Kalani Sitake wants to get something off his chest.
After BYU’s 34-28 win over Baylor last Saturday — which brought the Cougars to 5-0 going into the bye week — the head coach thought his team was unfairly criticized about the second-half play calling on offense.
BYU saw a 21-point lead nearly evaporate. Were the Cougars too conservative with the lead?
If anything, Sitake thought BYU was maybe too aggressive.
“There’s this thought that we’re not being aggressive in the second half when we had the lead. It’s not true,” Sitake said. “As we go through stuff, we are not a conservative team. We’ve been aggressive. Maybe we should have been more conservative, not aggressive, in this game, to be honest with you.”
BYU did stay aggressive the entire second half — it is a big reason why it won the game on defense, too.
Even with a large lead, it called a fake punt on a 4th and 10 in its own territory and picked up a first down. It also threw the ball multiple times on third down, instead of draining the clock. Both of quarterback Jake Retzlaff’s interceptions came on third-down passing plays.
“When people are talking about our program, our mindset, we are an aggressive team,” he said. “We like to find ways to make big plays. That’s what we do. In terms of being conservative, maybe that would have worked out a little more in this game if we had done that.”
Sitake referenced Alabama’s win over Georgia last weekend, where the Crimson Tide also gave up a large lead but managed to hang on.
“People are accusing us of being conservative. ... It’s funny how things work. I wonder if anybody is accusing Alabama of being super conservative in their game, too,” he said.
He added that BYU’s been able to hold onto leads in 2024 — something it struggled to do at times in 2023.
“If anything, we’ve had leads before and held onto them. Wyoming, Kansas State,” he said.
Of BYU’s 31 offensive plays in the second half in Waco, the Cougars attempted 14 passes and 17 rushes. It was nearly evenly called.
“We know what we are doing. We are working really hard on it,” Sitake said. “Just want everybody to see the whole entire game as they go through it and critique us. We don’t mind feedback. That works for us. Just make sure it’s all on the up and up.”
