Surprising, stunning, consistent: How BYU took the college football world by storm

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It’s much overdue to give BYU head football coach Kalani Sitake tons of credit for the No. 9 Cougars’ remarkable turnaround from a 5-7 season to 8-0 and a perch atop the Big 12 standings.
Sitake has done it with a lot of hard work, creation of an effective fighting culture and assembling a remarkable staff and players who’ve remained on the same page through two months of play.
BYU has had only five teams in school history reach 8-0 marks and two of them have come under Sitake (2020). The others were a 2001 Gary Crowton team that got to 12-0 before losing; the 1984 national championship team; and the Marc Wilson-led 1979 team that was 11-0 before losing to Indiana on a missed field goal in the closing seconds of the Holiday Bowl.
That is a heady company for this 2024 team. No question, this is a special season and a unique football team with admirable features of teamwork, balance and big-play capability on both sides of the ball and on special teams.
Sitake is a lifelong BYU fan whose passion for the school and its mission is ringing deep and true to his players in an era of NIL and the transfer portal. His three coordinators, Jay Hill, Aaron Roderick and Kelly Poppinga, and his strength and conditioning staff have put out an entertaining product that has shocked the college football world and drawn praise from coast to coast.
Sitake believed in high fortune for this season and his mantra that folks who doubted them didn’t know what the team knew rings loud and clear heading into November and a renewal of the rivalry game with Utah next week.
His team is fun to watch. It competes. It is very physical. It answers challenges and hurdles early and late. The defense makes stops, and the offense scores on short and long fields. It is a brand of entertaining, balanced football that very well could put the Cougars in not only the Big 12 championship game in Arlington but the College Football Playoff when all is said and done.
Surprising, stunning and consistent. This is the kind of team Sitake dreamed of creating when he took the BYU job and he’s done it at the tail end of independence with meager budgets and funds and still won’t have a full share of Big 12 P4 money until 2025. BYU is getting half the paycheck newcomers Utah, ASU, Arizona, and Colorado are getting with original Big 12 members Oklahoma State, Iowa State, West Virginia, Texas Tech, TCU, Baylor, Kansas and Kansas State this season.
His players love him and believe in him. He trusts them and his staff. He sets the tone and they follow.
While 2023 season was disappointing, the 2024 turnaround in just a few short months is truly remarkable.
Here’s our coverage of BYU’s win No. 8 at UCF in Orlando:
Please list three keys as to why BYU is 8-0 and ranked No. 9 in the nation during this bye week:
Jay Drew: What is the secret to BYU’s sudden success in 2024, after the Cougars went 5-7 last year and looked like a bad football team doing it. I’ve been asked that question a lot the past few weeks — ever since BYU stunned Kansas State in Provo, the game that was supposed to “expose” BYU as the benefactor of a weakened schedule. Didn’t happen, obviously.
The first key has been the play of Jake Retzlaff. The junior is having a fantastic season, and surpassed everybody’s expectations. He’s been terrific.
The second key has been the culture of belief, humility and camaraderie that permeates the program, brought on by the head man himself, Kalani Sitake. Why isn’t he being talked about as a national coach of the year candidate?
Finally, props to Jay Hill and staff and the defense that has been mostly terrific through eight games. They plugged in a couple stars such as Jack Kelly and Marque Collins, but for the most part, it is the same guys with a year of development under their belts in Hill’s system.
Dick Harmon: There are a ton of things that have stood out about this team, including Retzlaff, the defense, how the offense has progressed and all the special teams’ big plays, but my No. 1 is the offensive line. The job TJ Woods has done has been phenomenal and has led to everything else working. His development of tackle Caleb Etienne is astonishing. When Connor Pay went down, Bruce Mitchell stepped in and played at an elite level. This doesn’t happen by happenstance and has been remarkable.
I’d say No. 2 for me is the defensive front seven, especially Isaiah Glasker and Blake Mangelson, who has been a stud. We knew Tyler Batty would be good, but these others have been phenomenal playmakers.
The third thing that’s been key is that even though stretch running backs LJ Martin, Hinckley Ropati and Sione Moa were dinged up and injured, somehow BYU limped by with Retzlaff becoming the leading rusher and carrying the load. We saw in the OSU game (255 rushing) and the UCF game (252 rushing) what BYU’s offense has became when everyone returned healthy. That stretch of missing top run talent, yet winning, is the mark of a confident, competitive football team and why they have the No. 9 ranking.
No. 1-ranked BYU women’s cross-country team will head to Waco, Texas, for the Big 12 Cross Country Championships this week, and here’s a rundown on the competition. Meanwhile, the No. 2-ranked BYU men will also be there at Cottonwood Creek Golf Course to make their presence known.
BYU freshman Egor Demin continues to receive national preseason recognition heading into the Cougars’ season opener this week.
In this Paul George podcast, No. 1 high school recruit and BYU target AJ Dybantsa explains the check box he’s making for a college choice. He also said he will make his choice soon.
Comments of Deseret News readers:
This is one of the better rivalries in the country, but I’m glad BYU is back on equal footing / same conference as Utah. The ‘70s and ‘80s were dominated by BYU. The ‘90s and ‘00s were very equal, call it parity. The 10s belong to Utah (imo, the recruiting benefit of being in a P5 vs indy). I expect the 2020s will transition back to parity, although I’m hoping for another decade of dominance by BYU.
This has been a very interesting year, with BYU exceeding preseason expectations more than any other team in the Big XII, and Utah missing preseason expectations more than any other team in the Big XII. And yet, none of that matters when the two teams battle on Nov 9. Should be a great game. Go Cougs!
— CougFaninTexas
I get very concerned when I hear BYU saying the Utah game is just another game. It isn’t! Kyle Whittingham is going to have two weeks to game plan and he’s going to spend every minute preparing. They’re going to be ready and on that day, Utah is going to play like the team they were projected to be at the start of the season. Despite what is said, this is a very important game from a recruiting standpoint. It can make or break Utah’s season. BYU better be ready and get fired up or its not going to be able to match the energy and intensity of one of the most intense rivalries in all of college football.
— Cognizant
My opinion regarding comments below:
— Scrabble