A relaxed and confident Kalani Sitake met with reporters via Zoom on Monday to talk about the 27-3 win over Stanford, the 2-0 start to the 2025 season, and what the Cougars will do this week even though they don’t play again until Sept. 20 at East Carolina.
Bottom line, the Cougars’ 10-year skipper said, is that they won’t be letting up at all, a function of the bye week coming earlier than usual.
“We will do whatever it takes to get better as a team,” Sitake said. “It is not a week off.”
Kickoff time and television broadcast plans for the Week 4 game at East Carolina were also announced Monday, with the nonconference battle beginning at 5:30 p.m. MDT and slated to be televised by ESPN2. East Carolina (1-1) will host Coastal Carolina on Saturday.
As for the Cougars, offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick said on his “Coordinators Corner” program that they will practice hard Tuesday and Wednesday, hold a lighter practice on Thursday, and then get Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. Sitake said that the starters will probably not go as hard as the backups.
“We want to gain our legs back and stay fresh,” he said.
Despite the second straight blowout win, the most recent against a Power Four program, BYU hasn’t cracked the Associated Press Top 25 yet this season. The Cougars are No. 25 in the coaches poll.
However, BYU’s defense heads into the bye week as one of the best in the country. The Big 12 noted Sunday that BYU and Arizona are the only FBS programs that have not given up a touchdown on defense this season.
BYU is No. 1 in scoring defense, allowing just 1.5 points per game. Interim Stanford head coach Frank Reich, a former NFL coach, said BYU’s defense was “NFL quality” in the way it masks coverages and executes.
“You have to have players that can run the system that Jay (Hill) wants to run,” Sitake said. “… This is a defense I am really familiar with and that I am really comfortable with. We really feel good about the talent we have on our team, and we are speaking about defense specifically.”
Here are some other takeaways from Sitake’s 20-minute chat and the “Coordinators Corner” segments involving Roderick and special teams coordinator Kelly Poppinga:
Update on WR JoJo Phillips; Weylin Lapuaho due back soon
Sitake said that coaches are “waiting on more details” on the status of redshirt sophomore receiver JoJo Phillips, who was injured in the first half vs. Stanford and was on the sidelines with his right arm in a sling in the second half. “There is going to be some time (out) with him,” Sitake said, roughly repeating what he said late Saturday night.
The Cougars are fairly deep at receiver, with Chase Roberts, Parker Kingston, Cody Hagen and Tiger Bachmeier in the mix to make up the slack if Phillips is out for a while. They should also get Snow College transfer Reggie Frischknecht back soon after the one-time Weber State signee tweaked a hamstring in fall camp.
Sitake said offensive lineman Weylin Lapuaho might be back this week and should certainly be back next week before the trip to Greenville, North Carolina.
Tiger Bachmeier will replace Parker Kingston as primary punt returner
After Kingston had another fumble while returning a punt vs. the Cardinal, coaches turned to Stanford transfer Tiger Bachmeier, and he delivered a 44-yard return. Poppinga said the job is now Bachmeier’s to lose.
“Going forward for right now, as the punt returner, yeah, we will probably go with Tiger. I am sure Parker will get other opportunities down the road,” Poppinga said. “But I think Tiger is more than capable, as you guys saw. He had a big punt return that set up one of our touchdowns.”
Coincidentally, Poppinga said BYU only had 10 men on the field on Bachmeier’s long return. He said the 11th guy would have been part of the wall that was set up for Bachmeier to sprint down the west sidelines.
Offensive coaches remain bullish on Bear Bachmeier
Roderick and Sitake had nothing but positive things to say about freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier’s first game against a Power Four opponent. Most significantly, the 19-year-old who arrived in Provo in June has taken care of the football, which is the No. 1 priority.
“I think he’s playing very well. His stats are going to come as he grows and we get into games where we have to open it up more. That is coming. We are going to get into games where we have to throw the ball more and as he grows, we will keep getting better and better,” Roderick said. “Right now, he is right on schedule.”
Bear completed 17 of 27 passes for 175 yards, but was sacked three times as Stanford was “blitzing almost the entire night,” according to Roderick.
“I thought he made good decisions the other night,” Roderick said. “A big part of our game plan was to take care of the football and not give their offense anything cheap. We knew their offense wasn’t going to drive the ball on our defense all night, as long as we didn’t give them short fields. All of our players did a great job taking care of the football.”
Roderick said they will use the bye week to fine-tune some things and develop more chemistry between the quarterback, his receivers, and tight ends Carsen Ryan, Keayen Nead and Noah Moeaki.
“You got a true freshman out there. I was pretty impressed,” Roderick said. “He got hit pretty hard a couple of times and hung onto the ball. And he never put the ball in jeopardy. There weren’t any throws where he is throwing it to the other team. … We will just keep getting better every week and we will be where we want to be.”
BYU’s kicker and punter are top-shelf
Poppinga said that kicker Will Ferrin and punter Sam Vander Haar have been sensational, and not just because Ferrin is 6 for 6 on field goal attempts, with the Australian Vander Haar doing the holding. Vander Haar has become exceptional at pinning opponents inside their 10-yard line.
One of Vander Haar’s punts pinned Stanford inside the 5 and led to the safety in the second quarter.
“I was fired up right there,” said Poppinga, noting that Vander Haar has had 10 opportunities to pin opponents inside their 10 the past 15 games and has done it nine times.
Ferrin, of course, has made 22 straight field goals and 81 straight PATs.
Roderick said the only mistake Bear Bachmeier made was taking a sack right before halftime. Sitake and Poppinga said they briefly considered having Ferrin attempt a 63-yard field goal just before the half, but decided against it.
“I told Will, ‘that opportunity will come again,’” Poppinga said. “Just be patient. We will get that school record.”
Coaches to hit recruiting trail this weekend
Sitake said that BYU coaches will use the rare bye weekend in September to hit the recruiting trail and check out prospects in Utah and throughout the West. However, he said they are limited to the number of coaches that can be sent out, so not every recruit the Cougars have their eyes on will be seen this Friday. Many that will get visits have already committed to BYU.
“We will try to go see our future Cougs out there,” Sitake said.
