BYU Football Game Week — at Baylor

No. 22 BYU travels to Waco, Texas, to take on the Baylor Bears at McLane Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 28 at 11 a.m. CT. The game will be televised on FS1.

BYU Football Game Week — at BaylorBYU Football Game Week — at Baylor

PROVO, Utah — No. 22 BYU travels to Waco, Texas, to take on the Baylor Bears at McLane Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 28 at 11 a.m. CT. The game will be televised on FS1. 

Use this page as a one-stop shop throughout the week for everything related to the game. Updates will be made leading up to kickoff, including broadcast plans, news, fan events and game notes. 

Game Info

Game Info

BYU (4-0) at Baylor (2-2) Saturday, Sept. 28 Kickoff: 11 a.m. CT

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Game Notes

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BYU Notes

Baylor Game Week—BYU Media Availability

Opening Statement
“The ROC was awesome and fans were unbelievable. It was a cool environment. Our players responded really nice to it. After watching film, really happy with the way the guys played. Obviously a lot of places that we can improve on. I do feel like we played with great energy and effort. That was probably our best of the year so far. Looking forward to improving on it and playing our best this weekend.”

“Things went well for us and we’re able to capitalize on it. There is still room for improvement and we’re looking forward to getting better. I am happy with the way the guys are leading this team and the way they are playing.”

“Looking forward to this week going to Baylor and playing that game. We’ve been there before, it’s a tough environment to play. Everything on the road nowadays is especially in this conference. They are coming off a heartbreaking loss. They will be ready to roll so we need to make sure we are ready to roll.”

Recruitment of Sione I. Moa
“We knew about him in high school so when we recruited him, we knew the plays that he could make. After guys serve missions, they start to explore where they want to go and sometimes, they contact us and we make it work. I like the skillset that he has and we’re familiar with his family. We knew that he could do what he did last Saturday night. I think he has a lot of ability but the entire room is gifted. I am glad the way he approached the game.”

Hiring of Kelly Poppinga and his impact on the special teams unit
“I wanted to hire him because he’s a great coach and a great person. That’s the number one thing. I recognize what he can do as a mentor to these young men and being a former player here. I know he cares and loves this place. He has a great reputation in coaching even before we hired him. I get to work alongside him and see the things that he does.”

“Look at the improvement and the way that we’ve been able to play at that position. He’s a great coach, great recruiter and a great man. I love having him on staff.”

Relationship with Dave Aranda
“Dave Aranda is a good friend of mine. I have known him for decades. We know a lot about him and that’s why the focus is on this game. Dave is a great coach. I really enjoy my relationship with him.”

Preparing for different quarterbacks
“That is what college football is sometimes and you have to be ready for the skill set of each quarterback. Most of the quarterbacks at this level can throw the ball, they can run, they’re athletic, big and strong. We are focused on what they can do and not really concerned about who’s going to play quarterback.”

Schedule change due to morning kickoff
“We’re an afternoon practice team. We like that because we can get in the heat so it’s the hardest part of the day. We like to be outside when we practice. We will adjust a couple things, meeting times, things like that. We’ve been in this situation before we can adjust our schedule depending whatever the time is.”

Progress of offense
“They put points on the board, that’s the higher level. That is what I want. Take care of the football, that’s high-level football. If we give the offense short fields, we can’t back up and get more yard. What I do like is when we give them short fields that they capitalize and score points. We are going to focused on scoring points.”

On BYU’s strong defensive start
“I think a lot of times when things come out of the blue or they look like they were overnight successes, people don't understand that this started a year and a half ago, when Jay Hill got here. It’s the foundation he was building this whole time. It's all built on top of itself, where last year we showed some signs of improvement. We had a lot of games where we played really well last year. The whole focus of the off season was, ‘How can we complete this to where we're not playing good for a half or three quarters of the game, but to where we're playing good for four quarters of the game?’ So, it's been something that kind of looks like an overnight success or that it came out of nowhere, but we've been working on it all off season. It's been the focus since we all showed up, since Jay Hill got here, and since he's been preaching to us. It's been on our mind the whole time, and it's not a surprise to anybody in the building, offense or defense, just because it's been a mentality and a focus of ours.”
 
On his evolution from walk on to starter
“It's something that's always been in my belief. I've known since I made the decision to come here, that I was going to be a starter one day. With that comes a lot of patience and all the ups and downs. You’ve got to be willing to grind some stuff out for sure, but I had that belief in myself before I even showed up, so it was my plan all along. I didn't come here to be a backup. I came here to help the team win in whatever way that is, but I knew what I was capable of. One of the big reasons why I came here is the coaches. I had seen what they'd done at other places. Jay Hill recruited me out of high school, so I've known about what he offers his players for years now. When I came here, I knew that with his coaching and with my capabilities, some special things could happen. So, I always believed in myself, and I always knew that if I stuck to the plan and didn't let distractions get in the way, didn't let doubt creep in, that at some point I was going to get on the field and that was really just my plan.”
 
