Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- BYU finished the 2024 season at 10-2, including a 7-2 record in Big 12 play.
- Despite missing the Big 12 championship, the season should be viewed as successful.
- Coach Sitake emphasizes learning from mistakes and acknowledges the team's growth.
PROVO — When it comes to describing the BYU football team's 2024 season, plenty of adjectives come to mind.
Perhaps the most pressing, as of this moment, is "incomplete."
The Cougars wrapped up the 2024 regular season with a 30-18 win over Houston late Saturday night in a way that characterized the season, with an overwhelming defense, a breakout play on special teams, and an offense that rose well beyond its projections while still finding occasions to come up short.
But with the aid of a wide scope on the completion of the 10-2 campaign, BYU (10-2, 7-2 Big 12) should be able to take the wide view of what the program accomplished over the past three months.
No, the Cougars won't be headed to Arlington, Texas, for next week's Big 12 championship game, a game that will feature an Arizona State team picked to finish last in the Big 12 preseason media poll and Iowa State.
But BYU's 19th 10-win campaign in the past 100 seasons and third in the last five years deserves to celebrated without having to deal with the baggage of what might have been.
"There are teams who haven't gotten as many wins that everybody thought they would get them, and people who thought we wouldn't get this many," said BYU coach Kalani Sitake, whose team was picked to finish 13th in the Big 12 with a over/under of 4.5 wins. "The problem is we thought we'd get two more. Because we didn't take care of two games, we had to rely on the tiebreaker system.
"This is a great lesson for us to learn: You can't keep making mistakes and try to find ways out of it. You can be grateful for getting by. … But you can't make that an every-week thing. If we just do our job, minimize the mistakes, then I think we'll be in a really good spot."
Here's one example: Those same Cyclones that ultimately eliminated BYU from Big 12 championship contention won a 10th game for the first time in Iowa State's 133-year history of college football to advance to a conference championship for only the second time ever.
Sitake owes credit to defensive coordinator Jay Hill, who led a top-25 unit that leads the nation with 20 interceptions to complement an offense that often did just enough in averaging 30.8 points per game under Jake Retzlaff, the not-so-gun-shy, dual-threat signal caller who completed just eight passes for 167 yards while running for 57 with two touchdowns.
The Cougars relied heavily on the ground game, which it did again Saturday night through LJ Martin's 87 yards and Sione I. Moa's 6-yard score that helped turn a 7-0 deficit into a 14-10 advantage after Talan Alfrey returned an onside kick attempt 58 yards to the house.
BYU never trailed again, and sent the senior class of 2024 — as well as honorary seniors Chase Roberts and Ethan Slade, who elected to be honored despite having eligibility remaining — out with the group's third double-digit win campaign.
But with due respect to the rebuilt schedule of the 2020 season impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2021 campaign that included wins over five Pac-12 opponents before a loss to UAB in the Independence Bowl to finish 10-3, the latest accomplishment hits different.
"In a power conference like we're in, it's a huge thing," said BYU linebacker Jack Kelly, who had 49 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, five sack, two forced fumbles and an interception in the year since he transferred from Weber State. "It's not easy to come by, and it really shows everyone on this team was bought in, that the coaches helped us get the right way, and everyone was ready to execute."
A year after the Cougars went 5-7 in their first Big 12 campaign, the program banked on continuity and a new offensive line coach to help turn around the program and get back to a bowl game for the 18th time in 20 years. They'll likely wind up in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio or the Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando — the program's best bowl game since the Cotton Bowl in 1996 — after a top-four finish in the league.
"Even though we're sitting here at 10-2, my mind goes back to what could have been. But I have to hesitate and to appreciate the journey that we've been through and the things we've accomplished," Sitake said. "You can see that the culture is working. But there are a lot of things we can do to get better as a program, and that's what I look forward to getting done.
"This is still just the beginning. It's Year 2 in the Big 12, and I'm proud that we got seven wins in conference."
