Cougars say rematch with Baylor must be won in trenches – newsdubai

BYU football coach Kalani Sitake and defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki have told the story many times over the past few years.

After the Cougars were crushed 40-6 by No. 10 Wisconsin in Provo in 2017, Sitake and good friend Tuiaki, who joined Sitake from Oregon State in 2016 when Bronco Mendenhall left for Virginia and took then-BYU DC Nick Howell with him, put their heads together and decided the Cougars needed to get bigger and stronger in the trenches.

Work in the weight room became a priority for the program.

It paid off the following year as Squally Canada rushed for 118 yards and BYU beat No. 6 Wisconsin 24-21 at Camp Randall Stadium.

As No. 9 Baylor rolls into town with the punishing offense that rolled up 534 yards on the Cougars in a 38-24 rout last year in Waco — 303 on the ground and 231 through the air — BYU is looking for the same kind of turnaround.

Can the Cougars go toe-to-toe with the Bears in the trenches like they did with the Badgers four years ago? Clearly, BYU’s talented and experienced offensive line is capable. The Cougars should be able to move the ball and protect fifth-year junior quarterback Jaren Hall.

This one is going to be on Tuiaki’s defense.

Baylor’s offense has “good players, good scheme, good coaches,” Tuiaki acknowledged Tuesday. “Conference champions. And then all the things we want to be. It’s going to be a good challenge for us. … It’s a team that everybody in the (Big 12) conference is chasing. We’re not in the conference yet, but we definitely want to compare us with them and see where we are right now.”

There will be no excuses; unlike BYU’s offense, which could again be without several key players, the Cougars’ defense is fully healthy, including defensive tackle Gabe Summers, who left the USF game last week and did not return.

“We have everybody that we went into the game with against South Florida and all those players are available to us now,” Tuiaki said.

Baylor didn’t allow more than 30 points in a single game last year as it rolled to the Big 12 title. BYU is 36-9 under Sitake when it doesn’t allow more than 21 points in a game. Tuiaki believes the Cougars are up to the task while acknowledging that new Baylor QB Blake Shapen “will be a good player for us to face.”

Shapen beat out Gerry Bohanon for the starting job this spring, and Bohanon bolted to South Florida.

“We’re in a good place right now with (players) we have back who are healthy, who are going to play in this game,” Tuiaki said. “We had a really good autumn camp, a really good first game. We’ve faced a really good O-line this entire fall camp.

“We’ve been preparing all this offseason leading up to this game,” he continued. “And it will be a big challenge for our players.”

BYU walk-on defensive lineman Fisher Jackson, who had two tackles in the 50-21 win over USF as the Cougars held the Bulls to 293 yards, is one of the guys who has bulked up and gotten stronger.

“I mean, they’re healthy, they’re fast,” he said of the Bears’ offensive line, coached by former BYU Olympic coach Eric Mateos and former BYU offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes. “But I think we’ve taken a big step from last year to come out and win in the trenches, for sure.”

Jackson said he doesn’t necessarily have Baylor circled on his calendar, but some of his defensive linemates, such as fifth-year senior Lorenzo Fauatea, have said the game will be a big referendum on how far the Cougars have come in the trenches since last October .

“We circle every single game of the season. Everybody looks forward to every single game,” Fauatea said. “But yeah, I guess you could say Baylor is the game everybody looks forward to. Right from the game last year, I was just playing against Coach Grimes. Respect to Coach Grimes and Coach Mateos. Some really good guys right there.

“It’s just a game we’re all looking forward to — top-25 teams, they’ve got a great schedule. Nothing better to ask for on a Saturday,” he continued.

Fauatea said after the bowl loss last December that he briefly remembers Sitake approaching him and asking him to transform his body and get bigger and stronger.

“And that was true of the O-line and the D-line,” he said. “… O-line and D-line, everybody’s looking better, everybody’s feeling better, and I think everybody’s playing better.”

Fauatea said on the defensive line, sophomores Tyler Batty (6-5, 275) and John Nelson (6-4, 275) were the emotional leaders Saturday in Tampa.

Nelson, a strong side end, “motivated us, just gave us a pep talk and told us to keep going,” Fauatea said.

On Monday, third-year Baylor coach Dave Aranda said establishing the running game early will be a priority for the Bears, who hardly broke a sweat last week when they pounded FCS Albany 69-10.

“There’s a lot of physicality around (BYU) and I think their size and their physicality really stands out,” Aranda said. “They play a real physical, kind of old-school type of game. And it’s cool to watch from the outside.

“It’s another thing to be lined up against it. And then we will definitely be challenged on the line.”

Wisconsin would certainly attest to that.

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Cougars in the air

No. 9 Baylor (1-0) at No. 21 BYU (1-0).

Saturday at 20.15 MDT.

LaVell Edwards Stadium.

Provo, Utah.

TV: ESPN.

Radio: KSL News Radio 102.7 FM/1160 AM.