“You can’t always get what you want.
“You can’t always get what you want.
“You can’t always get what you want.
“But if you try sometimes you just might find you get what you need.”
Not sure who has sung those words more — Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, or Kalani Sitake.
In Sitake’s case, whether it’s fair or not, what he wants and what he needs might be one and the same — a win over Utah.
Everybody knows, foremost among them Sitake himself, that he’s never beaten the Utes. He’s come close. Total up the point differential in his three losses since he took over BYU’s program before the 2016 season and the sum equals 15. His first defeat came by the score of 20-19. The second, 19-13. And last year, while the spread was the largest of the three, it may have been the most painful of all, 35-27. It came after the Cougars blew two 20-point leads, including a 27-7 margin late in the third quarter at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
But Sitake has used that game as evidence and motivation for his players to believe they can take victory from the Utes. As they choked away that kind of lead, he figures, they’ve got to remember they were good enough to put themselves in position for that monumental gagging. If any of that makes sense.
It could just as likely be devastating and deflating for them that the Utes, after snoozing through the first three quarters finally woke up in the fourth and took care of business, kicking the Cougars around like the inferior schlubs they are, the way the Utes always knew they could if they felt like it.
That’s not, however, the approach the coach decided to take with his guys.
The want-need equation here would be more balanced if Sitake’s overall record at BYU were a bit more lopsided. Heading into his fourth season, he is 20-19, so the oh-fer against his instate rival is more pronounced.
As Sitake seeks a contract extension, such matters become more significant. He is listed, according to Vegas, as one of the top five favorites among college football coaches to be fired first this season, behind USC’s Clay Helton, Rutgers’ Chris Ash, Illinois’ Lovie Smith and Auburn’s Gus Malzahn. And then … Sitake. (In a side note, Kyle Whittingham is listed at a tie for fourth from the bottom on the list, along with six other entrenched coaches, just slightly more likely than Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney and, naturally, Alabama’s Nick Saban.)
There are extenuating circumstances to Sitake’s hanging over that cliff, the first of which is that the coach did not have the coaching staff of his choosing in place until last season. Some of his past assistants had been chosen for him. Second, the Cougars’ schedules have become increasingly difficult, even with the back end typically featuring weak opponents. Third, over the span since Sitake played for the Cougars and when he returned as their coach, Utah’s program went throttle up, getting into the Pac-12, drawing in greater numbers of superior athletes, establishing itself as a formidable foe. Sitake helped build that establishment as the Utes’ defensive coordinator.
Judging him and his team’s progress against Whittingham and Utah is a steep climb. Bronco Mendenhall’s version of the Cougars lost to the Utes five straight times, as well.
Simply put, BYU football is not as good as Utah football.
It’s just a fact.
That’s a difficult admission for lifelong Cougar fans stuck on the old days, fans who keep believing, who keep wanting to believe, that BYU, even without the advantages of P5 membership and money, should be the equal of top-drawer P5 programs.
It is not.
The depth of talent just isn’t there.
Optimists can believe it may one day ascend to that level. But today is not that day. Sitake’s status, along with his team, dangles somewhere in the vague in-between. The Cougars were good enough to go to Arizona and Wisconsin last season and beat the Wildcats and the Badgers. But they also got beat on their home field by Cal, got smoked on the road at Washington, and lost to Northern Illinois and Utah State, and, as mentioned, at Utah.
BYU coaches are convinced this year’s iteration is improved, that progress is being made. It will have to be. Not only do the Cougars face the Utes, they get Tennessee, USC and Washington, and that’s not the end of it, with opponents like South Florida, Utah State, Boise State and San Diego State also in the mix.
It’s their misfortune — or good fortune, however you want to look at it — that they will play their most difficult opponent first.
Basing and measuring Sitake’s status on the result of the season opener, even if it is played at LaVell Edwards Stadium, is too much to put on one game. If BYU wins, it will be a landmark victory, a moment for the Cougars to celebrate, a boost for Sitake. If they lose, it will be just another Thursday.
Either way, there will be too much work immediately ahead to dwell on it for long.
Remember the words of Mick and Keith. Sing along with Kalani, if you must, if you want or if you need to.
GORDON MONSON hosts “The Big Show” with Jake Scott weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM The Zone.
Follow @GordonMonson