Kalani Sitake isn’t losing faith in his offense. He made that much clear on Saturday night.
But that doesn’t mean BYU’s head coach isn’t upset with the performance. And he thinks his players are feeling it too.
“I know some guys are embarrassed by the way they played on offense,” Sitake said. “Let’s just keep building on it. We have to find ways to get better. You don’t get better sitting around and feeling sorry for yourself.”
BYU’s offensive struggles were well documented last weekend. The Cougars scored just 14 points and made it past midfield four times.
What made it more shocking was that BYU’s offense was highly acclaimed throughout the offseason. Coordinator Aaron Roderick said the unit “upgraded at every position” after being a top 40 team in 2022.
In fall camp, players indicated the offense was further along than the defense. So was Saturday surprising internally?
“I think when adversity hits, or we are below expectations, I think that is when you find out how people react,” Sitake said. “The goal is to get them to react by going back to the basics. Rather than pushing themselves to do more than they are supposed to.”
Sitake indicated certain players were possibly pressing. He said quarterback Kedon Slovis could have checked down more often. But the overarching issue were the number of penalties and miscommunications. BYU struggled on third down because of it. It also couldn’t get into manageable third downs most of the night.
“Obviously we would like to see more points on the board. More PATs than punts. But watching and evaluating film, talking to our players and coaches, very fixable things,” Sitake said. “We feel like the mistakes, the miscues, the not being able to take advantage of opportunities were costly. But things were very fixable.
“Usually when things like this happen, week one, there are a lot of unknowns,” he continued. “We know a little bit more now. And things that we can focus on to help us will be very fixable. Penalties we can really fix.”
But Sitake isn’t opposed to letting the offense sit on this for a week. He is waiting for a response.
“We need more electricity,” he finished. “More efficiency on offense.”
Quick Hits
• BYU’s offensive production was glaringly bad in Week 1. What were the problems? And why is Kalani Sitake not worried yet?
• Everyone wants to ask BYU QB Kedon Slovis if he can return to his freshman year form. But hear it from him what went wrong at USC and Pitt.
• Jay Hill’s debut as a defensive coordinator couldn’t have gone much better. Why it was a masterclass in preparation, something sorely lacking in years past.
Around the Big 12
Baylor — After a devastating loss to Texas State, Baylor might be losing its quarterback too.
UCF — What can we learn from a blowout win over Kent State?
Cincinnati — Did the Bearcats hit on Emory Jones?
Houston — Unveiled retro Oilers-inspired uniforms.
Iowa State — Got a win in Week 1, but did it show enough to be confident the rest of the way?
Kansas — The offense is what we thought it was in Week 1.
Kansas State — Got a spark out of a Florida State transfer in a blowout first win.
Oklahoma — The latest on the Drake Stoops injury.
Oklahoma State — An uneven performance something to worry about?
TCU — Just lost the game of the week to Deion Sanders.
Texas — Sark talking about facing his former boss Nick Saban again.
Texas Tech — The honeymoon is over for Joey McGuire.
West Virginia — Is opening up with Penn State this week.
