Utah celebrates their win over UCLA at the Rose Bowl (Photo by Utah Athletics)
Earlier this year, I did a weekly update on college baseball in the state of Utah, providing a brief recap of the games every week. It was a lot of fun, so I decided to do it with college football now that the season has arrived! Utah is a football state with a great history, so enjoy watching new history being made this year!
BYU 1-0 (0-0 in the Big 12)
The Cougars ran all over Portland State so much that they switched their team’s name from the Vikings to the Treadmills. It’s hard to gauge how good a team is or how well they’re playing from crushing an FCS team, but you’d much rather be trying to suppress excitement over a stomping victory than to worry about struggling against such an opponent. BYU’s 69-0 win was a nice warm-up for true freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier. Bachmeier accounted for five touchdowns, three through the air and two on the ground.
BYU ran the ball like it was going out of style. Of their 606 total yards of offense, 468 of them were rushing, with star tailback LJ Martin leading the pack with 131 yards on only eight carries. The Cougars had a fantastic tune-up game against Portland State; now, an FBS team comes to Provo. BYU will play Stanford in another night game at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Utah 1-0 (0-0 in the Big 12)
The Utes crushed a former Pac-12 foe in UCLA. Utah dominated the Bruins so badly that Nico Iamaleava might have been wishing he were back at Tennessee. Utah routed UCLA 43-10. The Utes’ defense under veteran defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley held UCLA to only 220 total yards, and Iamaleava to 136 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. Utah also sacked him four times.
New Mexico-transfer Devon Dampier made an instant impact for first-year offensive coordinator and BYU alum Jason Beck (who also came to Salt Lake City from Albuquerque). Dampier was 21 of 25 for 206 yards and two touchdowns passing. He added 16 carries and 87 yards and a touchdown on the ground, too. He had 293 of Utah’s 492 total yards. This would be enough to earn him Big 12 Player of the Week Honors. Utah was also wildly efficient on third down, converting 14 of 16. On Saturday, Utah takes on Cal Poly.
Utah State 1-0 (0-0 in the Mountain West)
The Aggies got their season started behind some guys familiar with football in the Beehive State, but who were new to Logan. Former BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall made his debut as the head coach of Utah State. His starting quarterback, Bryson Barnes, started his career at Utah, and his starting running back, Miles Davis, started his career with BYU. They made a solid beginning together with a 28-16 win over UTEP.
Barnes was 18 of 28 for 233 yards and a touchdown passing and added 29 yards and another touchdown on the ground. Davis had 88 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown and was the Aggies leading receiver with six catches for 66 yards. Next, it’ll be Aggies vs. Aggies as USU travels to College Station, Texas, to face Texas A&M.
Weber State 0-1 (0-0 in the Big Sky)
The Wildcats had to fly across the country to Virginia to take on James Madison of the Sun Belt Conference. It was a rough one from the beginning for the men from Ogden. They managed only 144 total yards against JMU, threw three interceptions, and scored only 10 points. The defense didn’t fare any better. They gave up 458 total yards and 45 points. The 45-10 loss will hang over Weber State, who now travels to Tucson to take on the Big 12’s Arizona Wildcats on Saturday.
Utah Tech 0-1 (0-0 in the United Athletic Conference)
Tech had a heartbreaking loss to open the season against FCS power, and #8 UC-Davis. The Trailblazers fell by a score of 31-24. Tech did okay on offense with 353 total yards, and won the time of possession battle 32:15 to 27:45. UT even led by 17 in the third quarter, 24-7 at one point.
But it wasn’t enough, as the Trailblazers gave up 410 total yards, but the biggest killer was losing the turnover battle. Utah Tech turned the ball over four times, and UC-Davis only turned it over once. In a one-possession game, that is a decisive stat. Next, the Trailblazers hit the road and go to Flagstaff, Arizona to take on the Big Sky Conference’s Northern Arizona.
#24 Southern Utah 1-0 (0-0 in the United Athletic Conference)
The mighty Thunderbirds opened their season with a win at home in Cedar City over Idaho State. SUU beat the Bengals decisively, 46-24. Quarterback Bronson Barron and running back Joshua Dye had huge days for the Thunderbirds. Barron was 19 of 25 for 240 yards and three touchdowns passing. Dye added 180 yards on 28 carries and also rushed for two touchdowns. This would earn Dye the United Athletic Conference’s Player of the Week.
The Southern Uth defense stuffed the ISU rushing attack, allowing only 23 rushing yards in the entire game. The dominance impressed the STATS poll voters to include SUU at #24 in this week’s poll. Up next, Southern Utah travels to Southern California to take on San Diego.
Writer’s Note: All FBS team rankings referenced are from the College Football Power Rankings here at TheForkball.com. All FCS rankings are from the FCS STATS poll.
