Kalani Sitake taking advantage of football momentum

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Brigham Young Cougars head coach Kalani Sitake holds the trophy during the Valero Alamo Bowl in San Antonio on Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. BYU won 36-14. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

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With BYU’s win over Colorado in the Alamo Bowl, head coach Kalani Sitake is looking to take advantage of his extension and 11-win season with recruiting and newfound media respect.

By tying for the Big 12 in the regular season and losing out on the league championship game due to a tiebreaker, the credibility BYU found in the bowl season is a far cry from where the program was a year ago with a five-win season, a losing record at the end, no bowl game, no extra practices heading into winter workouts and spring ball.

ESPN’s Trevor Matich explained to BYUtv in this piece just how important that momentum is at this time of the year and how it has paid off in recruiting. This past fall, BYU had to start the season completely out of the rankings and fight its way to No. 6 with a 9-0 start. This coming year, with so many returning players, the Cougars should start 2025 in the top 25, perhaps the top 15, and that will provide a far better track to make the CFP.

In this piece, I explain how some of Sitake’s momentum is paying off with BYU’s finances and resources, which are far different from even 18 months ago for the program.

Question of the week

Kevin Young’s challenge with melding his vets and rookies is establishing a tougher, more aggressive mindset for road games after Providence and Houston bullied the Cougars into submission. How will Young fix this?

Jay Drew: Having watched the Providence blowout on television and the Houston debacle in person, my gut reaction was this: Kevin Young and his BYU basketball coaching staff have a lot of work to do in the next two months if they hope to turn the Cougars into a tournament team. Right now, that very well may be the…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/kalani-sitake-taking-advantage-football-183438213.html

Author : Deseret News

Publish date : 2025-01-08 18:34:00

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