Positive spin: Cougars' ailing run game boosted by health, schematic adjustments

PROVO — By his own admission, BYU head coach Kalani Sitake spent a lot of time after Saturday's senior day loss focusing on the Cougars' missteps.

While turnovers — both the three that BYU gave away and the zero the Cougars defense forced — can't be ignored, the eighth-year head coach tried to spin the narrative positively forward Monday as BYU (5-6, 2-6 Big 12) prepares for its final regular-season game at No. 21 Oklahoma State (1:30 p.m. MST, ABC).

OK, let's focus on a positive. How about this one: the run game?

The 24-point underdog Cougars rushed for a season-high 217 yards against the Sooners, including a season-best 182 yards on 22 carries from former UNLV 1,000-yard rusher Aidan Robbins and a healthy complement of rushers that included LJ Martin and Deion Smith, as well as dual-threat quarterback Jake Retzlaff.

It's the second straight week BYU has rushed for over 100 yards, including 188 rushing yards in a 45-13 loss to Iowa State where Retzlaff ran 17 times for 64 yards.

The Cougars also posted 112 yards in a 14-0 season-opening win over Sam Houston State, then 177 rushing yards in a 38-31 win over Arkansas that included 77 yards and two touchdowns from Martin, and had 150 yards on the ground in a 27-14 win over Texas Tech.

Having a healthy complement of running backs, as well as an offensive line anchored by Connor Pay at center, Paul Maile and Weylin Lapuaho at guard, and Brayden Keim and Kingsley Suamataia at tackle (plus rotational pieces in Simi Moala, Ian Fitzgerald and Caleb Etienne, among others) has certainly helped.

But mostly, it's about the offense playing as one.

"Our guys have been a lot more assignment-sound," Sitake said Monday via videoconference with local media. "We're not missing on as many blocks as we have in the past. There's a lot of factors that go into it. Aidan is healthy. We have all of the running backs available. What we're doing scheme-wise, the quarterback making the right reads; those are all factors that play into it.

"I'm glad that the guys are playing better and getting more production with yards. I'd like to see more points on the board, fewer mistakes and fewer turnovers."

Pay admitted that "scheme is definitely a part" of the run game's improvement, a few schematic adjustments that could have the Cougars confident in moving the ball on the ground against Oklahoma State's 107th-rated rush defense (4.72 yards per play, 175.8 yards per game) that compares to BYU (110th, 177.3 yards per game).

"Just putting yourself in a position as an offense to be successful and attack weak points of the defense," Pay said in describing the schematic adjustments. "But it really comes to all 11 guys doing their job. Even if one guy doesn't do their job the way they're supposed to, it can blow up an entire play. It can make a play look terrible, when in reality, 10 of the guys were doing it exactly how they were supposed to be doing it.

"I think a lot of the issues we had early on was just one, maybe two guys at any position who didn't quite get it done. Having all the guys on the same page this week, everyone executed what they were supposed to do. We don't have to do anything crazy, but just what we're expected and supposed to do. We put ourselves in a position to be successful."

Effort. Belief. Grinding.

All were praises Sitake dropped for his team's performance, including a defense that allotted nose tackle Jackson Cravens' first sack of the year. And the Cougars' run game can be categorized as a success, albeit against an Oklahoma front that ranks just 57th nationally in allowing 145.1 rush yards per game.

In the midst of a four-game losing skid and with just one more opportunity to clinch bowl eligibility and a .500 mark on its first season in the Big 12, BYU won't accept moral victories — but will take whatever wins it can.

"Obviously, we didn't make enough plays to come out with the victory, but there's a lot of things to be proud of," Sitake said. "After the game, it's easy for us to focus on the negatives, and I did that quite a bit; that's part of the learning process. We need to make sure we're realistic and we fix the issues we had in the game and find a way not to have them show up again.

"On the other side of things, we need to make sure to praise our guys for the good things we saw. There's a lot of good things we saw on the field in all three phases of the game. Sometimes after a loss the focus becomes the negative. I think it's important today to praise the guys, build them up and continue to motivate them from the things we saw that were positive."

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