The BYU Cougars are back at LaVell Edwards Stadium tonight in a Big 12 Conference matchup against the West Virginia Mountaineers.
The Cougars are riding a hot streak after their Week Five 24-21 win over Colorado. The Cougars are 4-0 overall and are in the number 3 spot in the Big 12.
Last week’s win wasn’t easy, but BYU head coach Kilani Sitake called the game “a good moment” for the program.
“A lot of the mistakes happened because Colorado put some pressure on us,” Sitake said. “So, I think I said after the game it was a good moment for our program, for our team to fight through some adversity and to find a way to get a win. We feel good about where we’re at right now and feel good about what we saw in film and about what we can do and how car we can progress from last Saturday until this Friday.”
This upcoming game against West Virgina will look a little bit different with running back Sione Moa out with an injury. But that doesn’t seem to be a problem for Sitake.
“Yeah, we’re fine,” Sitake said. “We got guys that can run the ball, you just don’t know about them yet.”
Historically, BYU plays very well in night games, winning 31 of their last 35 games played after 8 p.m. Free safety Faletau Satuala says the time isn’t really a factor when it comes to winning.
“Coach Hill said that out of all the teams in the nation, we’re usually the ones getting the most late games,” Satuala said. “So, I think just the repetition of playing that late gives us a little edge over everyone else, I’m not sure though. Put us at any time, we’re going to put up a good game.”
Ahead of tonight’s matchup, Coach Sitake talked about his preparation against West Virginia’s head coach Rich Rodriguez. He called Rodriguez’s coaching style innovative.
“He’s an innovative and creative coach so he’s going to try to find ways to get an advantage,” Sitake said. “The guy makes his mark anywhere he goes and finds his way to get things going. And I think they’ve had some bad luck with injuries, so we have to prepare because I know he’s extremely smart and you look at his coaching staff, they’re all bright and so this isn’t going to be easy. We have to make sure that we defend our home ground and that we can lean on our home crowd to give us an advantage.”
BYU vs West Virginia. Kickoff is set for 8:30 tonight. There will be a watch party for the game in the Manwaring Center Crossroads at BYU-Idaho.