Kalani Sitake Says BYU Did Not Go Conservative in Second Half Against Baylor

Casey Lundquist | Oct 1, 2024

BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff runs against Baylor / BYU Photo

In the first quarter against Baylor, BYU got out to a quick 21-0 lead. The Cougars maintained a 21-point margin in the second quarter when Jake Retzlaff connected with Darius Lassiter to put BYU up 28-7. BYU's offense was unstoppable at that point, scoring four touchdowns in four possessions. The Cougars took a 31-14 advantage into the halftime locker room.

In the second half, BYU's offense came to a halt. The first drive of the second half ended in a field goal to increase BYU's score to 34. Then BYU was scoreless on its final five possessions (excluding the final possession where BYU kneeled to run out the clock).

Why did BYU's offense stall after such an electric start? It wasn't due to conservative play-calling according to BYU head coach Kalani Sitake. After his press briefing on Monday, Sitake stopped to address a narrative about BYU's conservative play-calling with a lead.

"There's this thought that we're not being aggressive in the second half when we have lead, it's not true," Sitake said. "We are not a conservative team, we've been very aggressive. So in terms of conservative, we maybe should have been a little bit more in this game to be honest with you. But we faked the punt on 4th & 10 backed up in the second half. We threw the ball on 3rd & 9, got an interception, we threw the ball on 3rd & 2 late in the fourth quarter, got an interception. If anything, we've had leads before and have held on to them, Southern Illinois, Wyoming, and Kansas State."

Sitake continued, saying that an aggressive mindset is built into the program. "When people are talking about our program and talking about our, our mindset, we're an aggressive team. We like to, we like to find ways to make big plays. That's what we're gonna do." You can listen to Sitake's comments in the video at the top of this article.

During Coordinator's Corner, BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick shined some light on the play calling and what BYU was trying to do in the second half. It was Baylor's pressure that created problems for BYU's offense.

"They were blitzing almost every play that half, which is something they had not done," Roderick said. " We actually were pretty aggressive and especially trying to throw the ball down the field and we had a couple of chances. We just did not execute well enough in the second half."

Roderick went down the list of shots that BYU tried to take in the second half. The first was a near completion that was dropped by Darius Lassiter. According to Roderick, BYU went back to that same play a couple plays later, disguised in a different formation. "Then Jake was a little off with the throw. Both of those would have been huge gains," Roderick said.

Roderick also said that BYU tried to get the ball to Darius Lassiter on a double move in the second half, but failed to execute. BYU also had the double pass from Chase Roberts to Mata'ava Ta'ase that fell incomplete. "We were trying to be aggressive against their pressure and we just did not execute to make them pay. If you make them pay on one or two of those completions, they're gonna stop blitzing. And so when we didn't connect, it was almost like that encouraged them to just keep it coming."

Sitake and Roderick were right. For the most part, BYU was aggressive in the second half. The trick play was aggressive. The fake punt was aggressive. Throwing on 3rd & 2 from midfield was aggressive and to Sitake's point, perhaps too aggressive.

There was one specific play, however, that we highlighted after the game where we felt like BYU took its foot off the gas in the fourth quarter.

A few minutes into the fourth quarter, BYU was holding on to a 34-21 lead. The Cougars had a 3rd & 7 from the Baylor 33 yard-line. BYU went conservative on third down, opting to run up the middle to set up a field goal. BYU had a chance to win the game on that drive. A touchdown there would have been too much for Baylor to overcome.

Instead, BYU played for the field goal and handed it off to Enoch Nawahine. That was the one play where it felt like BYU was content with kicking the field goal instead of going for the knock-out punch. With that in mind, it's really important to caveat that a large portion of BYU's plays are RPOs or run-pass options. It's possible that play was an RPO and Retzlaff made the read to hand it off on that play. That's something that only the coaching staff and players could know.

At that point in the game, BYU had a two-score lead. Even if BYU would have made the field goal, it still would have been a two-score game. On top of that, it was a long field goal at that point on the field. BYU's run setup a 49-yard field goal. To make matters worse, the field goal missed wide right and Baylor got the ball back in good field position.

Still, Sitake's point remains broadly true. BYU tried to remain aggressive in the second half against Baylor. It was a lack of execution that led to the drop-off in offensive production.

The BYU-Baylor game turned out to be similar to the Alabama-Georgia game that kicked off a few hours after BYU had taken down Baylor. Alabama got off to a red-hot start, jumping out to a 28-0 lead. Then Georgia came storming back. The Bulldogs came all the way back, taking a 34-33 lead late in the fourth quarter before Alabama scored a game-winning touchdown to secure the 34-41 win.

Sitake referenced the Georgia-Alabama game in his press conference. "It's funny how things work," Sitake said. "I wonder if everyone is accusing Alabama of being super conservative in their game too."

It turns out, people did accuse Alabama of going too conservative in the second half against Georgia. "I think the Crimson Tide went too conservative in play calling in the 2nd half," TIDE - The Home of Alabama Sports wrote. Roll Bama Roll also discussed that conservative play-calling might have contributed to the drop-off in the second half.

In reality, play-calling in college football is a lot more nuanced than most viewers understand. There are options on most plays and there are audibles made at the line of scrimmage. The play that is visible to the viewer tells only part of the story. Blaming conservative play-calling is a natural response that isn't unique to BYU. Getting more context from Sitake and Roderick is very beneficial to those that are evaluating the play with a limited scope. In an era where coaches are more and more guarded with the media, this author really appreciated the transparency of both Sitake and Roderick on Monday.

These Big 12 teams are talented. From top to bottom in the Big 12, the talent level across rosters is very competitive. A turn of momentum can dictate the outcome of a game. Just ask Kansas State how hard it was to slow down the momentum BYU had in Provo last week. The momentum turned to Baylor's favor in the second half. Baylor's offense found a rhythm and made a string of plays against BYU - credit to them. On Offense, BYU was a play or two away from breaking the game open but it never came to fruition.

Even though the game took a turn in the second half, BYU deserves a lot of crediting for doing what it takes to win. Winning a road game in the Big 12 is hard to do. BYU's ability to win a game in which Baylor held onto the momentum for an entire second half is a sign of progress. Just last year, Baylor overcame a 28-point deficit to defeat UCF. Baylor was talented enough to pull off the comeback but they didn't.

And BYU remained unbeaten as a result.