In grand fashion, week 0’s highlight game last week was #10 Florida St vs Georgia Tech in Ireland, and it resulted in a come back upset by Georgia Tech. They kicked a game winning field goal as time expired to win! What a way to start the college football season. We have made it everyone! College football is back! Lets talk about all things BYU Football!
BYU Names Captains
The 4 captains for the upcoming season are Center Connor Pay, Wide Receiver Chase Roberts, Defensive End Tyler Batty, and Corner Back Jakob Robinson. Those are 4 of BYU’s best players and are great leaders! It also highlights 2 on offense and 2 on defense. So good balance there. I am excited to see how these guys do this year!
BYU Releases Depth Chart
Offense
Yesterday, BYU released their depth chart for week 1. People were hoping that it would give some insight into who would be starting week 1. Well, it didnt help much as Jake Retzlaff was listed first but Gerry Bohanon was listed second with an “OR” next to his name. I think this shows that BYU is going to have both QBs play this first week and see how who does better against someone whos not their own defense and have in game situations. The other battle LG on offense also came with an “OR” next to the two names battling for the starting LG position, so not a ton of insight there either.
Chase Roberts, Darius Lassiter, and Kody Epps are the 3 starting receivers but all have “OR” for the second string suggesting that we could see those second string guys a lot as well. The starting TE will be Keanu Hill who doesnt have an “OR” for the second string below him. I am excited to see how he does as he made the transition from WR to TE this offseason.
The surprise for me was to see an “OR” at the RB position. LJ Martin is listed first but there is an “OR” next to Hinckley Ropati. Ropati has played really well in the Spring and Fall as Martin has been recovering from a shoulder injury. So maybe they are not planning on having Martin play a ton this game.
Media Reports
Kalani Sitake spoke with the media on Monday and he said that “he isnt revealing the starting QB until they run out for offense.” The team knows who the starter is, and Chase Roberts reiterated that, when he spoke to media, saying that the “receivers know who is starting”, but they they are “trying to keep it a secret all week.”
Defense
For the defense, most is secure there. Harrison Taggart, a transfer from Oregon, who played some last year is starting in Ben Bywater’s spot. Taggart played pretty well last year.
The speculation is true as Micah Harper is the starter at the NICKEL position. Meaning he will rotate from the NICKEL and SS position. The other starter when Harper is at the NICKEL position is Talan Alfrey, who played Safety last year and did pretty well. Tanner Wall is the starter at FS. He has had a great fall camp and has shown some great flashes.
The other corner opposite of star Jakob Robinson is Marquee Collins. This was a little bit of a surprise as he has been battling a knee injury after transferring from Weber St. But there is also an “OR” next to second string Mory Bamba suggesting that we will most likely see a lot of Bamba as well as Collins makes a full recovery. Bamba has had a great camp is a super long and athletic.
Special Teams
Not too surprising here, as Will Ferrin will be the kicker again for BYU this year. Ferrin was pretty good last year. He only missed 1 extra point all year. He did miss all 2 of his kicks over 50 yards, which he hopes to change this year. Ferrin only missed one other kick all year, a kick in the 40-49 yard range. So he just needs to work on the distance and should be better this year.
Punter transfer Sam Vander Haar is the starting punter. Hes a transfer from Pittsburgh and originally from Australia. He averaged 38.5 yards per punt last year. He is working on getting that more in the 40 range this year.
The Punt and Kick returners this year are listed as Parker Kingston, or Keelan Marion, or Chase Roberts. I would be very surprised if I saw Roberts out there taking kicks. Kingston returned everything last year and it was sort of hit and miss. I would be interested to see Marion return some kicks and see how he does. Or maybe Kingston has improved and learned some things and hes better and more consistent this year.
Game Preview vs Southern Illinois
The Salukis are a pretty good team! They are only 6-36 all time vs FBS teams since becoming a FCS members in 1982, but 5 of those wins have come with their current coach Nick Hill either as a player or coach. SIU have beat FBS teams, UMass in 2019, Northwestern in 2022, and Northern Illinois in 2023. They also almost beat fellow Big 12 member Kansas St in 2021, losing by only 8. This team knows how to beat teams like BYU. So BYU has to be ready! SIU is 0-5 all time against the Big 12 though. BYU is 20-0 all time against FCS opponents winning by an average margin of 37 points.
Speaking of margin, BYU opened up as a 19.5 favorite but the line has since dropped to 14 points. Yes 14!! That is very low for this game. BYU needs to show up or they have a chance of losing. They need to make a statement.
Breakdown of SIU
SIU will have a new QB for the first time in 37 games. Their previous starter, Nic Baker, graduated this last season as the school’s career passing leader. SIU hasnt named a starter yet and have seemed to take a page out of BYU’s book. Hunter Simmons, who appeared in 6 games for the Salukis, and DJ Williams, who transferred from Murray St, are the contenders right now. Simmons in his 6 games had 1 TD and 1 INT and Williams at Murray St had 10 TDs and 8 INTs. So pretty even.
The Salukis dont have any players named the preseason all conference team. But they do have a couple of second team players in WR Vinson Davis, C Chase Evans, LB Colin Bohanek, and S Ubayd Steed. WR Vinson Davis is someone to watch out for. He is a big playmaker at the WR position. I would expect Jakob Robinson to cover him most of the game. But he is a difference maker that BYU has to watch out for. Vinson is 5’8 and a speedster, someone that BYU sometimes struggles against.
Experienced OL
The Salukis return a very experienced Offensive line. 4 of their 5 staters are returning including second team all conference Center. This will be a good test for BYU to see if their so called improved QB pressure tactics are improved. If BYU can get pressure on the QB, it will show that we are improved and can beat on a FCS team. If we dont, we have a long road to go against actually good FBS teams in the Big 12. The Salukis also have reloaded at the RB position. They have brought in a couple of transfers to help with that.
Top Defense
Lastly, SIU brings back a team that was top 10 in the FCS in defense from last year. Their top numbers were in points allowed, total yards allowed, 4th down conversion percentage, and fumbles recovered. BYU will have to look out for this defense as defensive coordinator Antonio James returns headlining this defense. With BYU’s struggles on offense and a top notch defense for SIU, that is the matchup to watch.
How will BYU be able to move the ball against a top FCS defense? SIU will also be playing in front of the one of the largest crowds in school history. They have only played in front of more than 60,00 twice before – against Illinois in both 1985 and 1990 which had crowds more than 60,000. You can learn more about who SIU is here.
Prediction
With a new QB and RB, but an experienced OL and star WR, SIU could still be dangerous. I hope that BYU will be able to feast on that inexperience at QB. I look for SIU to have a pretty good balance between running and passing the ball. Blake Rolan is the offensive coordinator. Rolan was previously at Dixie State. He produced one of the most dominant rushing attacks in 2019 with multiple 1,000 yard rushers but has previously been a WR coach at Cincinnati. He has sent 7 receivers to the NFL.
I think that Jake Retzlaff starts, has 2 TDs and 1 INT with maybe 250-275 yards passing. I think that BYU will do a ton of running/screens to help the QBs.
Having a new QB wont help SIU, but I expect SIU to put up a pretty good fight. This game will be close till the 3rd quarter. They have the OL and defense to contend with this BYU team. But BYU has the overall better team with more skill at the playmaking positions in TE, WR, and RB. They also have better CBs and LBs than SIU. I expect BYU to win by 21, 31-10.
Thank you for reading! You can look at my previous posts here. Go Cougs!
