Number 8 BYU defeated the visiting Arizona State Sun Devils 27-20 on Saturday, but the Sun Devils gave the Cougars quite a scare on Halloween.
“Yeah, that was an interesting game,” said head coach Kalani Sitake. “I’m glad we got the victory.”
BYU fans remember the matchup versus ASU down in Tempe when ASU fans stormed the field early. Tempers flared, but ASU ultimately came out on top.
So, for a lot of fans, this was somewhat of a revenge game. But head coach Kalani Sitake did what Kalani Sitake does and kept it classy.
“You have to give ASU a lot of credit,” Sitake said. “They made things difficult for us and made it interesting, especially at the end.”
BYU went into halftime with a commanding 17-3 lead, but a rough third quarter and 14 unanswered Sun Devil points made the game a bit more interesting.
BYU struggled tackling, which was a huge part of the Week 8 loss to UCF.
“I think we missed a lot of tackles this week too,” Sitake said. “So, that was concerning, especially from what we faced last week. We’ve got to get things fixed and figured out because we can definitely tackle better than that, we’ve shown that we can.”
But a 4th quarter drive with two successful fourth-down conversions sealed the game for BYU. One of those conversions came inside the Cougars’ own 20 yard line, but Sitake felt it was the right move.
“We just felt like they’re gaining momentum,” Sitake said. “I mean they had possession of the clock and they kind of wore our defense down a little. But I just felt like we had to at least keep the ball for a little bit to give our guys a break and make some adjustments. So, it just seemed like it was the right thing to do.”
BYU moved to the No. 7 spot in the most recent AP Top 25 Poll, setting up a top 10 rivalry versus the University of Utah this Saturday.
The No. 3 Utes will host the No. 7 Cougars for the first ever top 10 Holy War matchup.
“We have to make more improvement,” Sitake said. “I thought we did some really good things this week, but we need to be consistent. That’s my focus. They’re a great team and they’re ranked. They’re undefeated for a reason. So, it’s not going to be an easy task, but I’m looking forward to the matchup. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
The anticipated Holy War between the No. 3 Utah Utes and the No. 7 BYU Cougars is set to kick off at 10 a.m. at Rice Eccles Stadium this Saturday.