Tag: Kalani Sitake

Know Your Foe: BYU Cougars to know ahead of Oklahoma’s final Big 12 road game

Taking a look at Cougars to know ahead of Oklahoma’s matchup with BYU in Utah on Saturday.

Oklahoma will play its last road game as a Big 12 member on Saturday. Brent Venables leads his team to scenic Provo, Utah, where they take on the [autotag]BYU Cougars[/autotag] as they scrap to keep their Big 12 title hopes alive.

For Oklahoma (8-2, 5-2 Big 12), it’s somewhat funny that their last road game as a founding Big 12 member will come against one of the conference’s newest additions. However, the mission remains the same: win.

BYU (5-5, 2-5) is looking to get that signature win and, most importantly, clinch bowl eligibility. Motivation won’t be lacking for either team. BYU has had a very up-and-down season, mirroring how Oklahoma looked at some points last year.

The Cougars have some talented pieces, but it’ll take those players and a nearly flawless game to beat Oklahoma on Saturday. How does BYU stack up? Who are their playmakers and difference makers? We’ve covered that below as we break down some BYU Cougars to know ahead of the game.

Know your opponent: Get to know Brigham Young University

Arkansas welcomes BYU to Fayetteville a year after posting a convincing 52-35 victory over the Cougars in Provo last season.

Arkansas had never played BYU before last year’s trip to Provo, Utah, and the team returned with a 52-35 victory the week after a disappointing defeat in Starkville.

The Cougars return the trip Saturday night in Fayetteville and come into the game armed with a 2-0 record, just like the Razorbacks.

Their wins have come over Sam Houston State, 14-0, and then they routed Southern Utah last week, 41-16.

BYU added quarterback Kedon Slovis out of the portal this offseason. Slovis was at Pittsburgh last year and was at USC for three years before that.

Last week, Slovis threw for 346 yards and four touchdowns, completing 22 of 32 passes.

He is easily the best quarterback that Arkansas will have faced to this point as it is its last game before SEC play begins the following week.

Head coach Kalani Sitake is in eighth season at the helm of the Cougars. His team finished 8-5 a year ago and won the New Mexico Bowl, following two consecutive 10-win seasons in which his team finished the year ranked in the Top 20 both times.

Now he is ushering them into the Big 12. BYU will travel to Kansas next week in its inaugural league game.

They go to Texas on October 28 and host Oklahoma on November 18 before closing the year in Stillwater against Oklahoma State.

2023 Season Preview: Oklahoma Sooners look to break drought vs. the BYU Cougars

The Oklahoma Sooners are 0-2 vs. BYU all-time. Will 2023 be the year OU beats the Cougars?

The Oklahoma Sooners have taken on the Brigham Young Cougars twice in the history of the program.

They are 0-2 in those games. The most recent loss came in the infamous Sam Bradford injury game in 2009, which ended any national championship aspirations that season.

This time around, they will play in Provo, Utah. The November matchup could provide an interesting weather element for the Sooners to have to manage.

BYU is an interesting team. Their top 22 can compete with just about anyone in the Big 12. Depth, however, is the concern.

They added 19 guys this offseason from their recruiting class and the transfer portal, which should factor into their two-deep.

The Cougars hope to have better depth than they did a year ago. BYU returns 63% of its production from 2022. That ranks 70th in the nation according to ESPN (ESPN+).

Offensively, led by the now-departed Jaren Hall, BYU was 36th in the country. Hall threw for 3,171 yards, 31 touchdowns, and only six interceptions.

To replace Hall, Sitake brought in former USC and Pitt quarterback Kedon Slovis. Slovis started 11 games for the Pittsburgh Panthers last season, throwing for 2,397 yards, 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

The Cougars also lose their top three running backs from a year ago. To mitigate the loss of leading rusher Christopher Brooks, BYU added transfers Aidan Robbins and Deion Smith.

Robbins ran for more than 1,000 yards last season for the UNLV Rebels. Smith ran for more than 300 yards for the Colorado Buffaloes.

They lost Puka Nacua, their top wide receiver from a year ago, but return a lot of production from 2022 and added depth this offseason.

Defensively the Cougars ranked 97th in points per game last season. They have to improve on that side of the ball if they want to compete in year one in the Big 12.

Five of their top six leaders in tackles return. They also had five players record four tackles for loss or more, and three of them return for this season. Ben Bywater led the way in 2022 with 98 total tackles, four tackles for loss, one sack, and three interceptions.

Like the Oklahoma Sooners, the Cougars struggled to find a consistent pass rush last season. They bring back a lot of experience, but not a ton of production. John Nelson led BYU in sacks in 2022 with just three.

