The Cougars carry an undefeated record into their break before a slate featuring TCU, Iowa State, and Notre Dame.
The 9th-ranked BYU Cougars took care of business in Fort Collins with a 41-23 win over Colorado State on Saturday night.
Kalani Sitake's team took control of the game in the first half and coasted after the intermission. But this was a much-needed boost going into the Cougars' first bye week this year. If there was anything that we learned from BYU's first road game, it is that Sitake and his staff have to address the need for depth.
Nevertheless, the Cougars have to feel good about starting the season 3-0. The second half gave the Rams a couple of garbage-time scores, but that needs to be cleaned up if Sitake intends on taking his team to the College Football Playoff.
After beating up Utah Tech, defeating Big 12 foe Arizona and holding off the Rams, BYU can take the next week to re-evaluate before truly jumping into conference play at TCU on October 3rd. Sitake knows this week will help them look ahead to the next three weeks. TCU is a tough opponent, who always finds a way to compete.
“It is still a week that we have to progress as a team," Sitake said. "We’ll develop some of our players, some young guys especially, and then get ready for our next game, which is TCU."
After TCU, the Cougars have a short week and face Iowa State at home on Friday, Oct. 9. On the back end, BYU we'll stash the extra day in preparation for the most anticipated game on their schedule against Notre Dame on Oct. 17.
Sitake loves how his team put CSU on the rope early, which allowed him to cycle in players who wouldn't normally get into the game. That's when everything started to slow and some mistakes started to happen. One of the more noticeable points in the final two quarters.
“We got enough of a lead and still made mistakes," Sitake said. But I still felt like the game was under control the entire time. “So this is something we can build on, but I’d like to see some improvement, mostly from the backups.”
BYU is 3-0 for the fourth straight year under Sitake. Overall, it's the 20th time in school history. The Cougars' playoff dreams are starting to take shape and need to be protected.
“We are exactly where we want to be,” Sitake added. “It doesn’t really matter if we don’t take advantage of the time during the bye week and the time to learn from all the things that we experienced in this game.”
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