PROVO — There is a lot of blame that can go around for BYU’s 1-5 start to the season, with its first five-game losing streak since 1970.

But there was only one type of finger pointing Monday when coaches and select players met with the media before next Saturday’s 10 a.m. MDT kickoff against Mississippi State.

And those fingers were squarely pointed inward.

“I don’t blame the players. They give us all their effort. We as coaches got to get it done,” head coach Kalani Sitake said.

“It’s on me. Our offensive issues are my fault. I’m in the mix with them and trying to get it fixed. It’s costing us a lot of issues on the other two phases.”

Meanwhile, running back Trey Dye, one of three starters at running back who has contributed to the team’s No. 127 offensive ranking nationally, tried to shift blame away from the coaches.

“What kind of a teammate would I be to come in and blame the play calling or the offensive line? You’ve got to go make a play; this is Division I football,” Dye said. “If you’re left one-on-one with a safety, make the safety miss and go score a touchdown. So right now, I’ll put it on the running backs. We haven’t been making plays.”

The Cougars (1-5) have yet to find an offensive identity as they approach the halfway point of the season, and that has led to Sitake mixing and matching different personnel in various spots to try to lend the team a spark.

“We’re trying to find ways to create more plays,” he said. “Offensively, it’s taken a while to develop and that’s my fault.”

As Sitake strives to find more consistency with the offense, he’s also doing it with a mix of players. For example, five players have lined up at quarterback for BYU, with Tanner Mangum, Beau Hoge, Koy Detmer Jr. and true freshman Joe Critchlow taking snaps under center (running back Austin Kafentzis has also been thrown in as a Wildcat quarterback for BYU).

Could the constant quarterback shuffle — in part due to injuries, but also partially due to a lack of production — contribute to more inconsistency on the offense?

“The easy answer is that it doesn’t change anything,” Dye said. “But it is a little bit different going from Beau to Koy to Tanner to Joe. It changes a little bit — but at the end of the day, your execution needs to be the same.”

With the Cougars still reeling, Saturday seems a far way off at BYU. Short memory or not, the Cougars need change.

“It’s tough. You’ve got to just forget about the loss and move on,” cornerback Troy Warner said. “Just prepare for the next opponent.”

Where’s Koy?

One significant change came to BYU via the weekly depth chart, involving the offense’s most important position.

Critchlow’s addition at quarterback pushed Detmer Jr. off the two-deep entirely, and he’s listed as a co-backup with Hoge to Mangum. The true freshman from Franklin, Tennessee, recently returned from a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but now finds himself a potential catalyst for a stagnant offense that has scored 24 points or fewer in each of its six games and been held to one touchdown or less four times.

“Joe being in the mix is because Beau was banged up, not healed yet, and wasn’t able to go last week,” Sitake said. “We’ll see how he progresses. But we need to see consistency from all our positions and quarterback is one of them right now.”

Frustration-free zone

Despite the losing streak, Sitake insists morale isn’t low at BYU. Rather, the players are trying to stay focused on turning around a slide with seven games remaining on the 13-game schedule made possible by a season-ending trip to Hawaii.

“The morale is good. If you aren’t in touch with your players, then it can drop,” Sitake said. “But our coaching staff is involved with our players; we love them, and they are part of them. We’re heavily involved and talking and communicating with them.”

Troy Warner turned aside any suggestion that the defense, which has held teams to 26 points per game while the offense averages just 11.7, may be turning on the offense, too.

“If we’re frustrated, it’s not going to help anything,” Warner said. “I feel like we’ve got to stay positive and be positive on the sideline if the offense isn’t doing good. Any sign of frustration with the offense is not going to motivate them.”

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