Jake Retzlaff threw a career-high three touchdown passes Saturday night and BYU opened its season with a 41-13 rout of visiting Southern Illinois in Provo, Utah.

Retzlaff completed 20 of 30 passes for 348 yards as the Cougars rolled up 527 total yards and 27 first downs. LJ Martin and Hinckley Ropati combined for 124 yards on 26 carries, with each rushing for a touchdown.

Salukis quarterback DJ Williams rushed 15 times for a game-high 121 yards and both his team’s touchdowns while completing 10 of 20 passes for 98 yards with an interception. Williams was sacked twice and threw a handful of other passes under duress from the BYU pass rush.

The pregame storyline was whether SIU could add to its three wins over FBS opponents since 2019, the most for an FCS school in that time. Cougars coach Kalani Sitake and his players pledged to approach the game as though it were a Big 12 opponent and the start proved they did.

After forcing a three -and-out to start the game, BYU ripped off a 13-play, 65-yard drive for a 7-0 lead on Ropati’s 1-yard run. The Cougars went up 14-0 when Retzlaff hit Jojo Roberts for a 57-yard touchdown off play-action at the 1:56 mark.

Williams scored on a 4-yard run with 46 seconds remaining in the first half to draw the Salukis within 14-6 but Will Ferrin drilled a career-long 50-yard field goal as time expired for a 17-6 lead.

BYU put it away with touchdowns on its first two drives of the third quarter. Retzlaff flipped a 7-yard pass to Martin, then found tight end Mata’ava Ta’ase with a 19-yard dart over the middle at the 8:12 mark for a 31-6 advantage.

Williams ripped off a 38-yard scoring jaunt for SIU less than four minutes later but Martin answered with a 1-yard touchdown plunge with 12:35 remaining in the game.

Ferrin capped the scoring by drilling a 41-yard field goal with 7:09 left.

–Field Level Media