Provo • Who cares if temperatures will be in the mid-90s and the opponent from a lower division of college football went 3-8 last season and is breaking in a freshman quarterback?
It is football, and after sweating in the late-July and August heat for nearly a month and banging into each other almost daily, the BYU Cougars are ready to play for real for the first time since edging Wyoming 24-21 in last December’s Poinsettia Bowl. BYU will host the Portland State Vikings, a member of the Big Sky Conference, at 1 p.m. Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
One of the few “Week Zero” games on the college football docket will be televised nationally by ESPN, putting the unranked Cougars on the big stage against a less-than-big-time opponent.
It will tie for the third earliest game in a season ever for BYU and the earliest ever for PSU, a five-touchdown underdog that is receiving a hefty paycheck to meet the Cougars on their home turf.
BYU hasn’t opened against an FCS opponent since thumping Northern Iowa 41-17 in 2008, Max Hall’s junior season. On paper, it looks like a nice tuneup for BYU before it travels to Houston to meet the LSU Tigers, but the Cougars insist they have yet to peek ahead to the 2017 AdvoCare Texas Kickoff.
PORTLAND STATE AT BYU <br>At LaVell Edwards Stadium, Provo <br>Kickoff • 1 p.m. <br>TV • ESPN <br>Radio • 1160 AM, 102.7 FM, Sirius XM 143 <br>Records • BYU 0-0, PSU 0-0 <br>Series history • First meeting <br>About the Vikings • They are coming off a 3-8 season with former BYU receiver Alex Kuresa as the quarterback. … They are 4-34 all-time against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents but knocked off Washington State 24-17 in 2015. … True freshman Jalani Eason was named the starting quarterback a few weeks ago. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound Eason is from Junipero Serra High in Gardena, Calif. <br>About the Cougars • They are 7-0 against Football Championship Subdivision opponents in the last 10 years. … They are 9-1 in season openers over the last 10 years. … They defeated Washington State 31-6 the last time they opened a season at LaVell Edwards Stadium. … Coach Kalani Sitake went 9-4 in his first season at the helm.
BYU has played a steady diet of teams from Power 5 conferences in openers since 1996, when it opened against Texas A&M on Aug. 24 (the earliest opener in school history), interrupted only by a 2001 thrashing of Tulane on Aug. 25, 2001, Northern Iowa in 2008 and a trip to UConn in 2014.
Coach Kalani Sitake, who went 9-4 in his inaugural season, said he doesn’t care about the caliber of opponent the Cougars face in the opener, despite BYU having defeated Arizona 18-16 last year and Nebraska 33-28 in 2015.
“We will just play whoever shows up,” Sitake said. “You don’t have a lot of games. … When you only have 13 opportunities, you have to take advantage of all of them, regardless of who the opponent is.
“This just happens to be Portland State, but you guys know me and our program. We are about respecting our opponent and giving them the attention they deserve. Portland State is a great team with a great coach, and we are looking to get their best shot.”
Not overlooking the Vikings has been the theme of game week.
“Portland State isn’t a P5 or FCS [school], but they still play good football,” offensive coordinator Ty Detmer said. “They have got players who have a chip on their shoulder, and this is an opportunity for them to prove they are a good team. So we don’t expect anything but their best.”
The Cougars have heard from the start of training camp July 26 about how Portland State surprised the Pac-12’s Washington State 24-17 in Pullman in 2015. They know that three FCS teams knocked off Power 5 teams in openers last year. Richmond routed Bronco Mendenhall’s Virginia Cavaliers 37-20, Northern Iowa got past Iowa State 25-20 and Eastern Washington defeated Wazzu, 45-42.
“Last year we played SUU, and they came and they played physical,” BYU offensive lineman Tuni Kanuch said. “They tried to smack us in the mouth, and Portland State is going to try to do the same. They are going to try to win in our stadium, make our fans quiet and all that.”
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