Play the music.
“Wake me up.. When October ends..”
The sky is falling in Provo, where once-proud BYU suffered its fourth straight loss in 27-24 fashion to East Carolina on Friday night to snap a winless October streak.
“We’re at a point in our season where our backs are on the ropes,” Lopini Katoa said. “Just not tonight.”
While East Carolina’s 35-yard, time-expiring field goal officially gave the Pirates the win, the Cougars squandered the victory long ago, failing on two fourth-down attempts in the game’s final quarter.
Instead of kicking a field goal at the East Carolina 12-yard line to take the lead, Kalani Sitak was picked off to open the fourth quarter with a punt and two to Miles Davis to no avail to end a promising BYU drive.
“That’s something I could have done differently,” Sitak said of his decision to rule out the field goal in favor of Davis. “It’s my fault.”
A few minutes later, the Cougars had another chance to pull ahead, with Jaren Hall coming up short on a fourth down quarterback pass. BYU’s defense followed by forcing a fumble, but the offense immediately punted and a fourth down pass interception by Caleb Hayes put the Pirates in field goal range and ended the Cougars for good.
It was as if BYU refused to win, repeatedly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
How on earth is this team ranked 12th in the country at one point this year?
“When things get really bad, you’re defined by your culture,” head coach Kalani Sitake said. “Sometimes success can mask some issues, and this exposes a lot.”
Even riding the losing skid, the Cougars played much cleaner than they did in last Saturday’s scrimmage against Liberty. The defense – while still very problematic – showed signs of improvement in difficult times, the offense had its best rushing effort of the season and Jaren Hall appeared to be in true form. Coming off a 69.7% opponent success rate in October, BYU’s fearsome third-down defense got the better of it, holding the Pirates to just 2-8.
But none of them will be enough.
“It just comes back to the performance,” receiver Puka Naqua said.
BYU ran the ball 42 times at a 5.8-yard clip, led by 116 yards from Katowa and another 60 from Hall. Hall passed for 144 yards and two touchdowns, Naqua caught seven passes for 79 yards and a score and Chase Roberts also added a touchdown.
The Pirates, however, rumbled for 424 total yards, marking the fifth time a BYU defense has allowed more than 400 yards of offense.
By the way, the Cougars are 0-5 in such contests.
“Our job is to get off the field, but that was difficult,” defensive end Tyler Baty said. “We would have liked to see a different result.”
Pirates running back Keaton Mitchell was unstoppable, rushing 21 times for 176 yards and a touchdown, while backup quarterback Holton Ahlers dunked and dribbled down the field, throwing for 197 yards and two scores all night.
Every week seems like a new low for the Cougars, who fall below .500 for the first time since 2019 after a 4-1 September. In the year If 2021 was a “no loss November,” 2022 proved to be a “difficult October,” leaving BYU completely irrelevant on the national landscape and dangerously close to missing its first bowl game since 2017.
“We’re on a losing streak right now, and the only way to turn it around is to love one another and let our culture take over,” Sitak said.
At this point, you have to wonder if all this “love and learn” talk is making a difference.
The Cougars have a big task ahead of them next weekend against 5-2 Boise State, the only time in program history they’ve won on the Broncos’ blue field.
“I know we can’t give up, we’ll keep working,” Katoa said. “Every week you see improvements, because that’s just the nature of this team. No one thought we would be in this situation this year. It is what it is, and we must respond as best we can.
