BYU Football: 3 takeaways from bounce-back win over Washington State

BYU football had lost its second straight game last weekend, stumbling on the road against Baylor just a week after faltering at home against Boise State. A 5-0 start quickly turned to 5-2 and the one-time playoff-hopeful turned unranked in just a couple of weeks.

The Cougars went to Pullman on Saturday afternoon to face a team that has been under the spotlight recently with Nick Rolovich getting fired for not complying with a vaccine mandate.

Kalani Sitake came in and did what he’s done well this season and that’s hanging with Pac-12 teams. His Cougars have beaten a few Pac-12 teams this season and they needed to add another to the win column against Washington State to reach bowl eligibility.

The Cougars went into Pullman for the first time ever and picked up their fourth win over a Pac-12 team this season.

What’d we learn?

3. BYU showed some resiliency

Washington State struck first and it had that feeling of an “oh no, not again” type of game where the Cougars would be playing from behind like they had over the two previous games.

That didn’t happen.

BYU fought back from a 7-0 deficit to take a 14-7 lead and then hold on for the remainder of the game, escaping with a tight 21-19 win in Pullman.

Losing two consecutive games — one which they felt like they should have won — can usually demoralize a team, but Kalani Sitake and the Cougars deserve a ton of credit for remaining focused and picking up a big road win against another Power Five foe.

This team isn’t giving up and the resiliency deserves plenty of respect.