Retzlaff guides BYU to season-opening win over Southern Illinois with 3 TD passes

PROVO — It's one game against an FCS opponent, but reports of BYU's offensive demise appear to have been greatly exaggerated.

Jake Retzlaff threw for 348 yards and three touchdowns without an interception, and LJ Martin ran for 67 yards and a touchdown and caught another score as BYU pulled away from Southern Illinois 41-13 Saturday night in front of an announced crowd of 63,712 fans at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

Folau Ropati added 57 yards and a touchdown on the ground, and Chase Roberts caught seven passes for 108 yards as the Cougars (1-0) piled up 529 yards of offense.

"It was a lot of fun to play football again," said Retzlaff, who cheekily admitted the Cougars "successfully kept under wraps" a quarterback decision for more than a week, since wrapping up training camp. "The guys around me played really well tonight. I'm proud of them."

Making his first start after surviving an offseason challenge by transfer quarterback Gerry Bohanon Jr., Retzlaff had the Cougars' offense humming early in a game that had BYU's "full attention" to open its sophomore campaign in the Big 12.

The redshirt junior capped a methodical 13-play, 65-yard drive to open the game with Ropati's 1-yard touchdown dive with 6:17 left in the first quarter.

Retzlaff ended a much shorter drive on his second series — just 86 yards over four plays in 1:21 — with a 57-yard dart to Jojo Phillips to end the first quarter.

DJ Williams pulled one back for the Salukis (0-1), capping an eight-play, 70-yard with a 4-yard touchdown with 46 seconds left in the half. The drive was held up by Williams' 43-yard pass to Keontez Lewis for the Salukis, who rank No. 11 nationally in the FCS.

But Retzlaff managed the final 46 seconds like a surgeon, and Will Ferrin booted a 50-yard kick through the uprights to lift the Cougars to a 17-6 halftime advantage.

Sure, it's the first game, and BYU was far from perfect, but Retzlaff was named the starter and his team rallied around him for a game that snapped a five-game losing skid that ended BYU's inaugural season in the Big 12.

"The competition was back and forth, and we felt really good about both of them. But when we put it out there, Jake won the spot," BYU head coach Kalani Sitake said. "Gerry was so supportive; he's a special human being … and they have a great relationship. We needed both of them to compete like that, because I thought it made them both better."

BYU outgained Southern Illinois 278-108 in the first half, holding the Salukis to just 42 yards on the ground (41 of them coming from Williams on nine scrambles). The defensive effort was buoyed by sacks from Isaiah Bagnah and John Nelson, as well as tackles for loss from Isaiah Glasker, Luke Toomaltai, Choe Bryant-Strother and Jack Kelly.

The Cougars kept it rolling in the second half, scoring on back-to-back drives through Martin's 7-yard run and a career-first by Mata'ava Ta'ase via Retzlaff's third touchdown from 19 yards out to go up 31-6.

Williams pulled one back with his second rushing touchdown, a 38-yarder with 4:19 left in the third.

But it wasn't enough for a defense that generated two sacks, seven tackles for loss and Jakob Robinson's ninth career interception to keep the Salukis at bay. Maybe some day, opposing teams will stop throwing the ball toward Robinson.

But it wasn't Saturday night. Nor will it happen under the Orem High product's watch, he joked.

"I want them to keep throwing it — as much as they can," Robinson said with a wide smile.

Williams, who was replaced at quarterback midway through the fourth quarter, accounted for 219 yards of Southern Illinois' output of 231 yards, including 121 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

"After the offseason and some of the adversity this team has gone through, I'm really proud of the way we played this game," Sitake said. "I think the leadership and experienced showed up."

Related topics