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BYU coach Kalani Sitake celebrates after BYU beat SMU in Dallas on Sept. 6, 2024. | Jaren Wilkey/BYU PHOTO
For BYU’s formerly independent college football team, it still stands as a “Welcome to the Big 12″ moment for the Cougars.
On BYU’s second play from scrimmage in its first-ever Big 12 game last year, then redshirt-freshman receiver Parker Kingston was blown up by Kansas defensive back Cobee Bryant on a jet sweep and lost the football. Bryant turned it into a 22-yard scoop-and-score en route to a 38-27 win, and the Cougars’ dreams of making a splash in their new Power Five league were dashed.
“I would say we are miles ahead of where we were last year. We didn’t know what to expect going into last year. Now we have a feel. We know what to expect.”
BYU receiver Parker Kingston
What did Kingston and the Cougars, who would go on to a 2-7 record in the Big 12, learn that day, and season?
“I would say that nobody is going to be soft in the Big 12,” Kingston said Monday as the 3-0 Cougars wrapped up nonconference play and turned their attention to No. 13 Kansas State’s visit on Saturday (8:30 p.m. MDT, ESPN).
Humbled by five consecutive Big 12 losses to end the 2023 season, but encouraged and emboldened by close losses to two of the better programs in the conference, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, in late November, BYU embarks on nine straight Big 12 games in 2024 this week with one major question hovering over the program.
Have the Cougars improved enough to win more league games this season?
“I would say we are miles ahead of where we were last year. We didn’t know what to expect going into last year. Now we have a feel. We know what to expect,” Kingston said. “There are no rollover games in the Big 12. Every game is tough. Every game is going to be close. We just need to lock in every…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/byu-3-0-again-cougars-030000317.html
Author : Deseret News
Publish date : 2024-09-18 03:00:00
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