2025 BYU football retrospective: Portland State opened the way for Bear Bachmeier

Football terrifies me to my very core. The sport itself is almost entirely anticipation, and that is only ever broken up by the occasional release of excitement. A chunk running play, a lid-opening long bomb, or even something as minor as downing a punt within the five-yard line. BYU football controls my emotional well-being far more than I'd care to admit on such a public forum, and yet, there I sit upon that same worn spot on the sofa. Unblinking, salivating, perspiring, and (eventually) rehydrating and adding fuel to that hot-burning addiction.

Just one more run. Just one more play. Just one more snap count.

I promise, I'm not a crazy person. At least not publicly. I'm just passionate about BYU football. About the roar of the crowd; the orange glow of the sun's setting rays bathing the rocky backdrop of LaVell Edwards Stadium; the feeling that boils inside me whenever the boys in blue break the plane of the end zone.

We're not even two weeks removed from the final play of the 2025 season, and my mind already hungers for another hit of football-flavored dopamine. If I can't watch Kalani's crew play the game in real time for another nine months, I'll have to satiate my football gestation by reliving the glory of what was -- with no hyperbole -- the greatest BYU football season of the 21st century.

Where better to begin than the first game of the year? A quick tune-up against Portland State before the real excitement begins with meetings at home against Stanford and on the road against East Carolina in the coming weeks. Welcome to a BYU football retrospective, Game One.

Game One: Home vs. Portland State

Portland State was one of the worst college football teams in America in the 2025 season. That is no exaggeration -- they may have literally been the most putrid, abhorrent, pathetic excuse for a football team from sea to shining sea. Finishing 1-11 in the FCS ranks, the Vikings endured what is, admittedly, a very talented Big Sky Conference top-loaded with top 25 squads like Montana, Montana State, Sacramento State, UC Davis, and Northern Arizona. When it comes to the FCS, the Big Sky is basically the SEC (minus North Dakota State and South Dakota State, I suppose).

All the same, Portland State won just one game in their 12-game schedule, a 40-35 final against Cal Poly. Yeah, that same Cal Poly Team that lost 9-63 in Rice-Eccles Stadium in Week 2. They were never even really that close to claiming a second win for the remainder of the year, with their tightest loss arriving with an 11-point differential. That's right; this team had just one game finish with single-digits separating themselves from their adversaries. Brutality.

And the signs were there even before kickoff that this would be a comfortable victory for the Cougs. Portland State had already played in Week 0, in what finalized as a 0-42 defeat against Tarleton State.

David would be up against Goliath in Provo, Utah, only this time his arms had been freshly ripped off just wrestling with his brother back at Solomon's camp.

Despite this, I still felt compelled to write the following in my Memoirs from the Mount column in the days leading to kickoff:

"In all honesty, the football season is the source of my greatest anxiety, and I wish that were a joke. I'm a basketball guy, first and foremost, and that reflects in my love for NBA basketball and pure indifference to the state of the National Football League (I'm that guy who only tunes in once every February, to paint a picture). Still, college football calls to me. Beckons, like the final unopened Nutty Buddy in the pantry. Summons, like the top end of my speedometer, as I rush through the rust-dusted highways of Southern Utah. Demands my attention like Duo, the linguistic totalitarian owl, or Instagram reels during every free moment of every day."

My biggest concern? After a remarkable 11-win season in just its second season of Big 12 membership, BYU football would be without veteran quarterback Jake Retzlaff, and would instead be trotting out the first true freshman starter in program history on opening weekend. Bear Bachmeier, for all the faith that Cougar Nation had in the young gunslinging, wall-breaking QB, was brand new to the ranks of college football. A complete unknown. A wild card.

Did I believe BYU would fail to win this matchup against Portland State? Absolutely not. I expected BYU's defense to outscore the Vikings, which they technically did with Jack Kelly returning a blocked field goal for a score.

But when the first drive of the season stalled out after five plays, I was a bit concerned this year's team didn't quite have the same offensive punch of the year prior. Then seeing Parker Kingston fumble a punt return (a habit that would return in nasty ways later in the year) to set the Vikings up in field goal range had me concerned that, while this remained an expected BYU W, it may not be quite as comfortable as I had hoped.

That's when Kelly took it back for six, and delivered the first score of the season.

In the following possession, LJ Martin powered a 49-yard run (one of many breakout rushes he'd inflict upon the helpless Viking resistance), flexing his muscles and simply dragging defenders across the grass.

I mean, come on with this. Are you kidding me? It's plays like this that brought up flashbacks of Tyler Allgeier. Plays like these that boosted his NFL Draft resume. Plays like these that make me want to get on my hands and knees and beg for him to return for just one more season in royal blue.

But for all intents and purposes, this game was the Bear Bachmeier breakout game. He went 7-for-11 with 97 yards and three touchdown passes in his limited minutes. Such a performance compelled the opposing coach to compare his physique to that of a centaur during post-game media availability. Treyson Bourguet and McCae Hillstead got some run under center thanks to the pure dominance of this contest.

After BYU's blocked field goal, they would score on every subsequent drive, punching in touchdowns in all but two fourth-quarter, garbage time, field goals that let veteran Will Ferrin stretch his legs, including an inhuman 56-yarder.

We didn't know it yet, but we were about to witness the best BYU football season since 1996, and the strongest showing by a Cougar squad in the Big 12 era. It all began with this 69-0 victory over the Portland State Vikings. The following week, they'd get their first taste of Power Four competition.