BYU Football Progress Report: Stanford Edition

PROVO, Utah – BYU football improved to 2-0 in the 2025 season with an impressive performance from the defense in a 27-3 win over Stanford.

The Cougars defeated Stanford in front of the largest crowd at LaVell Edwards Stadium since 2007.

BYU Football Progress Report: Stanford Edition

Despite some procedure issues and a lack of explosive plays on offense, the Cougars moved to 2-0 for the sixth-straight season in a 27-3 win over the Stanford Cardinal. Let’s break it down here.

Offense: C-

I’ll start with the bright spot: LJ Martin. Through two games, Martin looks like an all-conference back. He finished the night with 18 carries for 110 yards, good for an average of 6.1 yards per touch.

Martin busted another 40+ yard run and has become an essential weapon for a BYU offense that seems to be still trying to figure things out with a true freshman quarterback.

Bear Bachmeier passed for a quiet 175 yards in another turnover-free outing. He took a big hit on his blindside while looking downfield, but was able to hold onto the ball. Bachmeier went 4-for-4 on intermediate passes (10-19 yards downfield) and connected on a 41-yard bomb to Chase Roberts.

Watching in person, it still didn’t feel like he was given many opportunities to showcase his arm, with offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick dialing up loads of screen passes and runs.

The major problem was the redzone offense. BYU scored on all six visits, but only two of the trips resulted in touchdowns. Twice the Cougars started drives inside the Stanford 20-yard line–both of those drives ended with field goals. That will need to get cleaned up as the schedule ramps up after the bye.

Defense: A

Jack Kelly and Isaiah Glasker may be the best linebacker duo BYU has ever had. The amount of pressure and run stuffs they create really sets the tone for defense.

Each of them forced fumbles on sacks and combined for nine total tackles, 3.5 coming behind the line of scrimmage.

Kelly also assisted Faletau Satuala with a safety in the third quarter. It seems like BYU will always have a chance, as long as Glasker and Kelly are on the field.

After seeing its 14-game interception streak come to an end last Saturday, the defense forced two today—one from Satuala and the other from Raider Damuni.

The run defense had some holes at times last year, but it’s looked fantastic through two games in 2025. Jay Hill’s defense in year three has made opposing backs work for every yard. After holding Portland State to -5 rushing yards last week, Stanford finished with just 19 last night.

The Cardinal rushed for just under 200 yards in their season opener at Hawai’i.

Special Teams: B

Will Ferrin continues to be nails for BYU and extended his made-kicks streak to 22 after going 4-for-4 against Stanford. He’s a weapon for the Cougars, and if the defense can hold opposing offenses to low point totals like they have so far, Ferrin’s leg will win BYU games.

Cody Hagen had a big kickoff return of 44 yards, and Tiger Bachmeier returned a punt 44 yards.

Parker Kingston fumbled the ball again on a punt return. Despite some electric returns in 2024, you’ve got to wonder if special teams coordinator Kelly Poppinga looks to make a change at punt returner over the bye week.

Overall: B-

The game felt like it dragged a bit, but BYU secured a comfortable win over a P4 opponent and covered the 20.5-point spread.

The defense played nearly perfectly through three quarters, but some miscues in the fourth quarter leave some things to work on before traveling to face East Carolina on September 20.

All in all, it was a solid win, and the Cougars look to be among the top half of the teams in the Big 12 again this year.

Nate Slack is an Executive Producer for Cougar Sports Saturday (Noon–3 p.m.) on KSL NewsRadio.