.

Congrats

A few weeks ago, BYU men’s basketball coach Kevin Young invited the media to lunch at Riverside Country Club. He said one of his former NBA coaches did that in Philadelphia and he liked the idea. It happened to fall on my birthday, so Young and the media in attendance actually sang “Happy Birthday” to me when we were brought dessert.

I can tell you they all picked the right profession. But I appreciated it.

Showing up

On Friday BYU held a women’s volleyball match in the Smith Fieldhouse and a women’s soccer game at South Field at the same time.

Total attendance was 8,793 (4,282 for soccer and 4,511 for volleyball).

That’s impressive.

Blocking out the sun

Two claims adjusters — one from my insurance company and one representing a contractor — came out to look at my roof last week. They both drove up in huge, shiny four-wheel drive trucks that combined probably cost as much as my house.

I am definitely in the wrong business.

Compliments

At an Orem High girls volleyball match last week I ran into Brooke Johnson and her sister, Erin, who is in the group I play volleyball with twice a week.

Brooke told me I look even younger than when I wrote stories about her when she played basketball at Orem 20 years ago.

Made my week.

Finally, fans of the television series “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” will especially enjoy this one:

Doctor: “I am afraid you are suffering from Tom Jones Syndrome.”

Patient: “Is it common?”

Doctor: “It’s not unusual.”

That’s all I’ve got for today. Hope you had a great Labor Day. Remember that a bed is a wireless charger for humans. Use it wisely.