This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Provo • Although the 1-2 BYU Cougars rank 119th in the country in scoring and 105th in total offense and have a healthy, promising sophomore quarterback on the Davey O'Brien Award watch list sitting on their bench, now is not the time to panic, coach Kalani Sitake said Monday.
After watching film of BYU's 17-14 loss to UCLA over the weekend with offensive coordinator Ty Detmer, Sitake said fifth-year senior Taysom Hill will remain BYU's starting quarterback when the Cougars face the Big 12's West Virginia on Saturday at FedEx Field in Landover, Md.
"It would be foolish right now to make [Hill] the scapegoat, when it wasn't all his fault," Sitake said. "That is a wrong assessment from a lot of different people."
Even backup QB Tanner Mangum, whom many fans were calling for at halftime Saturday night when the Cougars trailed 10-0 and had only put up 79 yards of offense, weighed in on the controversy on Monday.
"This is a team game," Mangum wrote on Twitter. "I am 100 percent behind this team. No room for negativity."
Sitake said he discussed making a switch with Detmer and other coaches at halftime, but decided against it until they could evaluate the film. Also, they didn't want to disrupt the offense's timing.
"Talking about Taysom, the worst thing you could do is panic, and make a change on stuff that you are just seeing on the field, when it is not, actually, just that one spot," Sitake said. "There are a lot of variables that go into it — protection, routes and timing."
Sitake said a review of the film showed "kind of what we thought, that it would have been a premature decision to make that decision then. I am glad we didn't."
Later Monday, during his weekly radio show, Detmer said the prudent approach is to "stay the course" and work on improving other areas of the offense, which has failed to score more than 19 points in a single game this season against three Pac-12 defenses.
"It is time to stop saying it is a new [system]," Detmer said. "It is time to start dialing it in."
It is often said that a running game is a quarterback's best friend, and right now the Cougars don't have one. UCLA loaded the box with eight defenders to take away Jamaal Williams effectiveness (14 rushes for 28 yards), and it worked. The Cougars finished with just 23 rushing yards, and Hill had negative rushing yards (minus-7) for the first time in his career.
"They were challenging us in the throw game," Sitake said. "When that happens, we need to make them pay for it. And I don't know that we were able to do that. I mean, obviously we weren't. … But I thought Ty did a good job calling the game. We just got to execute better."
Receiver Garrett Juergens said his group has to do a better job against man-press coverage, and has to hang onto the ball better. The Cougars dropped three or four passes that could have prolonged drives. He said Hill remains resolute.
"He is positive. He is still a leader. He still takes things into his own hands. He is confident. He trusts us as receivers. He trusts his own abilities. He has got his head up and he's the right guy for the job. We are all backing him up," Juergens said.
Hill was far from perfect, Sitake acknowledged, but noted that even UCLA's highly touted sophomore quarterback, Josh Rosen, "who's supposed to be a great [NFL] draft pick in the future," made some errant throws as well.
"Everybody looks at one position and likes to blame it on one person," Sitake said. "But there are so many different things that go into it with the quarterback, and talking about Taysom, the worst thing you could do is panic, and make a change based on stuff that you are just seeing on the field."
Hill ran the two-minute drill to perfection in each of his first three games, Sitake noted, producing the game-winning field goal against Arizona and last-second touchdowns against Utah and UCLA.
"I don't know, maybe that is something he is more comfortable with, in that type of setting," Sitake said. "There is no ego involved here, so we are not going to do our own thing just to spite our own scheme, our own thoughts and philosophy."
He said speeding up the tempo a bit "is one of those things that we definitely explored. We just want to allow him to play at his best."
Detmer and Sitake both said they are confident the best of Hill, and his offensive teammates, is yet to come.
"We haven't played our best football yet, and we have lost two games by a total of four points, so that's discouraging, especially since we would like to be in a position, where, going into the next game, this deep in the season, we should be playing a lot better, a lot more assignment-sound in every phase," Sitake said. "That's a goal this week as we focus on making sure that we don't [play as poorly] as we did in the last three games. I mean, to be honest with you, we gotta play our best football, and it has gotta happen this week."
Twitter: @drewjay —
BYU vs. West Virginia
P At Landover, Md., Saturday, 1:30 p.m. MDT
TV • ESPN2