BYU football: Scouting the Portland State Vikings

BYU football begins the season against lowly Portland State. While many are already fixating on LSU, don’t forget about the Vikings.

If you are reading this article you’re a BYU football fan. You likely know every in and out regarding the Cougars.

But, you may not know much about the 13 teams that BYU football will clash with in 2017.

So we’re here to help.

In the next few weeks, we will be covering every opponent on BYU football’s schedule. We will go into the top players, returning starters, playing style and how BYU can do well against them. This 13 part series will begin with the Portland State Vikings.

Portland State Vikings

Head Coach: Bruce Barnum (3rd season)

2016 record: 3-8 (2-6 Big Sky Conference)

Best game: 35-28 loss to No. 3 Eastern Washington (FCS)

Worst game: 66-35 loss to San Jose State

Season Summary: Portland State is a better team than they appear on paper. They lost four of their games by an average of six points and were competitive in every FCS game. The three games that they won were by an average of 21 points. The biggest issue that the Vikings had was injuries – 29 players were injured throughout the season, three of which led to retirement.

Fun Fact: Portland State currently has nine players who once played on FBS teams.