This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated.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

Hope.

That, more than anything, is what Kalani Sitake sold his team and his fan base in his first season as BYU's head coach. He succeeded on both fronts, concluding that initial regular-season run late Saturday night at LaVell Edwards Stadium with a 28-10 win over Utah State.

Bronco Mendenhall having cleared out, Sitake arrived, Ty Detmer in tow, peddling anticipation, ambition, aspiration, expectation, optimism and a general kind of normalcy that BYU football was simultaneously getting less weird and moving on up. His pitch, accompanied by a big ol' warm embrace, went like this: This thing is good now and it's bound to get better in the future.

Everybody bought in, everybody believed, everybody wanted to believe.

Had the Cougars lost to 3-8 Utah State on their home field in the regular-season ender, that good feel would have taken a major punch to the mouth and to the psyche.

As it was, it did not.

"Obviously, I'm happy with the win," Sitake said. "It wasn't a perfect game. … Offensively, we have to find a way to end drives with [touchdowns]."

For the first time in the better part of a month, BYU had something — three things, actually — at stake during a scheduled football game: the outcome, sustained hope and in-state pride.

The Cougars took that whole matter seriously, apparently. Downing USU, they did, finishing their season at 8-4. But this game wasn't especially well played, nor was it a thrill-a-minute affair for anyone, but BYU did triumph over a rival, and keep hope alive, so there was that.

After an exciting, unpredictable first two months of the season, eight games that featured a combined score of 224-204, favoring BYU, observers from the outside had almost forgotten what any hint of that was like, given the last two opponents — Southern Utah and UMass, teams with which the Cougars had, at least competitively speaking, little in common. In those landslides, they went ahead and did what they should have done — win convincingly — and their opponents did what BYU had paid them to come to LES to do — get crushed.

Everybody bought in, everybody cooperated, everybody obliged. BYU took those latest victories by the combined score of 88-16.

Utah State, on the other hand, had no intention of obliging.

The Aggies represented a program and a school that had grown football proud in recent years, even if 2016 hadn't been particularly kind to them. Say it this way: They had to be respected, at a minimum. Everybody remembered what USU had done to BYU the last time it played at LES, not the least of whom was Taysom Hill, who fractured his left leg in the second quarter and had his season ended in that loss.

This time, the Aggies, with no bowl in sight, had collectively said beating BYU was their remaining goal in a tattered season, and, really, all they had left for which to battle.

They proved this much: They tried real hard.

On their first possession, the Aggies covered 64 yards in 12 plays for a field goal. From there, BYU bounced back, scoring on a 2-yard TD by Jamaal Williams and a 52-yard rumbling fumble return by defensive back Michael Shelton for a 14-3 lead. After Hill threw an interception, his second in the first half, USU narrowed the gap to 14-10 on a Damion Hobbs score. Thereafter, Mitchell Juergens caught a 10-yard pass from Hill to extend that lead. The lead grew from there.

Williams ran hard, doing his thing, totaling 131 yards. Even so, he wasn't given much space. Imagine how many yards the senior, BYU's all-time rushing leader, might have gained this season had he had a decent line in front of him. Despite injuries, he would have turned remarkable into extraordinary.

For his part, in his last game at LES, Hill struggled and shined. He chucked the picks and threw the one touchdown pass before leaving with a late elbow injury. As the game wore on, the Cougars wore out the Ags. End of story, end of season.

For BYU and its fans, neither the game, nor hope was lost Saturday night, but the latter, at least, took a jab or two early on. Anticipation and expectation, though, wrapped in warm embrace, will grow from here.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on the Zone Sports Network, 97.5 FM and 1280 AM. Twitter: @GordonMonson.