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BYU offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes talks to Cougar players during 2019 spring camp.

BYU Photo

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BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick talks during the "State of the Program" show at Cougar football Media Day at the BYU Broadcasting Building in Provo on Thursday, June 17, 2021.

BYU Photo

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When Jeff Grimes elected to leave his position as offensive coordinator at BYU last year to take the same job at Baylor (taking offensive line coach Eric Mateos and analyst Matt Marshall with him), both the coaches who left and those who stayed knew what was on the horizon.

Since the Cougars and the Bears were slated to play this fall, it was going to present some abnormal challenges.

“Most offenses now are signaling plays into the game in some form or another,” BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick said earlier this week. “Obviously those guys know exactly how we do it here and we know how they do it. I’m sure they’re having to adapt a little bit to what they’re doing this week and we have to adapt a little bit. It’s just part of the game, but we’ve been planning for this since ever since they left. On the one hand, we’re doing something a little different this week than we’ve done in other games but on the other hand, we’ve been playing for so long, it’s not a big deal. Our players have handled it really well this week in practice.”

When asked whether he enjoys that challenge, however, Roderick was blunt about his emotions.

“It’s not really fun,” Roderick said. “It’s it’s fun when I get to talk to him after they win or after we win and we have a minute to say, ‘Hey, good job.’ Playing against each other is not fun at all. I don’t really ever enjoy playing against my friends. We know and we love Grimy (Jeff Grimes) but this week he’s on the other team so we’ve got to go do our best to try to win.”

Roderick pointed out that winning is what coaches are paid to do, so they have to stay focused no matter the situation.

“This is too serious of a business for us,” Roderick said. “This is life and death to coaches, you know. The fun part is when we don’t have to play each other and we get to call up and talk about the good times.”

Cougar offensive lineman James Empey said that Grimes and Mateo did a lot to help him become a better lineman, so he looks forward to seeing them.

“They are great offensive line coaches,” Empey said. “They really know the game and they do a good job at developing players. I was grateful to have them for the last three years and to be able to work with them. From what I’ve seen from the Baylor offense, they’re still doing their thing. We wish them the best going forward but I love the group of guys we have right now. I look forward to the challenge on Saturday.”

As interesting of a storyline as the the coaching connection is, Cougar head coach Kalani Sitake said he had bigger concerns as he worked to prepare his team to face the Bears.

“The most important thing is to focus on the mistakes that we made as a team, as positions, groups and individual players,” Sitake said. “That’s our first focus. We need to scout our opponents and I’ve been impressed on what I’ve seen from Grimes. We’ve been very fortunate to have him here for three years and have Mateos here for a few years, too. They’ve had an impact on their team and program, just like they did here. They know our personnel, they know our team. That’s college football. That happens. I’m really more focused on us as a team and our issues first. It doesn’t mean anything if we don’t fix our problems from last Saturday (when BYU lost to Boise State).”

Empey said BYU has to be ready for a very good Baylor squad.

“They are a defense that plays really hard,” Empey said. “They are disciplined and they play their style of defense. I’ve been impressed with them on film, especially from a defensive standpoint. You love to have big games like these against good opponents and good defenses. It’s an exciting matchup because there’s some great competition.”

No. 19/20 BYU at Baylor

TIME: 1:30 p.m. MT

TV: ESPN

WHERE: McLane Stadium

THE WORD: This will be the third meeting between BYU and Baylor with each team winning at home. The Bears defeated the Cougars, 40-36, in Waco in 1983 (BYU’s only loss that year) while BYU knocked off Baylor, 47-13, in Provo on its way to a national title in 1984 … This is the only game in 2021 where BYU will play an opponent from the Big-12 Conference this season, although the Cougars will be joining the conference in 2023. BYU currently has a record of 85-49 as an independent … The Cougars remained ranked even after losing for the first time last week. BYU is 14-3 as a ranked team under head coach Kalani Sitake.

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