BYU rolled past Colorado State on Saturday night, but Kalani Sitake had one clear gripe when it was over: the penalties.
The Cougars were flagged eight times for 74 yards, and a few of those flags hit at exactly the wrong moments. One erased a touchdown.
Another kept a Colorado State drive alive. For a team that controlled the game, those mistakes stood out.
Afterward, Sitake didn’t hide from it.
"I did like the fight in all of them. I mean, the literal effort that they're putting on the field," Sitake said.
"I think if [the backups] just play more assignment sound, [we] would be in a better position. Just a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes that shouldn't happen from our guys."
He framed it as a fixable issue, not a crisis. "This is a good moment for us to learn from and to win comfortably and still be able to have those things happen.
So yeah, it got a little sloppy, but we'll be fine. This is stuff that we can easily fix."
The starting offense was moving the ball well enough that penalties became the main thing that slowed it down. Outside of the final drive of the first half, when BYU simply took a knee, Bear Bachmeier led eight drives. Five ended in touchdowns.
The other three stalled because of self-inflicted mistakes.
BYU’s only three-and-out of the first half came after a false start by Andrew Gentry turned a 3rd & 6 into 3rd & 11. That pushed the Cougars into a more conservative call, and they ran the ball before punting.
In the second quarter, a field-goal drive lost momentum when an illegal formation penalty wiped out a first down that would have extended it.
The last stalled possession ended with Bachmeier throwing an interception to Kyler Kasper, but that drive also had a touchdown run from Journee Tonga taken off the board when Andrew Gentry was flagged for holding.
The defensive penalties were even harder to ignore, especially because three of them were personal fouls that didn’t need to happen. Tausili Akana was called for roughing the passer after hitting the quarterback well after the throw.
Braxton Lindsey was flagged for roughing the passer for contact above the shoulders. Hunter Clegg handed Colorado State a free first down by shoving a ballcarrier who was already out of bounds.
"We got enough of a lead and still made mistakes and still felt like the game was under control the entire time," Sitake said. "This is something that we can build on, but I'd like to see some improvement, mostly from the backups when they get in there. I felt like there's a lot of mistakes and we had a couple of turnovers that weren't good...but we'll learn from it and get better as a team."
In Other News...
BYU Draws Another Ugly Road Response And Fans Will Notice
Colorado State had to apologize after derogatory chants aimed at BYU and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints surfaced during the game at Canvas Stadium, turning a football night into something much uglier. The university said mocking anyones faith runs against its community values and said it is addressing the situation with its students, a reminder that road trips can still bring issues far beyond the scoreboard.
Kalani Sitakes response fit the tone he usually tries to strike in moments like this, steering the focus toward the many fans who do not cross that line. He said he wants to center the positive support around the program and not let the actions of a few define an entire fan base, but incidents like this are the kind that linger with players, coaches and supporters long after the final whistle. [Read more 🡒]
Jim Moras Reaction Said Everything About BYUs Dominant Win
Colorado State walked into Provo unbeaten under Jim Mora and walked out with its first setback, a 41-23 loss to No. 11 BYU that quickly turned into a reminder of how hard it is to keep pace when the Cougars are rolling. BYU piled up 559 yards of offense and leaned on a punishing ground game that produced 332 rushing yards, while Colorado State never found much traction offensively and finished with 302 total yards.
For Mora, the reaction after the game said plenty about the gap his team hit against a ranked opponent. He acknowledged the Rams performance issues and pointed to the need to get better defensively and hold the program to a higher standard moving forward. Even in a loss that exposed some real shortcomings, the bigger question now is how Colorado State responds after seeing just how complete BYU can look when it gets in rhythm. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Just Showed How Overwhelming This Team Can Be
BYUs latest win offered another reminder of just how hard it can be to keep pace when the Cougars get rolling. In a 41-23 victory over Colorado State, LJ Martin set the tone almost immediately, punching in three first-quarter touchdowns and finishing with 176 yards on just 15 carries as BYUs ground game controlled the evening from the start.
Colorado State never quite recovered after quarterback Hauss Hejny went down with a hamstring injury and had to be replaced by Ksaan Farrar, leaving the Rams without the same offensive rhythm. For BYU, though, the bigger takeaway was familiar: when the offense starts fast and the run game dictates terms, the Cougars can look overwhelming in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]