BYU senior defensive back Kaleb Hayes understands the importance of being able to adapt to evolving situations.

“Personally, I’ve been through this,” Hayes said during Monday’s press teleconference. “Coach G (Jernaro Gilford) is the fourth defensive backs coach I’ve had during my college career. There have been a lot of changes and I know how some boys feel about certain things. It’s kind of distracting but you have to remember why you are here and what you are playing for. This is still our team. Football is always a game of changes. They happen every year and you don’t know what is going to happen. You’ve just got to be in the moment. And it’s exciting.”

It’s not easy to just enjoy getting ready for the game for a lot of Cougar players, since they have a lot going on right now.

“You’re trying to get everything done,” BYU sophomore tight end Isaac Rex said. “You’ve got school and Christmas coming up and the bowl game. For the guys in school, it’s obviously about trying to get finals done first. I’m going to get done before we travel so I can just be focused on the game, concentrate on beating SMU. But it’s definitely a busy time of year and it can be hard to navigate through everything. That’s just how it is being a college student and an athlete.”

Cougar head coach Kalani Sitake said the BYU players have been working on taking care of their academic responsibilities but felt like some of the stress from the end of the semester might have spilled onto the practice field.

“We had a few scuffles in practice,” Sitake said. “Guys are used to competing and playing against another team, so they have all this energy. They are really excited to play a game. Either that or finals are really difficult and they are just releasing some of their frustrations.”

Sitake clarified that he still feels like the practices have been good for the team.

“I like what the team has done and I like the improvement that I’ve seen, especially from the young guys,” Sitake said. “When you get to game week, though, that’s when the focus and urgency becomes more important.”

There are also the unknowns about who will be able to take the field on Saturday.

On offense, the biggest question mark is at quarterback since junior Jaren Hall is still recovering from the ankle injury he suffered at Stanford.

“Jaren has not been eliminated from being able to play,” Sitake said. “He hasn’t been participating as much as we would like in practices but this week will tell is more. We’ll see where he is at and how much he has progressed. But he is still in the mix.”

The BYU head coach did note that running back Lopini Katoa and linebacker Payton Wilgar will not play.

With the Cougars also having linebacker Keenan Pili decide to enter the transfer portal as a graduate transfer and Max Tooley being banged up, the rest of that unit will have to rally together.

“We have some really good players there,” Sitake said. “We’ll have Pepe Tanuvasa and Ben Bywater, and Jackson Kaufusi is a veteran who has had a lot of reps. We’ve moved Fisher Jackson to linebacker and we have Josh Wilson, Michael Wilson, Logan Pili, Bodie Schoonover and Morgan Pyper. There are a lot of guys who can play. Some of them might be inexperienced but it’s going to be fun. What better moment to come in than in a bowl game?”

Even with everything going on, Rex said he felt like “this last week has been one of the best weeks of practice we’ve ever had, especially on the defensive side of the ball.”

He said guys were flying around, trying to make plays and impress new BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill and his staff.

“It’s cool to see everyone rally around each other,” Rex said. “I don’t feel like we’ve missed a beat.”

The bottom line is things might not have gone how BYU hoped during the 2022 season but now the Cougars get one more chance to end on a high note.

“We’re just trying to get this bowl win,” Hayes said. “It’s a good thing that we have this bowl. Everybody is exciting. It’s a blast being able to have an extra week. Not a lot of teams get a chance to play an extra week of football. It’s a great time to just love it up.”

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