How Chef Sitake served up an early Thanksgiving

Kalani Sitake served Cougar Nation a five-star meal over the weekend representing the four food groups of football — offense, defense, special teams and coaching — and they ate it up like an early Thanksgiving.

The feast looked and tasted similar to the spread Sitake rolled out against Baylor in September, but Saturday’s presentation was done by using ingredients that weren’t on the table when “bear” was on the menu.

BYU took the field at Boise State as 8¹⁄₂-point underdogs with 12 different starters from the group that cut down No. 9 Baylor 26-20 in double overtime on Sept. 10. Whether due to injury or performance, the overhaul is astounding.

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Malik Moore, Kaleb Hayes, DeAngelo Mandell and Ammon Hannemann anchored the secondary against the Bears while Jakob Robinson, Micah Harper, Talan Alfrey and Gabe Jeudy-Lally started in their places at Boise State — with no one older than a redshirt sophomore.

Max Tooley, Payton Wilgar and Keenan Pili started at linebacker against Baylor. On Saturday, the Cougars rolled out Ben Bywater, Pepe Tanuvasa and Pili.

Changes to the offense were just as significant. Running back Chris Brooks, receivers Kody Epps and Chase Roberts, and offensive lineman Kingsley Suamataia started against the Bears.

Roberts riddled Baylor’s secondary for eight receptions for 122 yards and a touchdown. Epps was BYU’s leading receiver before being lost for the season with a shoulder injury at Liberty, and Brooks remains the leading rusher despite missing the last two games.

In Boise, those four were replaced in the starting lineup by Puka Nacua, Keanu Hill, Lopini Katoa and Joe Tukuafu.

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One wonders how any recipe can undergo so many ingredient changes and still turn out a familiar and delightful flavor?

Credit the chef.

Considering the changes, the losing streak, the unhappy customers, Boise State’s home field advantage and a Broncos’ defense that was statistically heralded as among the best in the country, Saturday may have been Sitake’s finest hour.

He cooked up a potentially season-saving win.

Jaren Hall and the Cougars amassed 532 yards of offense against a Boise State (6-3) defense ranked No. 2 in the country allowing 232. While struggling to score in the first half, BYU finished with 31 points against a defense that had only allowed an average of 17.4 per game.

The Cougars rolled up 27 first downs against a squad that was only allowing 11 (No. 1 in FBS) and BYU dominated the time of possession by 12 minutes.

Defensively, with Sitake calling the plays, the Cougars held Boise State to four of 10 third-down conversions. They contained the Bronco ground attack, including their elusive quarterback, to 104 yards and most importantly, BYU didn’t allow any Boise State points off of Hall’s two interceptions.

On special teams, Ryan Rehkow used his only punt to pin the Broncos inside their own 4-yard line and Jake Oldroyd was perfect on four extra-points and a field goal.

Sitake and his staff called the right plays at the right time, including the screen pass to the rarely used Hinckley Ropati that he turned into a 48-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick went back to that same play on BYU’s final drive and Ropati raced 29 yards to the Boise 7 with under four minutes remaining.

While far from perfect, Saturday’s feast was good enough to fill the belly of an anxious roster that had underperformed for four games and fill the stomach of a fan base that could barely stomach the month of October.

More importantly, the victory invigorated BYU’s (5-5) appetite for more. A win against Utah Tech (3-6) on Nov. 19 (1:30 p.m. on BYUtv) will make the Cougars bowl eligible ahead of a Thanksgiving weekend showdown at Stanford.

The motivation to heal, to practice and, for Sitake, to get back into the kitchen and cook up something else, is restored. And unlike most chefs who prefer to keep their secret ingredients under wraps, Sitake is completely transparent about his.

“He is one of the best players in college football,” he said, after Nacua’s game winning and perhaps season-saving touchdown grab that helped the chef serve Thanksgiving early to Cougar Nation.

Dave McCann is a contributor to the Deseret News and is the studio host for “BYU Sports Nation Game Day,” “The Post Game Show,” “After Further Review” and play-by-play announcer for BYUtv. He is also co-host of “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com.