Boise State Broncos transfer Isaiah Bagnah hopes to help with that. He had seven tackles for loss and six sacks in the 2021 season before he was limited to just six games in 2022.

They have to figure out how to generate pressure after finishing 130th in sacks last year out of 131 teams. They also finished 129th in tackles for loss and 98th against the run.

But they have a great coach in Kalani Sitake who hopes to see vast improvement this year.

This is a tricky game because in late November in Provo, the temperature averages 52. The weather could play a factor. The crowd will provide a raucous environment, hosting arguably the biggest game in their program’s history. This has the feel of a “blue-out,” with the team rocking their all-blues and those in attendance matching.

This is a team with not a lot of depth, so do they wear out by the time they play OU? The key for this game is to get up on them early. If they hang around, BYU will beat you.

Until OU shows me they can do that, I’m not betting on it.

Score Prediction: 34-27 BYU

Predicted Record: 9-2

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CBS Sports Big 12 Hot Seat Ratings: ‘Pressure is mounting’ for Brent Venables

In their updated hot seat rating for the 2023 season, CBS Sports believes “pressure is mounting” for Oklahoma’s Brent Venables.

Coming out of a 2022 season where the Oklahoma Sooners had their first losing season since 1998 with one of the worst defenses in the team’s history, it’s not unreasonable to have questions about the direction of the program.

At the same time, it’s only been one year, and we haven’t seen Venables’ recruiting classes take the field and play significant snaps yet. The team may not have much success to speak about on the field yet, but the coaching staff has done a tremendous job off of it on the recruiting trail.

They’ve put together two top 10 classes, and with the way things are shaping up, the Sooners are looking at a third straight top 10 class in the 2024 cycle.

Ahead of the 2023 season, CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd took a look at every head coach in the FBS and determined where they stood on his “hot seat rating system.”

It’s a system that rates coaches from 0-5. “Zero” represents coaches that are untouchable, like Nick Saban or Kirby Smart. “Five” represents coaches that are in must-win mode heading into 2023.

Here’s a look at where the 14 Big 12 coaches stand heading into 2023. We also included where each coach ranked in CBS Sports’ head coach rankings in the Big 12 and overall and their career winning percentages.

CBS Sports ranked every coach in the Power Five, how did the Big 12 fair?

How did Brent Venables and the Big 12 fare in CBS Sports ranking of each Power Five coach?

The expansion to 14 teams for the 2023-2024 academic year provides a unique environment for the Big 12 in its final year with Oklahoma and Texas. New teams mean new faces in the coaching ranks.

Over at CBS Sports, they ranked each coach in the Power Five, so we’ve collated where the Big 12 head coaches stack up ahead of the 2023 season.

CBS Sports coach rankings No. 26-69.

CBS Sports coach rankings No. 25-1.

Four Big 12 coaches landed in the top 25, but none made it into the top 10. It’s a pivotal season for several guys. Here’s a look at how the Big 12 coaches faired in CBS Sports Power Five head coach rankings.

Report: Oregon Ducks have reached out to Justin Wilcox and Kalani Sitake about coaching vacancy

According to @johncanzanobft, the Ducks have reached out to Justin Wilcox and Kalani Sitake. There will likely be more to come.

According to a new report from The Oregonian‘s John Canzano, the Oregon Ducks are making a few calls about their head coaching vacancy and working to get a few interviews set up with potential candidates.

Among those candidates are Justin Wilcox, the head coach of the California Golden Bears, and Kalani Sitake, the head coach for the BYU Cougars, according to Canzano. 

These are two names that everyone expected to be on the list of candidates for the Ducks’ job. Wilcox is an Oregon native, and he played for the Ducks in college under Mike Bellotti. He has coached at Cal since 2017, where he has a 26-28 overall record while going 1-1 in bowl games.

Many Oregon fans have shown disapproval of a potential Wilcox hire, noting that he would be regarded as a safe choice that is viewed as someone who wouldn’t use the Ducks as a stepping stone, rather than a big-name hire.

Sitake is already coaching at his alma mater, BYU, where he played as a fullback from 1998-2000. He has made his way up through the coaching ranks across the west coast, which included a stop at Oregon State with the Beavers, but was hired as the head coach of BYU in 2016, where he’s built a 48-28 record, as well as going 21-3 over the past two seasons.

Canzano also noted on Wednesday night that the Ducks are in contact with at least two other coaches, one of which is in the NFL currently.

No matter who Oregon hires, there is a feeling that they need to get the job done pretty quickly. Early signing day is around the corner, and every minute that passes is another chance for recruits to fall in love with a different school.

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