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PROVO — Starting quarterback Jake Retzlaff and BYU's offense stole the show in Saturday's 41-13 win over FCS Southern Illinois, going off for 527 yards in Retzlaff's first 300-yard game as a Division I starter.
But the Cougars' defense had just as much to prove against the Salukis, particularly on the defensive line. While All-Big 12 defensive end Tyler Batty returned for his final season of eligibility, BYU finished the 2023 campaign with just 11 sacks, tied for the fewest in the nation with Virginia.
With an admittedly small sample size of just one game into 2024, the Cougars seemed to take a step forward Saturday night, piling up two sacks and 11 tackles for loss.
"I feel like the mindset and the mentality of everyone, not even just the defense, has a whole different mindset and mentality," said Isaiah Bagnah, the former Boise State transfer who had three tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack against the Salukis. "I think that we have something to prove, and we have a chip on our shoulder. We need to go out there and play like it and practice every day like it."
Defensive coordinator Jay Hill returned to the box after a medical procedure to help call plays and communicate with head coach Kalani Sitake, linebackers coach Justin Ena and interim safeties coach and graduate assistant Gavin Fowler.
BYU dialed up an aggressive scheme that held its FCS opponent to 231 yards on 51 plays, an average of 4.5 yards per play buoyed by quarterback DJ Williams' 121 yards on the ground.
With an offseason and a career to prepare for Batty, the rest of BYU's defense stepped up. John Nelson added a sack on the interior of the defensive line, and Isaiah Glasker was one of seven players with a share of a tackle for loss.
"To be a good defensive line we have to have every single part of it flying on all scales," Bagnah said. "It's not just one guy; it is all of us. You are good as your weakest link. It's a collective effort at the end of the day. We wanted to be more urgent this season and the first game shows that."
Bagnah said rather than the defense being like a thermometer, gauging the temperature of the game and adjusting accordingly, the new directive from Hill and the rest of the defensive staff is to be a thermostat: set the tone early, and keep the heat.
That's not to say the team was perfect. Sitake was complimentary of the defensive line's improvements from last year, particularly the physical play in the trenches. But he also noted Williams' quarterback run game, a problem that will be expounded against an SMU squad that played two quarterbacks in Kevin Jennings and Preston Stone and ran both of them in a 59-7 blowout of Houston Christian.
"On defense, we need to control the quarterback run game," Sitake said of the Mustangs, who are favored by 10,5 points Friday night in Dallas (5 p.m. MDT, ESPN2). "We're going to see a lot of that, especially this week."
Hill, who was released from Timpanogos Regional Hospital in Orem before Saturday's game after having two stents placed in his heart to alleviate discomfort he felt after Thursday's practice, is "off and working" to prepare the team for SMU, Sitake said.
He added that the former ninth-year head coach at Weber State is anticipated to return to his role as defensive coordinator, though he isn't sure if Hill will call plays from the field or the coaching box above Gerald J. Ford Stadium.
"They have an explosive team and are favored in this game, so this is an opportunity for our guys to get in there and figure out ways to improve and take-on a very impressive SMU team," Sitake said. "They have really good athletes. They have a few quarterbacks who can play. They're very active, very athletic and can throw the ball well too."
