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BYU head coach Kalani Sitake and players celebrate with the Cougar fans after the Big 12 game against UCF at FBC Mortgage Stadium in Orlando on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU head coach Kalani Sitake directs his team during the Big 12 game against Oklahoma State at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Friday, Oct. 18, 2024.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU head coach Kalani Sitake applauds a good play during the Big12 game against Arizona at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024.

Marci Harris, Special to the Herald

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BYU football fans get another break from agonizing over every play and every possession this Saturday as the Cougars are on their second bye week of the season.

But don’t expect the BYU players and coaching to take much time off.

If the Cougars want to be the very best they can be this season, they need to take advantage of every opportunity to improve.

“We obviously aren’t error-free,” BYU head coach Kalani Sitake said during Monday’s press teleconference. “There are some mistake we are making that just don’t make sense. That’s in all three phases, so there is a lot of room for improvement. I still feel like we can play so much better. I’m looking forward to getting a lot of work done this week.”

He said some of the time will be spent preparing to face Utah in Salt Lake City on Nov. 9 (8:15 p.m. MT, ESPN) but that the Cougars will be drilling down on some things internally that need to improve.

“We need to focus on playing much better as a team,” Sitake said. “I think we can do that. It’s nice that I can count on the energy, effort and buy-in from our guys. We just need to keep focusing on the little things, the fundamentals of the game. With the ninth game coming up, I’d like to see that be a little bit better. That’s on me and the coaching staff to get that working.”

One of the areas of emphasis for BYU for the last couple of years has been on building depth and the bye week is a chance to make progress in that area.

“We knew we needed to get better depth,” Sitake said. “When we say depth, a lot of people think it’s just getting players in there but it’s a combination of things. It’s getting players in but it’s also developing the players we have, getting them stronger and faster and understanding the playbook a lot more.”

He talked about how every Cougar player is on his own trajectory as far as becoming the best he can be at his position, specifically highlighting the BYU quarterbacks.

“You look at the progression in developing and Jake Retzlaff went through that,” Sitake said. “You look at how he was last year and some of the growing pains we went through. It was important that we stuck with him and worked with him and gave him an opportunity to improve. We challenged him to compete for a spot. When he did and won the spot, it was important that we supported him.”

It may not be as obvious to outsiders because Retzlaff is the only quarterback they see, but Sitake said the enter unit is moving forward.

“I can tell you that the other quarterbacks are coming along,” Sitake said. “Treyson Bourguet, McCae Hillstead, Gerry Bohanon, all these quarterbacks have gotten better as time goes on and they have more time in the program.”

He said that is exactly what he wants and expects from every Cougar player at every position.

“We have a lot of the same defensive linemen who we had last year but they’ve had a little more time and Sione (Po’uha) and Kelly Poppinga have been able to work with them,” Sitake said.

He also sees it with a lot of the newcomers, who are finding opportunities and developing toward reaching their potential.

“You throw in some of the incoming players we have,” Sitake said. “We have a good number of freshmen who have been able to get some valuable playing time. They are working there way into it.”

He explained that its all part of the process BYU is going through to make the program strong and better able to face the challenges of the season.

“All of that stuff matters,” Sitake said. “The development is something that takes time and depth is what benefits from that. We are going to keep working on that and we still have a ways to go. We need more development and this is a great week to get that done.”

The Cougars have been good enough to win their first eight games but there are challenges and pitfalls ahead. The team needs to use the bye week effectively to give itself the best chance to reach its goals.

“We still haven’t done much,” Sitake said. “I’d like to see us play our best football of the year in this game.”