BYU football: Cougars displayed Sitake-inspired toughness to win 2OT thriller

Mississippi State vs BYU football 2016

BYU"s three losses this season are to Power 5 Conference schools by a total of seven points, but questions remain regarding how good this BYU team is. A plethora of issues surfaced, or resurfaced, at LaVell Edwards Stadium, including quarterback Taysom Hill"s inaccuracy (57 percent passing) at times, sloppy tackling and coverage woes in the secondary, miscommunication between Hill and his receivers, a porous offensive line, and an inconsistent pass rush.

Also, the Cougars were abysmal when it came to stopping the Bulldogs (2-4) on third-and-long or fourth-and-long. Mississippi State"s second TD came after it converted a third-and-6 with a 22-yard reception, a fourth-and-11 with a 14-yard reception and a third-and-8 with a 17-yard play. Safeties Kai Nacua and Micah Hannemann bailed BYU out with interceptions that thwarted Mississippi State drives that were fueled by third-down pickups.

"They exposed some of our discipline issues on defense," BYU coach Kalani Sitake said.

Inconsistent and mistake-filled play notwithstanding, it is clear that Sitake has brought toughness, confidence and a never-say-die attitude to the program.

"Overall, I am just really proud of the guys and the way they played," Sitake said, wryly. "All these games that are close, they"re taking their toll."

There were plenty of positives, too. Offensively, the Cougars were a sparkling 9 of 17 on third down, and moved up to No. 16 in the country (49 percent) in that statistic.

"That"s been what our team has proven this entire season," Hill said. "We"re just resilient. When we have an obstacle and we need to get something done, we get it done. I was really impressed with our offensive line, the way they stepped up in overtime."

Jamaal Williams broke Harvey Unga"s school record for rushing yardage (3,455) with 76 yards on 26 carries, and now has 3,468.

"I am grateful to get it," Williams said. "I have to give credit to all my linemen, tight ends, everyone who blocked for me in my career. Kudos to almost everyone out there former linemen, linemen now. Honestly, I wish I could put them [on the record] before my name because you can"t do it with the line, you can"t do it without everybody and their effort."

Tight ends Tanner Balderree and Hunter Marshall caught touchdown passes, and sophomore Moroni Laulu-Pututau made some spectacular grabs, including one for a 15-yard touchdown.

"The fans deserve the win," Sitake said of the field-storming that brought some good-natured ribbing from ESPN"s College GameDay crew on Saturday morning. "Some of the earlier losses we had were kind of heartbreakers for them."

drew@sltrib.com

Twitter: @drewjay

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sports/4469781-155/byu-football-cougars-displayed-sitake-inspired-toughness

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BYU football: Sitake continues to mold program his way

BYU Cougars - Arizona Wildcats 03.09.2016

I thought it might be something new instigated by coach Kalani Sitake, but apparently not. If you know how, or why, this tradition of not wearing helmets to the coin toss began, I"d like to hear more about it. Send me an email drew@sltrib.com.

I wrote for Tuesday"s newspaper a story about how it appears that BYU is making a conscious effort to portray a more sportsmanlike, clean-playing football team than in the past. BYU players and coaches said Monday that they aren"t doing it on purpose, but it is probably a function of Sitake"s personalty coming out in the actions of his players.

Whatever the reason, it is refreshing.

I wasn"t able to include all the comments in one article, so here are a few more as they relate to the new behavior, and the push to represent the school better than they have in the past:

Sitake on how trash talk on the field can lead to poor behavior:

"Our guys don"t engage in a lot of trash talk. I think a lot of it is friendly banter. We don"t want to make anything personal. So, that"s just what we believe. We believe in great sportsmanship, and respecting the game, and what it is all about. This is a team game, and so the focus is all on the team and what we do as a group. I have been really proud of how they handle themselves. I can"t say anything about stuff in the past, except I am grateful for the things that have been established here, and the foundation that Bronco Mendenhall set here. We are going to keep building on that and that is what we believe as a program, and what I believe as a head coach."

Sitake on BYU presenting flowers to the families of fallen MSU players and whose idea it was, and why:

"There are a bunch of guys on our staff that are always thinking about things we can do as a team. We try to represent more than just football, as a program. We have a lot of guys involved and looking into things we can do to make the world a better place with the role that we have as a competitor on the football field. We had a bunch of guys in the administration and our coaching staff that brought it up. I think Chad Lewis was one and we had a lot of guys discussing what we could do to honor them, and they actually gave us a choice to come out for the national anthem, and also the moment of silence, and we gladly accepted. We thought it would be good for us to support them, and their loss, and give our condolences.

We were able to compete and have a great game, but there is more to life than just football. And sometimes, we lose sight of that. This was one moment where our players can understand that and be part of the whole process of honoring others and showing people that we care."

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/blogs/byusports/4456898-155/story.html

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BYU football: Tom Holmoe talks scheduling, importance of game with Big 12"s WVU

Football: BYU Highlights | 9/24/16

Why does Holmoe seek out these kinds of games?

" When these opportunities come up, you like to play in these big games," he said, noting that they usually take years of negotiating and shuffling other schedules to get set up. "We are not the anchor team in those games, which works for us [because BYU is not close to an NFL stadium]. Anchor teams have been Mizzou, Oklahoma, West Virginia. Tthey have more responsibility a greater opportunity to make money and a greater opportunity to lose money. It is really good financially for us, because we help benefit the game and they have been good for our fans. Plus, those games are really good games."

