PROVO, Utah (AP) — Jake Retzlaff threw for a career-high 348 yards and three touchdowns to lead BYU to a 41-13 victory over Southern Illinois on Saturday night.
Retzlaff earned his first career victory as the Cougars’ starting quarterback after beating out South Florida transfer Gerry Bohanon for the job in fall camp. The redshirt junior went winless in four starts last season, but helped BYU rack up 527 total yards this time around.
Chase Roberts led the Cougars with 108 yards on seven catches. BYU (1-0) has not lost to an opponent outside the FBS since 1960.
DJ Williams threw for 98 yards, while adding 121 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, to lead the Salukis. Southern Illinois (0-1) failed in its bid to defeat a third straight FBS opponent.
Big plays led to a big first quarter for the Cougars.
Retzlaff completed a pair of fourth-down passes to set up a 1-yard scoring plunge from Hinckley Ropati on BYU’s opening drive. Then he capped off the Cougars’ second drive with a 57-yard strike down the middle to a wide-open Jojo Phillips that gave BYU a 14-0 lead.
Southern Illinois sliced the deficit to 14-6 when Williams broke a tackle and scored on a 4-yard keeper just before halftime. Williams connected with Keontez Lewis on a 43-yard dart to get into BYU territory and set up the touchdown.
The Cougars pulled away after halftime.
Keelan Marion shook off three defenders to haul in a 52-yard pass, setting up a 7-yard scoring strike to LJ Martin for BYU’s third touchdown. Then, after foiling a fake punt, Retzlaff tossed his third touchdown – a 19-yarder to Mata’ava Ta’ase – to extend the Cougars’ lead to 31-6 midway through the third quarter.
THE TAKEAWAY
Southern Illinois: Outside of a few solid QB runs, the Salukis struggled to do much else on offense against the Cougars. They had only two receptions longer than 10 yards through the first three quarters.
BYU: The Cougars made strides at pressuring the quarterback, tallying a pair of sacks and seven tackles for loss. Jakob Robinson also snagged an interception. BYU registered only 11 sacks a year ago, tied for last with Virginia among FBS teams.
UP NEXT
Southern Illinois: Travels to play Austin Peay on Saturday.
BYU: Travels to play SMU on Friday.
