Austin, Texas • The timing almost felt coordinated.
As Kedon Slovis walked into the press room after BYU’s 35-6 loss, Kalani Sitake was just on his way out. Sitake had spent the last several minutes defending his quarterback publicly. And as they briefly crossed paths, Sitake stopped him in a moment that said it all.
BYU’s head coach hugged Slovis and told him he loved him loud enough for the room to hear. After all the words Sitake said, this felt like a more powerful, timely image of support.
“I think everyone thinks the easy answer is get another quarterback in there,” Sitake said. “Like how about we just protect for him first? You know, give [Slovis] a chance. When he is getting hit, that’s not his fault.”
After Slovis went 24 of 39 for 192 yards and two interceptions on Saturday, the calls for his job grew louder. That’s now three weeks in a row where Slovis has not hit the 200-yard mark, and the fifth time this season.
The offense has struggled along with him — being held to under 300 yards yet again.
But Sitake insisted a change at quarterback was not the answer. Slovis is still the guy in Provo, and that isn’t wavering.
“He was managing the game the way we wanted to,” Sitake said. “We just weren’t converting on plays. And again Texas had a say in that. They are a really good defense and they made things difficult for us. I believe in our players and I believe in Kedon. We just didn’t make enough plays.”
BYU quarterback Kedon Slovis (10) throws under pressure from Texas defensive end Barryn Sorrell (88) during the first half of an NCAA college football game in Austin, Texas, Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Slovis certainly wasn’t all to blame on Saturday. The running game accounted for just 95 yards and Slovis was sacked twice.
He was hit several more times and Sitake said the offensive line needs to get better.
“That is the protection. We had some issues with the protection breakdown,” he said.
But there is also a growing trend in October where Slovis hasn’t been overly accurate. His 62% completion percentage on Saturday was the highest it has been all month. He was 55% against Texas Tech and 44% against TCU two weeks ago. Coming into Texas, Slovis’ completion percentage on the season was in the high 50s.
Beyond that, he now has more interceptions (three) than touchdowns (two) this month.
Still, making a change against Texas would have been foolish in Sitake’s mind. He understood his offense was held to 12 yards in the first quarter — the lowest since he took over — but this was not the time to turn to a new leader.
“To say, ‘Hey let’s go get a spark against a great powerhouse like Texas,’ as if we can impose our will, I think that’s the wrong thing to do,” Sitake said. “Now do I want to be aggressive? Of course, that’s why we went for it on fourth down. ... But I also want to be thoughtful and mindful of the mistakes that we are making.”
Slovis said after the TCU game he needed to be better. That day he finished 15 of 34 and missed several open receivers. But against Texas, where he missed fewer throws and was under duress, he seemed to acknowledge the problems extended beyond him and on the offense at large.
“We did good things at times but we got to finish drives,” Slovis said. “We had to kick field goals in the red zone. Again it is because we didn’t execute.”
With four games left in the regular season, it is now at least a question of what BYU will do at quarterback. Backup Jake Retzlaff has been redshirting this season and can only play in four games.
Now, not counting a bowl game, Retzlaff could theoretically see some time and not burn the redshirt.
But that scenario still feels far off. And even though Sitake has made moves at other positions this year, turning to freshman running back LJ Martin two weeks into the year, this is different.
“I think you lose your players when you start looking for sparks all over the place,” Sitake said. “You start doing that, you find nothing anywhere. And then you have lost the momentum and things that you’ve built on.”
As Sitake finished his comments, he made it clear that a Slovis discussion isn’t worth having. He instead pointed to an offense that can’t seem to get much right and an offensive line that again looked overwhelmed.
And as he hugged Slovis, it was that image that stood out.
“If the offense is not progressing down the field, we are not scoring points, it is an 11-man problem,” Sitake said. “It is not just one guy. It is also a problem with us coaches getting our guys in the right spots. So address the issues and deficiencies and let’s make it better. And not mix something up when it is not even there.”