‘Not a one-hit wonder team’: No. 22 BYU rides into Waco with more to prove against Baylor Bears

Brigham Young Cougars safety Tommy Prassas (22) and teammates celebrate a fumble recovery and touchdown with Brigham Young Cougars cornerback Marque Collins (4) in Provo on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

WACO, Texas — The way BYU football coach Kalani Sitake sees it, the No. 22 Cougars still haven’t done anything yet.

At least, that’s how the coach in his ninth season in Provo is painting the picture this week as undefeated and surprising (to everyone else) BYU faces exasperated Baylor (2-2, 0-1) in the Cougars’ first Big 12 road game of the 2024 season.

“Our approach this week,” said Sitake, “is to stay humble and hungry. … We only get 12 guaranteed opportunities, and we have the fifth one coming up, so we have to take advantage of it and take advantage of the time we have to be on that field.”

That field is McLane Stadium, capacity of just more than 45,000, where the Bears handled the Cougars rather easily three years ago, winning 38-24 behind the quarterbacking of one Gerry Bohanon, who is now Jake Retzlaff’s backup at BYU (4-0).

While almost all the intangibles were working in BYU’s favor last week before its 38-9 beatdown of No. 13 Kansas State, all the situational advantages on Saturday (10 a.m. MDT, Fox Sports 1) seem to be pointing toward Baylor, coming off a downright gut-busting 38-31 overtime loss at Colorado.

“Our team is very gutted right now, and so frustrated,” Baylor coach Dave Aranda said.

For Baylor, the biggest thing to watch Saturday is how the Bears bounce back from that devastating setback.

For BYU, the main storyline is how the Cougars will perform in a game that will be played during daylight hours. As all of Cougardom knows, BYU is 0-10 in its last 10 day games (kickoffs before 6 p.m.) against Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. That…

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Author : Deseret News

Publish date : 2024-09-27 21:45:00

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