LSU will be the anchor team in next year"s opener an NRG Stadium in Houston (home of the Houston Texans). BYU will play UMass at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., in 2018, but that will be considered a UMass home game because the Minutemen play most of their home games in that stadium.

Coincidentally, UMass hosts Mississippi State at Gillette today in a matchup of teams that will visit LaVell Edwards Stadium later this season.

I asked Holmoe if any other NFL stadiums are on his wish list.

"No, not really," he said.

He acknowledged that the game scheduled against Arizona in Las Vegas in 2021 could possibly be played at the new stadium proposed by Vegas officials.

"It is a possibility, but they"ve been talking about a new stadium for a long, long time. So really, we just know that Vegas has been a great venue for us. That stadium [Sam Boyd Stadium] has been great for our fans. It is a great location for California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah [fans]. It was an opportunity to play Arizona another time, and good for both of our team. It makes sense."

Holmoe acknowledged that scheduling announcements have slowed down the past few months, mostly because he"s filled most of the spots in 2017 and 2018.

"You know, early on, we had to fill a lot of spots," he said. "That"s why we announced so many games. We were starting with a clean slate. Now, we have filled a lot of games. We have games scheduled through 2023, even through 2026, a few. We are not full by any means, but with what is going on with our scheduling now, it is probably good to take a little pause. We have games scheduled through the next couple of years, solidly, so I am not concerned about the next couple of years, but as an independent, you have to go out pretty far."

Holmoe said the series with Virginia is still on, despite former BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall"s statements when he departed BYU that he doesn"t want to ever have to play the Cougars as Virginia"s coach.

"I can understand him saying that. It was right at the time of his departure. But those games, that series, is out there a little bit. It will be good when the time comes," Holmoe said.

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sports/4392336-155/story.html

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BYU football: Leading tackler Pau"u misses game with knee injury

Recap: Arizona football loses to BYU on last-minute field goal

Pau"u was leading the team in tackles, with 50, and also has six tackles for loss, a sack and an interception.

Defensive tackle Travis Tuiloma played for the second-straight week, but was on a play count as he continues his recovery from a Lisfranc foot injury.

What a start

BYU entered the game without a passing play of more than 40 yards, but got one on the first play. Taysom Hill threw a 75-yard touchdown pass to Jonah Trinnaman to give the Cougars a 7-0 lead just 11 seconds into the game. However, Toledo promptly drove 75 yards in seven plays to tie it up.

Let byes be gone

For the second-straight week, the Cougars faced a team coming off a bye. It will happen one more time, when UMass visits Provo on Nov. 19. The Cougars will get a bye before they face Cincinnati on Nov. 5.

"For us, it is a disadvantage only because it is one less game to prepare for, from their film," BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. He also wasn"t concerned that BYU had to play a weeknight game, to boot.

"I don"t care as long as there are 100-yard fields, we can play football," Sitake said. "You know, what makes this special is we are home."

Briefly

Former players Itula Mili, Derik Stevenson and Donny Atuaia carried out the alumni flags before the game. Current players Alema Pilimai and Garrett Juergens carried out the team flags. 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a 1971 BYU graduate, performed the traditional lighting of the Y before the game.

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/home/4418659-155/byu-football-leading-tackler-pauu-misses

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BYU football: Cougars seeing many happy returns on special teams

BYU vs Utah football 2016

"All of it has been really good," coach Kalani Sitake said, crediting special teams coordinator Ed Lamb and graduate assistants JD Falslev and Harvey Unga for their work with the return teams. "I am looking forward to getting more long returns. I give a lot of credit to the players themselves, and the coaches that put in the work."

Hadley, a junior safety, got it started with a 29-yard return against Arizona that set up the drive that ended with Jake Oldroyd"s game-winning field goal. There were no opportunities for kick returns against Utah and UCLA at altitude, so the next time Hadley touched the ball, he took it 41 yards from the 2 against West Virginia.

He would be sixth in the country at 35 yards per return if he had the minimum of 1.2 returns per game. Not bad for a safety who was "definitely a little surprised" when coaches asked him to give returning a try in camp.

"They saw that I had done it in high school, so it was kind of something last-minute that they decided to do, I guess," Hadley said. "It was definitely not something I planned on doing."

Hifo, a true freshman wide receiver, got both of his returns against the Mountaineers, including a 50-yarder that set up Rhett Almond"s 25-yard field goal right before halftime.

"It was kind of something I wanted to do return either kicks or punts," said Hifo, from Menifee, Calif. "I like being in the open field. It just took practice and them trusting me with ball security and things like that."

Lamb said training camp was pretty much an open tryout for the three returner jobs, and Hadley, Hifo and Juergens stood out because they had the best ball security.

"There are guys on the team that have good shakes, and athletic ability, and they are fast," Lamb said. "But players who can take the habits of practice into a game with ball security and not spill the ball on the turf won the jobs."

Nationally, the Cougars are tied for 56th in kickoff returns (22.0) and 48th in punt returns (9.71). More importantly to Lamb, they haven"t had any fumbles or muffed punts.

"So far, we haven"t emphasized any kind of home run hitters on punt return and the scheme," Lamb said. "What we are looking to do is do a good job of holding up, keeping the other team from faking, and then trying to get 10-15 yards on the return. Garrett has done an excellent job of taking those available yards."

drew@sltrib.com

Twitter: @drewjay

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/home/4405095-155/byu-football-cougars-seeing-many-happy

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