SALT LAKE CITY — The BYU Cougars finished their regular season Saturday night in Salt Lake City as they took on the 17th-ranked Utah Utes on the road.

Coming into the game, BYU had lost seven straight to their rivals. And for three and a half quarters, it looked as if the Cougars would not let that streak stretch to eight. Instead of ushering in a new era to the BYU football program, however, the 2018 Cougars fell back into their losing ways and gave up 35 straight points to fall to the Utes yet again.

The game wasn’t disheartening for BYU fans as much as it was infuriating. BYU was running the show on both sides of the ball for more than half the game, but something started to change and the Cougars imploded. BYU lost to Utah 35-27 and ended the season 6-6.

Here are three things we learned from BYU’s eights straight loss to Utah:

BYU cannot play four quarters

In a 6-6 season, BYU has only been able to play four complete quarters in three games.

BYU was leading 20-0 at halftime and the announcers were even talking like the Cougars had finally broken the streak. But apparently they don’t know BYU football. Utah went on to score 14 points in the third and 21 in the fourth, while BYU only managed 7 points the entire second half.

BYU completely fell apart, but why? Why can’t the team play four full quarters? Some have suggested depth, which could be part of the problem. The Cougars were dealing with injuries in Salt Lake. And once Matt Hadley went out on offense and Isaiah Kaufusi went out on defense things changed for the Cougars. But the problem goes deeper than that. You have to look at the coaching staff.

BYU has talent, that’s clear. But an inability to play for four full quarters goes to a lack of preparation, a lack of in-game adjustments and a lack of accountability. I’m not calling for heads or suggesting the coaching staff needs an overhaul, but according to the way games were called and executed, coaching can be blamed for losses at Boise, Cal, NIU and Utah.

That’s four games that were not only winnable by BYU, but given away by the Cougars in critical moments. The Boise loss was due to bad preparation and play-calling; the Cal loss came down to scheme and a lack of leadership; the NIU loss was poor execution and poor game planning; and Utah was poor in-game adjustments and bad play-calling.

A well-coached team plays for four quarters and steps up in close games. BYU couldn’t do either of those things in 2018.

Corbin Kaufusi is a BYU legend

Names like Steve Young, Shay Muirbrook, Chad Lewis, Robbie Bosco and Ty Detmer will always be associated with BYU football. These are just a few players that made a mark on the program and solidified themselves as BYU legends. Corbin Kaufusi has finished his career at BYU and has added his name to that list.

Kaufusi has been a staple of the BYU defense the last few years and his senior season has been a memorable one. The defensive juggernaut finished the 2018 season with 8.5 sacks, 38 solo tackles and 52 total tackles. Kaufusi will play on Sundays and will always be remembered as an incredible player. But Saturday night reserved his place in the BYU hall of legends

Kaufusi missed the New Mexico State game and was scheduled to have three season-ending surgeries: one surgery to repair his ankle, another for a torn triceps and a third to fix a broken pinky. Kaufusi asked his doctors if he could play one last time with his teammates and was told if he could stand the pain he could play. Kaufusi postponed the surgeries and made the trip to Salt Lake and recorded six solo tackles, seven total tackles and was a disruption to the Utah offense all night.

I’m not sure we should inspire kids to play injured and risk further injury, but Kaufusi is a true team player and is now a BYU legend.

Kalani Sitake cannot finish games

The last three years as the BYU head coach have been rough for Kalani Sitake. He has a .500 record and has lost three straight to Kyle Whittingham and the Utes, three straight to Boise State and is only 1-2 against Utah State.

It’s true that even history’s greatest coaches need a few years to get going. LaVell Edward’s first three seasons as BYU’s head coach had a better record than Sitake, but not by much. Edwards was 19-14-1, but he was taking over for a coach, Tommy Hudspeth, who had a 35-44-1 record over eight seasons. Sitake inherited a 99-33 record from Bronco Mendenhall’s 11 seasons as head coach.

While Sitake’s overall record as head coach is leaving fans wanting more, that’s not the most worrisome thing. Over three seasons, Sitake’s teams have not been able to close out close games.

In his first year as head coach in 2016, the Cougars went 9-4 but were just 8 points away from a perfect season. In 2017, the Cougars missed a bowl and ended the season with just four wins, but three of their losses were by a touchdown or less, which means they just missed a 7-6 season instead of a 4-9 season.

In 2018, it was more of the same. The Cougars will head into the bowl game at 6-6, but they are 4 points away from eight wins. They also had a chance to beat Boise State at the end of the game, but failed and then squandered a 20-point lead against Utah to lose by 8 points. In four of BYU’s losses, one score would have either won the game or tied it, but instead they could not close out any of them and they’ve settled for a 6-6 season instead of a 10-2 season.

Sitake needs to figure out how to get his team to finish games and win the close ones, because a 5-12 record of games decided by one score or less in three years is not a good stat to have hanging over your head.

Up next for the Cougars is some down time as they wait to find out who they will meet in a bowl likely sometime in December. John has grown up around movies and annoys friends and family with his movie facts and knowledge. John also has a passion for sports and pretty much anything awesome and it just so happens that these are the three things he writes about.

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