Another game, another defensive starter sidelined for injury bug-bitten BYU.
A week after announcing that starting safety Raider Damuni would be out for at least a month with a lower leg injury and backup running back Sione Moa would be out even longer, BYU coach Kalani Sitake said Monday in his weekly press briefing that starting linebacker Siale Esera sustained an undisclosed injury in the 28-17 win over Arizona and is “more than likely” out against Colorado State on Saturday.
Esera, a Rover (inside) linebacker, was injured on Arizona’s opening touchdown drive and exited the game shortly thereafter, never to return. The 6-foot-3 junior from nearby Timpview High is not listed on this week’s depth chart.
Instead, senior Isaiah Glasker is listed as the starting Rover linebacker, backed up by Kansas State transfer Jake Clifton. Glasker was listed as the starting Sam linebacker last week. This week, that designation belongs to sophomore Nusi Taumoepeau.
Esera “will be questionable for this weekend. It’s not season-ending, but it’s something that … We’ll see what happens this week (in practice),” Sitake said. “I think that it was the right move to just kind of be transparent with all of it. … I just want to make sure that everybody knows what we’re up to, and that we’re just being transparent with the injuries.
“It is more than likely that it will take him out of the game this weekend. And yeah, that’s unfortunate because he was doing some really good things.”
BYU is relatively deep in all the linebacker positions, and mostly used only two at any one time Saturday against dual-threat Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita. Defensive coordinator Kelly Poppinga employed three cornerbacks — Evan Johnson, Tre Alexander and Jayven Williams — for much of the game, and Johnson played out of the slot (nickel) at times.
Linebackers Cade Uluave and Braxton Lindsey got dinged up against the Wildcats as well and left the game briefly, but returned.
“Watched the film on Colorado State’s games, and they’re a dangerous team. So every week, we have to respect our opponents and try to do whatever we can to be at our best.”
— BYU coach Kalani Sitake
“In the first half, they put us on our heels a little bit with some of the looks,” Sitake said. “But more than anything, it tested our fitness and conditioning right away because we played so many plays in the first half and it just happened that offensively we couldn’t get some things going. So it was like a perfect storm to gas out our defense and maybe we could have used some reserves more often and rotated some guys in there.”
Trailing 17-14 at halftime, BYU outscored Arizona 14-0 in the second half and went into victory formation in the final minute with the ball at the Wildcats’ 3-yard line.
“They made more plays than we did, and were up by three at halftime,” Sitake said. “I thought our response was perfect. We’ll see what happens in this game. I don’t know what the scores are going to look like, but I just got to get the guys ready, so that when the scores do happen, we’re not really surprised by it.”
Why is No. 11 BYU playing a Group of Six team on the road?
BYU announced on Sept. 25, 2024, that it had agreed to a home-and-home series with Colorado State, the first game between the former WAC and Mountain West foes since 2010 set for this Saturday, with the second scheduled to be played in Provo in 2029.
BYU is 37-29-3 all-time against CSU, including a seven-game winning streak dating back to 2004. In 2024, BYU wrapped up a two-game series with another former league rival — Wyoming. The Cougars have another home-and-home series with a Pac-12 school, Oregon State, scheduled for 2027 (Provo) and 2028 (Corvallis).
Asked why BYU has several home-and-home agreements with Group of Six schools and whether there will be more in the future, Sitake said that it became necessary when the Cougars joined the Big 12 and that he likes them and expects them to continue.
“We had to adjust a lot of our scheduling, and there were games that we couldn’t move, and there were games that we had some flexibility (with),” he said, noting that the Big 12 has asked its teams to play at least one nonconference game a year against a power conference opponent, and then a mix of two games between Group of Six, power conference and FCS teams.
“When we were an independent, we were always having to go sometimes two time zones away because we were trying to fill up a schedule,” said the former BYU fullback. “Now, (we are) maybe trying to keep these games a little bit more regional. Going to the next state over makes more sense. … it’s kind of fun for me to go back to these teams that we played against back in my day, and going to those venues.”
Both teams are 2-0, Colorado State for the first time since 2011. The Rams beat Wyoming and Southern Utah handily in Week 1 and Week 2.
“After watching the film, Arizona’s a really talented team,” Sitake said. “Watched the film on Colorado State’s games, and they’re a dangerous team. So every week, we have to respect our opponents and try to do whatever we can to be at our best. So it’s going to require all three phases functioning at their best.”
Monday, a Fort Collins newspaper called the matchup “one of the most significant Colorado State football games in years.”
A win over CSU would give BYU its fourth-straight 3-0 start and sixth 3-0 start in seven seasons.
Plenty of ties between BYU and Colorado State
Colorado State’s coaching staff is familiar with BYU, as passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach Matt Mitchell was BYU’s assistant quarterbacks coach last year and directly responsible for the success that BYU QB Bear Bachmeier experienced as a true freshman.
Colorado State nickel backs coach Matty Ah You played at BYU from 2003-08 and was a defensive analyst
“That’s part of the game,” Sitake said, when asked if Mitchell’s recent familiarity with BYU will be an advantage for the Rams. “… But they have had to take it week to week. I don’t think they’ve been sitting there memorizing our playbook the entire year.”
After completing 16 of 26 passes for 217 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions against Arizona, Bachmeier was named the Big 12 Co-Offensive Player of the Week with Oklahoma State’s Drew Mestemaker on Monday. Bachmeier was also named to the Davey O’Brien Great 8 as one of the top quarterback performances from Week Two.
Meanwhile, BYU defensive end Tausili Akana is the Big 12’s Co-Defensive Player of the Week with OSU’s Ethan Wesloski. Akana had 2.5 sacks and four tackles against Arizona.
