PROVO — BYU freshman running back Ula Tolutau will have a constant companion with him throughout this week — a football.
“I have the ball with me at practice. I’m going to have it with me at all times,” Tolutau said Monday. “Just to get into that rhythm of always having two hands over the ball, especially during contact. That’s one of the things I’m working on this week.”
Tolutau fumbled twice in last Friday’s 40-24 loss at Utah State and as a team the Cougars surrendered seven turnovers.
In Monday's practice, Tolutau’s teammates on the defensive side of the ball tried stripping the ball away.
“Even the trainers are," Tolutau added.
Going into that game, BYU hadn’t lost a single fumble this season.
“That’s something that we address every day. It surprised me in that game why we gave up so many fumbles,” said coach Kalani Sitake. “I think I say that more than anything in practice — take care of the ball and ball security. I remind our guys. We’re going to keep working on it.”
Both of Tolutau’s fumbles came as he tried fighting for extra yardage. He finished with 21 carries for 102 yards. Running back Austin Kafentzis also lost a fumble.
"You’ve got to take care of the football. Ball security, that’s the bottom line, to take care of the football," Tolutau said. "Ball security is going to be a big issue this week. We’ll be ready and we’re going to work on that."
BYU also threw four interceptions — one by quarterback Beau Hoge and three by Koy Detmer, Jr. — including two that were returned for touchdowns.
This week, the Cougars rank No. 129 in the country — dead last — in interceptions with 10 on the season. BYU is No. 124 in turnovers with 13. The Cougars have given up 12 turnovers in their last three games.
Sitake said Tolutau needs to be careful when battling for extra yards.
“Ula probably put a lot of pressure on himself to make big runs. Sometimes your intent means well but it doesn’t work out the best,” Sitake said. “He needs to understand when you’re taking risks with the ball and trying to extend the play and trying to get extra yards, it’s probably not a good chance to take. But I trust him. We don’t make anything too big of it other than what we do normally every day in practice — we talk about taking care of the football.”
“It comes through experience, especially watching film on Saturday," Tolutau said of holding onto the ball through initial contact. "It was that little extra effort. I’m trying to learn from that, get better and improve."
Sitake credited USU’s defense for forcing the turnovers.
“They made some plays and caused some turnovers,” he said. “They had some good game plan.”
Not only did BYU’s offense turn the ball over but it also made other critical errors.
“The turnovers were a glaring negative but there were also some things that were mistakes that we couldn’t overcome,” Sitake said. “You’re looking at bad penalties that took points off the board and administrative penalties that made it harder for us to gain first downs and hurt our drives.”
Among those penalties included a few false starts and a holding call that nullified a Tolutau touchdown in the second half.
Meanwhile, the Cougar defense is looking to create more turnovers. Last year, BYU ranked No. 2 in the nation in turnovers gained (31) and No. 4 in interceptions (21). Five games into this season, the Cougars have forced only four turnovers.
Defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki’s goal is to get three takeaways per game.
BYU safety Micah Hannemann scored the Cougars' first touchdown at USU on a 46-yard intereption return.
“The defense is really concerned about trying to create more turnovers,” Sitake said. “That’s something we’re trying to correct and get positive in the turnover margin to work out in our favor.”
Defensive lineman Sione Takitaki said the Cougars are trying to assist each other in improving, particularly when it comes to turnovers.
“We just practice hard and try to strip out the ball,” Takitaki said. “Today we were grabbing at the ball. Every day that we come we can help out the offense and the offense can help out us with the little things.”
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Boise State (2-2)
at BYU (1-4)
Friday, 8:15 p.m. MDT LaVell Edwards Stadium
TV: ESPN
Radio: 1160 AM, 102.7 FM