Greenville, N.C. • A week ago, when they trudged off the field after falling 35-10 to a Southeastern Conference power in its stadium in front of its cowbell-clanging crowd, there were looks of anger, disgust and disappointment in the eyes of BYU’s players and coaches. They knew they should have acquitted themselves better against Mississippi State, but probably were never going to win.
Saturday night, as they left the field after being thoroughly outplayed in a similar 33-17 defeat by an East Carolina team that previously had just one win in seven games and was allowing 600 yards and 50 points a game — there were looks of despair, helplessness and hopelessness.
The Cougars managed just 413 yards, 206 of which came in the fourth quarter against a prevent defense, and scored half as many points as the fewest ECU had given up in one game previously, 34 to James Madison and Temple.
Tears filled the eyes of more than one BYU player, and fullback Brayden El-Bakri was being consoled by former Brighton High product Reno Mahe.
The (adopted) grandson of an immigrant from war-torn Baghdad, Iraq, who grew up attending BYU football games with a close friend and dreaming of one day suiting up for the Cougars, El-Bakri knows that a lot of people around the world are suffering a lot more than a bunch of players who can’t seem to beat another Football Bowl Subdivision opponent this season.
He said as much in an interview two weeks ago after the Cougars lost 40-24 to another team in which they were supposed to have more talent and resources, Utah State.
So some perspective is in order, a reminder that this is still just college football, a game played by fortunate and gifted young men for the entertainment and enjoyment of others and as a means to get an education. It is nothing more.
Especially this fall, when hard-working people have lost lives and property in Houston, Miami, Puerto Rico and California from the effects of real-life natural catastrophes, calling BYU’s 2017 football season an unmitigated disaster is a huge disservice in life’s big picture.
But solely in football terms, it is just that. It is a dumpster fire, the likes of which haven’t been seen in Provo for nearly 50 years. Consider that the only team BYU has defeated this season, Portland State of the Big Sky Conference, is 0-7 and was pummeled 59-30 by Idaho State on Saturday, giving up nearly 700 yards.
The Cougars (1-7) are a hot mess in all three phases, but especially on offense, as they return to practice Monday morning and begin to prepare for a San Jose State team that had a bye this weekend. The Spartans (1-6) lost 54-16 to Utah and 61-10 to Utah State in September and will certainly be looking at Saturday’s 1 p.m. game at LaVell Edwards Stadium as a way to salvage its season against a once-proud program. That’s what USU did last month and ECU did Saturday in front of a crowd of 38,835 at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium that included 5,000 or so BYU fans staring on in disbelief at the train wreck the Cougars have become in coach Kalani Sitake’s second year.
The recurring theme from Sitake and the four distraught Cougars who were pulled out of the somber locker room — quarterback Tanner Mangum, receiver Micah Simon, running back KJ Hall and safety Zayne Anderson — to describe the team’s most recent debacle was that the Cougars must stick together, regroup and rely on their coaches and team leaders to help them through the program’s lowest point in 50 years.
“We have five games left, and we feel bad for the seniors,” Sitake said. “We have to honor them in the way that we play the rest of the season. We get to go home and try to get a win against San Jose State, and that’s our focus right now — to try to find a way to get a win for these seniors.”
Dashed are BYU’s hopes to make a bowl game for the 13th-straight season, although technically a 6-7 team could get a postseason bid if there are not enough teams bowl-eligible teams available to fill all the slots and its APR score is higher than other similar candidates. But just mentioning this team and a bowl in the same sentence seems ludicrous, given what has happened in its first eight games, including its only win.
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