BYU football coach Kalani Sitake and defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki have told the story many times the past few years.
After the Cougars were crushed 40-6 by No. 10 Wisconsin in Provo in 2017, Sitake and good friend Tuiaki, who came with Sitake from Oregon State in 2016 when Bronco Mendenhall departed for Virginia and took then-BYU DC Nick Howell with him, put their heads together and determined the Cougars needed to get bigger and stronger in the trenches.
Work in the weight room became a priority for the program.
It paid off the following year, as Squally Canada rushed for 118 yards and BYU stunned No. 6 Wisconsin 24-21 at Camp Randall Stadium.
“Conference champs. And so, everything that we want to be. It will be a good challenge for us. … It is a team that everybody in the (Big 12) conference is chasing. We are not in the conference yet, but certainly we want to compare ourselves to them and see where we are right now.” — BYU defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki on Baylor
Ace No. 9 Baylor rolls into town with the punishing offense that rolled up 534 yards on the Cougars in a 38-24 romp last year in Waco — 303 on the ground and 231 in the air — BYU is looking for the same sort of turnaround.
Can the Cougars go toe-to-toe with the Bears in the trenches, as they did with the Badgers four years ago? Clearly, BYU’s talented and experienced offensive line is capable. The Cougars should be able to move the ball and protect fifth-year junior quarterback Jaren Hall.
This one is going to be on Tuiaki’s defense.
Baylor’s offense has “good players, good scheme, good coaches,” Tuiaki acknowledged Tuesday. “Conference champs. And so, everything that we want to be. It will be a good challenge for us. … It is a team that everybody in the (Big 12) conference is chasing. We are not in the conference yet, but certainly we want to compare ourselves to them and see where we are right now.”
There will be no excuses; unlike BYU’s offense, which could again be without several key players, the Cougars’ defense is fully healthy, including defensive tackle Gabe Summers, who left the USF game last week and didn’t return.
“We have got everybody that we went into the game with against South Florida, and all those players are available to us now,” Tuiaki said.
Baylor didn’t allow more than 30 points in any one game last year in rolling to the Big 12 title. BYU is 36-9 under Sitake when it doesn’t allow more than 21 points in a game. Tuiaki believes the Cougars are up to the task, while acknowledging that new Baylor QB Blake Shapen “is going to be a good player for us to face.”
Baylor quarterback Blake Shapen is congratulated by fans in the stands after a win over Albany in Waco, Texas, Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022. The Bears QB should provide the Cougars a good test Saturday.
LM Otero, Associated Press
Shapen beat out Gerry Bohanon for the starting job in the spring and Bohanon bolted to South Florida.
“We are in a good spot right now with (players) we have back who are healthy, who are going to play in this game,” Tuiaki said. “We have had a really good fall camp, a really good first game. We have been facing a really good O-line this whole fall camp.
“We have been prepping this whole offseason, leading up to this game,” he continued. “And it will be a big challenge for our players.”
BYU walk-on defensive lineman Fisher Jackson, who had two tackles in the 50-21 win over USF as the Cougars held the Bulls to 293 yards, is one of those guys who has bulked up and gotten stronger.
“I mean, they are sound, they are fast,” he said of the Bears’ offensive line coached by former BYU OL coach Eric Mateos and former BYU offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes. “But I think we have taken a bigger step from last year to come out and win in the trenches, for sure.”
Jackson said he doesn’t necessarily have Baylor circled on his calendar, but some of his defensive line mates, such as fifth-year senior Lorenzo Fauatea, have said the game will be a big referendum on how far the Cougars have come in the trenches since last October.
“We circle every single game of the season. Everybody looks forward to every single game,” Fauatea said. “But yes, I guess you could say Baylor is the game everybody looks forward to. Just from the game last year, just playing against coach Grimes. Respect to coach Grimes and coach Mateos. Some really good dudes right there.
“It is just a game we all look forward to — top-25 team, they have a great program. Nothing better you can ask for on a Saturday,” he continued.
Fauatea said after the bowl game loss last December, he succinctly remembers Sitake approaching him and asking him to transform his body and get bigger and stronger.
“And that went for the O-line and the D-line,” he said. “… O-line and D-line, everybody looks better, everybody is feeling better, and I think everybody is playing better.”
Fauatea said on the defensive line, sophomores Tyler Batty (6-5, 275) and John Nelson (6-4, 275) were the emotional leaders Saturday in Tampa.
Nelson, a backup strong side end, “was motivating us, just giving us a speech, telling us to keep going,” Fauatea said.
Monday, third-year Baylor coach Dave Aranda said establishing the run game early will be a priority for the Bears, who hardly broke a sweat last week in pounding FCS Albany 69-10.
“There is a great physicality about (BYU) and I think their size and their physicality really stands out,” Aranda said. “They play a real physical, kind of old-school type of game. And it is cool to see from the outside.
“It is another thing to be lined up against it. And so we are definitely going to be challenged at the line of scrimmage.”
Wisconsin would certainly attest to that.
Cougars on the air
no. 9 Baylor (1-0) at No. 21 BYU (1-0).
Saturday, 8:15 pm MDT.
LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Provo, Utah.
TV: ESPN.
radio: KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM/1160 AM.