On Baylor’s game time
“We're excited. 11am, 2pm, 8pm, we're just going to play football. There are all these stats and all this and that, and whether there's correlation, I don't know. I know we played basically the same time last year against Oklahoma, and that game went well for the most part. I don't think anybody on the team is worried about what time we're playing, but we're just excited to play ball. There haven’t been any concerns in the locker room or throughout the offices here about what time the game is at. We’re just excited.”
 
On depth in defensive scheme compared to last year
“Probably not as many as you think. One thing that I've always believed in is, the simpler you can make things, the better it's going to be. If you're trying to teach someone something, they say, ‘if you can't teach it like you're teaching a fifth grader, you probably shouldn't be teaching it’. Jay Hill's done a good job of that, where he teaches the principles over and over again, and then he leaves it up to us to make plays. He’s like, ‘Look, I'm not telling you that you have to do this, but here's what you have the ability to do if you're comfortable with it.’ There's been some things that we've been able to build upon last year. We’re understanding the defense more to where now, safeties, linebackers, even some of the d-line and the corners are all on the same page. We're able to make checks, show some different disguises and throw some wrenches in there for the offense to have to try to sort out. It's not necessarily that we're trying to complicate the defense more. It’s that people are just understanding it at a deeper level, and the players are understanding how to make more plays and how to throw off the offense. That obviously stems from the coaching. It's not necessarily of Jay Hill making things more complicated, I think it's more of him trusting us. He's done a good job keeping it simple and making it to where we can play fast but still make it hard for the offense to know we're doing it.”
 
On overall thought from Baylor
“They’re a solid team. I haven't gotten too much into the details and the scheme yet, but we've been able to watch some of their games. We watched the Utah vs Baylor game in the hotel, and we've seen a couple of their games. They're a solid team. They're going to play hard, and we expect to get their best. It's away so they're at home, and they're going to have the home crowd. All in all, I think we have to show up and play our football, do what we've been coached to do, and play our brand. No matter who we're playing, that should be enough to get the job done.”

On prepping for Baylor
“We will probably start doing that today in our meetings with our coaches. We couldn’t watch Baylor on Saturday because its game was at the same time as ours, but I know a lot of our guys watched the Baylor vs. Utah game and have watched some other games, so some of our players might have an idea of what to expect.”

On Crew Wakely
“Crew is a guy who is going to do whatever Crew does, no matter what people tell him to do. When he first got here, we had a class together and he basically told me he didn’t care if no one liked him, but he was going to be the best safety this team could have and be a starter. That was in January of 2023, so to see where he is now doesn’t surprise me. He prepares the right way and is a heck of a player. He isn’t ignorant or cocky, so the guys respect him because of how he plays and how he carries himself.”

On experiences playing at Baylor’s stadium
“I think it’s a hard place to play. They bring a good crowd and they are a tough team to play at home. As for the early kickoff, I think the best thing for us to do there is go to sleep a little earlier and get up earlier this week to get that in our minds right now. 

On his success against bigger offensive lines in the Big 12
“A lot of it is technique and the scheme of the defense. I’ve had the opportunity to work with some really good coaches, and they know what works for people and what doesn’t. I think the whole mentality of our defense and being more aggressive has led me to play more aggressively and has helped me take on this new position.”

On feeding off the team momentum being created
“We feed off of it, I mean everyone does and everyone’s excited to win. Football is an interesting sport because you have a whole week in between games. That’s a whole week you could be humble or a whole week of being prideful, so we try to leave every game behind us. It is good to know we can play at that high of a level, and helps us set new expectations for ourselves each week. Our win on Saturday was a memorable one and I hope Cougar nation loves it, but we owe it to ourselves to stay locked in and prepare for Baylor now.”

On playing in Texas heat
“I feel like we're ready for that. I think that's why we did all our practices in the afternoon during fall camp, just so we can get used to the heat and having to go play in these high states with humidity. I feel like we're fully equipped to go down and play with the heat.”
 
On relationship with Chase Roberts as top two targets
“I feel like our work ethic and the time and work that me and Chase put into the team, this program and our offense also just shows the trust that Jake has between each of us. Whether people want to look at it, there's Chase being receiver one, or me being one, I feel like we're 1A and 1B. We complement each other well, and we both do a lot of great things that's going to help both of us and the team.”
 
On offense trending up
“I feel like you can always take an offense to another level and take that extra step to really solidify your offense into where you wanted to be. There’s a lot of things that we did good on Saturday. Our yards might not have showed it, but that's because our defense was putting us in great positions to succeed in special teams as well. I feel like we're not there yet, but we're getting close to it.”
 
On responding to a national ranking
“We’re still the same team, whether we're nationally ranked or not. We knew where we were going to be by the time we got to this point, so it’s not a surprise to us that we're 4-0 getting ready going to Baylor. A lot of people have counted us out, but we really use that as fuel. At the end of the day, we can't worry about all the outside noise.”
 
On this week’s statement
“We’re not a one hit wonder team. We're the same team. We're going to be out there and we're going to come out and be competitive, we're going to give you our best every time we go out there, and we're going to do it with love in our heart and a smile on our face. I feel like this team is only scratching the surface of what it can be.”

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