Provo
The Sitake cousins’ football teams produced an impressive total of 76 points Saturday, the only problem being the distribution. The Weber State offense coordinated by Fesi Sitake scored all 76 of them in a school-record showing against Montana Western in Ogden, while BYU’s Kalani Sitake was in New Orleans, absorbing the first shutout of his 15-game head coaching career against LSU.
Total offensive yardage for the Sitakes, who consider themselves brothers: Fesi’s Wildcats 485, Kalani’s Cougars 97.
The opponents have something to do with those numbers, but questions will persist about BYU quarterback Tanner Mangum and offensive coordinator Ty Detmer until they deliver some better results.
In his weekly news conference Monday, Kalani Sitake provided tougher answers than the questions he fielded. “I know I’m coming down hard on the offense, but man … let’s be honest. That was the issue. And Ty knows that. Our offensive players know that. Tanner knows it. So we‘ll fix it.”
Even while losing only one turnover (Mangum’s second-quarter interception), BYU’s offense stayed on the field for just 38 plays. That’s astounding, even against a top-tier Southeastern Conference defense.
“The disappointment was that we are way better than what we’ve shown the last two weeks,” Sitake said. “We’ve been talking about that for a while now, and no one’s seen it.”
BYU scored only 20 points vs. Portland State in the season opener. And with Power Five opponents Utah, Wisconsin and Mississippi State looming between now and mid-October, the search for answers is ongoing in Provo. If Mangum expects to enjoy any kind of 24th birthday celebration this weekend, he needs to deliver his best stuff against the Utes.
With losses of 31-0 to Michigan as a freshman and 27-0 to LSU as a junior, Mangum is the first BYU quarterback in at least 54 years to suffer through two shutouts in his career. The Cougars were blanked three times in 1963, when their single-wing offense used quarterbacks mostly as runners, and six players threw passes that season. Mangum took every snap against Michigan and LSU, with his 24 completions gaining only 157 yards in two games.
As he did in 2015, Mangum said Saturday, “I take ownership of it.”
Quarterbacks may get too much blame, but some percentage of it is always deserved. LSU’s scouting report suggested Mangum would shrink in the face of pressure, and that happened to a degree. Amid some breakdowns in protection and his receivers’ inability to get open, Mangum cited “inaccurate” passing that made him 12 of 24 for 102 yards.
The explanation is not merely a Power Five thing. Besides beating Nebraska with a Hail Mary pass in a relief appearance, Mangum produced decent numbers as a freshman against the solid defenses of UCLA, Missouri and Utah — once he overcame a horrible start in the 2015 Las Vegas Bowl, as Utah led 35-0 in the first quarter. Three of his first nine passes were intercepted (two were returned for touchdowns) and he also lost a fumble. In the last three quarters, he went 21 of 42 for 274 yards and two touchdowns.
The last time he touched the ball against the Utes, Mangum scrambled for a touchdown that cut the lead to 35-28. On the sideline, he told his teammates, “One more.” But the Cougars never got the ball back. Mangum has had to wait 21 months for another shot at the Utes, after backing up Taysom Hill in last September’s 20-19 loss.
Mangum’s only impact that night? A 15-yard penalty, for running onto the field to celebrate Hill’s second-quarter touchdown.
So after LSU held the Cougars to minus-5 rushing yards, the immediate challenge Saturday in Provo is for Mangum and the BYU offense to go forward, not backward — and to keep Utah’s defense off the scoreboard, unlike the first quarter of each of the last two meetings.
“Let’s try not to do that this year,” Sitake said. “That would be an improvement.”
Facing the big boys<br>Tanner Mangum vs. Power 5 teams:<br>2015 • Nebraska, 33-28 win • 7-of-11, 111 yards, 1 TD<br> • 2015 • UCLA, 24-23 loss • 30-of-47, 244 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT<br>2015 • Michigan 31-0 loss • 12-of-28, 55 yards<br>2015 • Missouri, 20-16 loss • 23-of-41, 244 yards, 1 TD<br>2015 • Utah, 35-28 loss • 25-of-56, 315 yards, 2 TDs, 3 INTs<br>2017 • LSU, 27-0 loss • 12-of-24, 102 yards, 1 INT