Losing sucks.
Kalani Sitake’s body screamed that postgame sentiment, even if the words coming out of his mouth didn’t match it exactly. He saw no use in burying his players in their current vulnerable state.
“I love these guys,” he said. “… We’re going through a losing streak here. The only way to turn it around is to love each other, focus on each other, stick to our core values and principles, and allow the culture to take over.”
It’s a legitimate question these days to ask: What is that culture?
Is it to try real hard — good job, good effort — and graciously take the L’s?
An uncommon thing it has been at BYU, having defeat crammed down its throat four straight times in October. But the rarity of the consecutive failures offered no balm to the Cougars on Friday night, after the most recent loss, a 27-24 capitulation to a bunch of Pirates from the American Athletic Conference.
It only made the wound hurt worse.
Sitake said he saw some progress. He blamed himself for some shortcomings. He said he was proud of his players’ attitudes. He said evaluation and improvement need to be made. Time is running short.
Notre Dame, Arkansas, Liberty and now East Carolina. Defeat to the left, losses to the right. Two of those games were at home, one on the road, one in Vegas. All of them revealing all kinds of problems for a BYU team that was supposed to sustain what was thought to be a ramp upward to the future.
Instead, you have to wonder what kind of hellscape the Cougars will suffer through when they find themselves surrounded by competitive teams in the Big 12 next season. Funny — not the haha sort, rather the what-have-we-done-to-ourselves type — what a school hopes and dreams for over the better part of two decades, maybe longer, and then, when it gets what it thinks it wants, now comes trepidation.
Yearning has turned to fear and loathing.
And an emphasis on loving.
Making matters worse, it seemed as though BYU really was on its way to proper preparation for that transition out of independence and into a P5 league. Last season, the Cougars beat five Pac-12 teams. Earlier this season, they beat Baylor in what was by far the highest moment of an otherwise substandard season. They looked ready.
Not anymore.
Now they look susceptible, exposed, lacking talent, lacking consistency, lacking defense, lacking results, and, worst of all, lacking confidence.
Optimists might shrug off what’s happening, regarding it as a slump, as temporary disarray, caused by injuries. Realists will underscore it as hard, revealing truth.
Through the screams of October, BYU has been outscored, 148 to 93. The Cougars’ defense too often has been hapless, unable to stop the run, unable to get off the field, unable to pressure opposing quarterbacks, unable to cover receivers, unable to give its offense help during times of struggle. And that offense has groaned, laboring heavily.
Although BYU picked up yards on the ground on Friday night, its difficulty in regularly getting chunks of yardage should make everyone involved better appreciate what Tyler Allgeier, now with the Atlanta Falcons, meant to the Cougars in past seasons. His runs compensated for failings that have reared up this year in his absence.
More subtle weaknesses, like the lack of a reliable kicking game, also have vexed BYU to an almost embarrassing level.
How do the Cougars climb out of their funk?
At 4-5, they have three games left — at Boise State, against Utah Tech, at Stanford. That’s one guaranteed win and two very questionable games. If they end up, say, 6-6, will that make anybody around the program feel better about what awaits them next season? They could end up 5-7. Who knows.
What is apparent is that BYU has to make major strides in one crucial area — recruiting. Some believe its newfound profile and presence in the Big 12 will help in that regard. Others think because of limitations caused and restrictions imposed by the Honor Code, recruiting will not get the bounce necessary to consistently win, week in, week out, at the higher level. Some want BYU’s owner, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to pour a smattering of its invested hundreds of billions into the football program. Members of the LDS Church who are not BYU fans probably disagree with that proposal.
As troubled as some observers have been this season regarding mediocre coaching, especially on the defensive side, any coach worth his salary will admit that he cannot win without talented players. Even with NIL money in place, coaches make much more than players do. Can BYU find the collectives, the corporate dollars, the cashflow to lure both great talent and clean-scrubbed, scripture-reading, milkshake-drinking, prayer-saying talent to fill both the mold of the model BYU student and the model BYU football player?
Beats me.
But this much is sure: The school’s going to find out. And if the task is harder than Cougar fans have long thought it to be, then records similar to what’s happened this season will, at least for the foreseeable future, grow familiar to those fans.
And consecutive weeks of losing will grow familiar, too.
