Yesterday told us a whole lot more about what we can expect from BYU going forward. Every game answers a few questions and raises a few more. The first game against a terrible team gave us a glimpse of things, but yesterday’s performance answered a few questions I have had.
Question - Siale Escera - Where was he yesterday? I don’t remember hearing his name or seeing him on the field yesterday His name doesn’t appear in the box score either. Did he play and stink it up early and get benched?
Question we still don’t know if we have a reliable place kicker. He wasn’t called on yesterday.
Who replaces Kingston? Answer - Glasker.
Question who replaces Roberts - Answer - Kaspar.
Punter - with a bigger sample size yesterday I think that question was answered positively
Bear answered the question about whether he can throw the long ball with that 60 yard throw to Glasker.
my same question. The primary receivers are clearly as good. Legend could be a won and done, he’s that quick. I know Sitake is using him on kick offs but I DON’T LIKE it, and I don’t like DeVries running it back either, not after his hits on Arizona. Get a speedster like a 2nd string receiver but don’t get our best players injured on Kicks and Punts, there’s just too many injuries when you run at each other close to 20 MPH each, that would be like hitting a brick wall at 40 MPH.
I looked on ESPN and could not find him but here’s what I found:
Yes, Siale Esera played in BYU’s 28-17 win over Arizona on September 12, 2026. ESPN’s player page lists statistics for him in that game: 2 tackles and 1 sack against Arizona. [espn.com], [espn.com]
If you look at the box score for the Az game his name isn’t in it. Then look again at his player page on ESPN and it shows those stats were for the U Tech game. It is possible he played some and didn’t record any stats, but there were a couple of other guys who appear in the box score with no stats so I was a little concerned. On the other hand I saw Kirkland in the game while I was watching it and his name doesn’t appear in the box score either.
Can’t win big games taking it carefully. I’m sure what Sitaki really wants are punt receivers who can not fumble the kick off like you know who. There are no one and done’s in Football.
Siale got hurt after a few plays and didn’t return. He’s out for awhile I think. He has had a tough go with injuries at BYU. He has NFL size and athleticism but just can’t stay healthy.
BYU had the ball 8.5 minutes in the 1st half and Kalani spent a great deal talking about how Fifita had us on our heels…Sitake addressed that in the 2nd…more LJ Martin and more BYU physicality can sustain drives with Martin. And on defense, our DBs sucked up on receivers rather than playing back 10 yds and having Fifita dice us up, the 2nd part of the D, get after the pass rush and keep Fifita in the pocket rather than let him out and run for 1st downs or get open looks.
From my friend at BYU deeply involved with the program (PS no “insider information” here; I would NEVER post online if he tells me something not for the public). This is just good analysis from someone who knows more than I do:
“I don’t blame KPopp for the first half strategy. When Fifita is fresh, he just gets out of the pocket on blitzes and either runs 10 plus yards or exposes the mismatches in the secondary. In the middle of the 3rd we wore them down then blitzed them [pretty much] every time and shut them down. Fifita is the best QB we will face. He is a one man wrecking crew. Reminds me of a young Russell Wilson.”
We were texting during the game and I was frustrated with our passive Tuiaki D in the first half. Looks like my buddy called me to repentance and KPopp was right in the end–or got a talking to from Kalani at half. We KNOW Kalani had a chat with ARod about the B12 offensive POY getting 4 touches in the first half. But good adjustments on both sides of the ball at half. BUT FOR CRYING OUT LOUD ARE WE OUTCOACHED IN THE FIRST HALF EVERY GAME, OR DOES IT JUST SEEM THAT WAY?
We both saw the same game. BYU’s D was reactive in the 1st half. Proactive in the 2nd. I thing I saw from our DBs in the 2nd half…We made it a point to keep Fifita in the pocket, he is so short that looking over those big linemen can be a challenge, watched several throws go “between” blockers arms.
In keeping Fifita in the pocket, he chose to dump it off on Screens which were working beautifully in the 1st because BYU DBs were playing so far off the receivers.
In the 2nd, I watched some pretty good coaching as our DBs were blowing through the receiver blocks “knocking” the blocker back into his own player, destroying the play before they could get down field.
We got some luck too. Their #1 received got hurt and that made it easier to defend AZ. If he hadn’t, not sure if we win the game. Not sure if we could have stopped them. We need to get our DB’s better prepared for the rest of the season. ND will eat us up if we don’t.
The offense has to start better. Throwing the ball every down didn’t help. LJ Martin has to get the ball and the OL has to do a better job opening holes up. LJ doesn’t need to run up the middle every time either.
Siale Esera suffered an injury on the first drive against Arizona. He did not return to the game, and he was in street clothes on the sidline. Esera’s official timeline to return has not been announced, but historically, when a player is removed from the depth chart, it signals that they are schedule to miss significant time.
During his media availability this week, Kalani Sitake said Esera will likely miss the Colorado State game. “More than likely he will be questionable for this weekend, but it’s not season-ending…he exited the game and didn’t come back…more than likely we’ll take him out of the game this weekend,” Sitake said.
Let’s hope it is only rumors. I suspect that is all it is. I listened to some of the program and it seems like Jake Hatch doesn’t believe them based on his discussions with people who know Glasker.
It all makes me nervous based on what happened with Retzlaff and Kingston. It seems like we can’t go more than a few months without some drama of this kind.
