Deseret News · Nov 24, 2018
For BYU, Sitake, all that matters right now is beating Utah
PROVO — It would be difficult to overstate how much the Rivalry Game means to BYU coach Kalani Sitake.
In his final college football game 18 years ago, he helped the Cougars beat Utah in dramatic fashion at Rice-Eccles Stadium in what was also legendary coach LaVell Edwards’ final contest.
Two years ago, Sitake — who spent a decade as an assistant at Utah — saw his team fall 20-19 to the Utes as quarterback Taysom Hill was stopped on a two-point conversion attempt with 18 seconds left.
In 2017, BYU posted an abysmal 4-9 record, including a home loss to Utah, and missed out on a bowl game for the first time since 2004.