Provo • Ed Lamb heard about it ad nauseam this summer. About how the team just 30 miles north of him was preparing at length, almost a comical length, for the Florida heat.
So when Lamb was asked his thoughts about how Utah was practicing in its indoor practice facility, cranking up the heat and pumping in steam, to simulate the Florida humidity, he let out a wide grin and small chuckle.
“We thought about doing that, but decided not to do it,” the assistant coach said about BYU’s own preparation for playing in Tampa against USF. “That’s a philosophy, but we feel good about our philosophy.”
As both Utah teams open their respective seasons in Florida — Utah in Gainesville, and BYU in Tampa — the programs are taking a different approach to the suffocating environment that awaits their arrival. Utah’s is more overt. BYU’s, well it is more subtle.
“I don’t think it will be that much of a factor,” quarterback Jaren Hall said of the heat. “You get there, it is hot and humid. But you expect that. You plan for that. You hydrate the week before and you eat properly. That is what our team is doing.”
For BYU, the challenge of playing in Florida isn’t unfamiliar. Whereas Utah hasn’t played a game in the Eastern time zone since 2014, BYU routinely travels from coast-to-coast with its independent schedule.
Still, it doesn’t make it much easier. The Cougars are 1-9 in their last 10 games playing in the state.
The combination of the heat and being two time zones away, has led to some head-scratching losses. That includes the last time BYU visited Tampa, when it lost 27-23 to USF, putting Kalani Sitake squarely on the hot seat at the time.
Sitake feels like the experience with these trips has refined the team’s approach to a game like this. The team will travel two days early, giving themselves an extra day to practice in the conditions and adjust to the time zone. It is the standard practice of an NFL team to leave 48 hours in advance of a cross-country trip.
The team also moved all of its game week practices to the afternoon instead of the morning to try to simulate the heat. Lamb hinted that the sports science team suggested wetting the field to simulate the humidity.
“That sometimes could backfire,” Lamb said. “Now we aren’t practicing as well as we could. Maybe having more injuries with dehydration. I think the idea of trying to simulate at 100% the environment you are going to be in, I don’t think that is necessarily what we would want to do. … [We don’t] want to make the guys freak out about something.”
The temperatures for a 4 p.m. local kickoff are expected to be around 92 degrees with 70% humidity. Scattered thunderstorms are also likely to roll in, with rain a heavy possibility.
Hall will do his fair share of wet ball drills. He was asked if he would adopt the routine Peyton Manning did before the Super Bowl, where he dunked footballs into a bucket of water during practice to prepare for throwing in a downpour.
“[Our preparation is] kinda similar,” Hall said. “We will prepare for all that stuff. But when game time comes, you can’t control any of that. You just got to play ball, make plays.”
Sitake has repeatedly referenced how hot the summer has been in Utah, something he feels like will be an advantage in the heat. There will also be a drop in altitude for BYU, something that should work in their favor.
But ultimately, for Sitake, he thinks this is just another game. So as the heat envelopes Raymond James Stadium for the season opener, BYU is fine with its preparation level.
Even if it doesn’t look exactly like Utah.
“It is always hard to go a couple of time zones away and to adjust to the climate,” Sitake said. “I think that is always part of the game and preparation. But when it comes down to it, it is just playing your best.”
