BYU football coach Kalani Sitake has four children with his wife, Timberly, as he settles into his eighth season leading the Cougars.
He and BYU will play their second Big 12 season after they were able to win five games last season but only two in the conference.
The 48-year-old coach and former BYU player knew there would be a learning curve. The Cougars hadn’t been in a conference for a decade. But all the preparation in the world didn’t matter once the league games started, and he likened it to when he and Timberly prepared for their first child.
“I remember when my wife was pregnant, we were trying to prepare for it, and before we had kids, we had all these opinions on how you should raise your children, things like that,” he said. “(You) Rolled your eyes when people brought their children to movie theaters, stuff like that. And then when we had our own child, it was like, we didn’t know anything. We just had to go through that experience.”
That would apply to BYU’s season, too. The Cougars started the season 5-2, including a 2-2 start in Big 12 action that saw them beat Cincinnati and Texas Tech at home.
But, that one win the program needed for bowl eligibility proved elusive. BYU lost it final five games — all to legacy Big 12 schools — including a season-ending 40-34 loss to Oklahoma State in Stillwater.
Sitake said he, his coaches, and his players learned a lot, saying that sometimes “you just have to go through it.”
But he did find one area where the Cougars were a fit for the Big 12 right away.
“The one thing that stood out was our fans definitely belong,” Sitake said. “And we belong on the field, too. We just need to do it more consistently.”
Sitake returns five offensive starters, mostly on the offensive line. Wide receivers Darius Lassiter and Chase Roberts return, but they need a starting quarterback, and the job is down to Jake Retzlaff and Gerry Bohanon, the latter a transfer from USF and, before that, Baylor.
Five starters also return on defense, including defensive ends Isaiah Bagnah and Tyler Batty, along with cornerback Jakob Robinson. All made an impact, including Robinson, with four interceptions. Notably, three defenders are back from injuries that caused them to miss most or all of last season — linebacker Ben Bywater, safety Micah Harper and safety Taran Alfrey.
BYU hosts Southern Illinois on Aug. 31 to open the season. Then, BYU has back-to-back road trips to SMU on Sept. 6 and Wyoming on Sept. 14.
BYU will open Big 12 play by hosting Kansas State on Sept. 21, followed by a trip to Baylor on Sept. 28.
The Cougars host their next two games against Arizona on Oct. 12 and Oklahoma State on Oct. 18. Then BYU hits the road to face UCF on Oct. 26.
BYU renews “The Holy War” with Utah on Nov. 9 at Salt Lake City and then hosts Kansas on Nov. 16. After a trip to Arizona State on Nov. 23, the Cougars end the regular season at home on Nov. 30 against Houston.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
