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BYU head coach Kalani Sitake watches the action during the game against Sam Houston at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023.

Marcia Harris, Special to the Herald

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BYU's Micah Harper reacts to a defensive play during a game against Wyoming at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU head coach Kalani Sitake talks to his players after BYU football practice at the indoor practice facility in Provo on Monday, March 4, 2024.

Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo

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BYU junior quarterback Jake Retzlaff celebrates scoring a touchdown during the Big 12 game against Oklahoma State at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., on Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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Defining what it means to be successful in college football is a moving target depending on perspectives.

For some fans, their team needs to win a national championship or the year was a failure.

Others are focused on conference titles or bowl wins or national rankings or winning seasons or wins over rivals or players going to the NFL.

Those in the BYU football program, however, tend to view success on a much more fundamental level.

“All we got to do is just work hard and everybody’s responsible of taking care of what they need to do,” Cougar junior safety Micah Harper said at the BYU football media golf scramble last week. “If everybody beats the guy in front of them, you’re going to win a lot of games.”

Cougar head coach Kalani Sitake explained that every year he wants to see the players build off of what they’d done previously.

“I saw some really good things and I saw some really bad things (last year),” Sitake said in an exclusive interview with the Daily Herald in June. “I’d like to see the really good things happen more often. If we can play consistently at a high level, we’ve shown that we can hang with a lot of people, even with teams that have gone to the playoffs.”

The biggest goal for this fall is to see his team do that week after week, instead of having a roller-coaster ride of highs and lows.

“The goal for us would be to get there to be consistent,” Sitake said. “The first step is that the players have really taken the initiative to get themselves there. I’ve seen it already from January, in spring ball, and to now that they’ve done that part right. There’s still some work to be made, sure, but they’re on path of doing it the right way.”

He also said the coaches need to do their part to put the right players in the right positions to give them the best chance to succeed.

“Now we have to put it together in terms of what we can strategize, where we can get the most efficiency from our offense, defense and special teams,” Sitake said. “When we do that, we’ll have a better chance of having success now.”

Unlike the doom-and-gloom predictions from some prognosticators (and as of Tuesday the Big 12 media), Sitake said he sees plenty of reasons to be optimistic.

“If we can play consistent at a high level with the people that I expect us to play with, then we should be in a really good spot,” Sitake said. “That’s going to be the goal. I know what we need to do to get there. The question is, can we get there? And if we don’t get there, why?”

He said he wants his players and coaches to make any changes needed to reach that objective quickly and effectively.

“You can make adjustments during the week or during the game,” Sitake said. “There is no need to wait to the end of the season.”

He said he’s excited about the potential of the 2024 team and is determined to see his guys reach it, despite flying far under the radar to start the year.

“The exciting part for me is that I feel like we are trending in the right direction,” Sitake said. “Nobody is talking about us because they aren’t looking closely at our team. They aren’t looking at the Oklahoma and Oklahoma State games. They are looking at the scores from the West Virginia and Iowa State games. They aren’t looking at all the correctable mistakes we made.”

He also said the preseason focus is more on who left BYU, guys like Isaac Rex and Aiden Robbins, and not on all of the returning experience and how the Cougars have improved.

“We’re looking at the overall health of the team and how it’s getting really good at this after we’ve been really physical in spring,” Sitake said. “We’ll probably have a physical fall camp because I don’t know any other way to do it. When all that all those things considered, if you’re a betting man, I feel really good. And the fact that people don’t talk about us plays right into what I want. This is great. Everyone’s doing what they need to and it’s all working out the way I think it’s supposed to.”

He recognized that it won’t be easy because the Big 12 has a lot of good teams, but he has faith in his program.

“It’s good timing to me that our players are feeling this chip on their shoulder and I didn’t have to force it,” Sitake said. “It’s kind of like, where do you think you guys are at? We know what we’re about and we’re excited.”