BYU Football vs Portland State: 3 things to watch
By Jesse Smith
BYU football opens the college football season a week before most other teams get started. Here’s what to watch for against Portland State.
The BYU Cougars were 9-4 overall last season under first year head coach Kalani Sitake. Sitake took over for Bronco Mendenhall after Mendenhall bolted for Virginia. Mendenhall was the head man for the Cougars for 11 years before traveling east. The Cougars didn’t have a drop off under new leadership and fans of the program have to be excited about the direction of the programs.
BYU plays Portland State at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday August 23. We know this isn’t a huge game, but BYU has a very big fan base so a lot of eyes will be on the TV screen to see the Cougars play their first game of the season.
1. Can the Vikings hang with the Cougars on the road?
BYU is a tough place to play at and Portland State was 3-8 in the 2016 season. I personally don’t think they will be able hang on the road against that crowd and altitude.
The Vikings have multiple players from bigger programs, but It won’t be enough to hang with the Cougars in Provo. LaVell Edwards Stadium holds up to 63,470 people and with it being the home opener I expect it to be very loud and it could get ugly early for the Vikings.
Will they prove us wrong? If I was a betting man, I wouldn’t put anything up of significance.