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Kalani Sitake’s 2-0 football team will be on the road at Arkansas this Saturday in what will be the final tuneup before the Cougars’ Big 12 opener at Kansas. Here’s what Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman had to say about the Cougars in a report from Jay Drew. Sitake said revenge won’t be the motivating factor after the Razorbacks dominated the Cougars in Provo a year ago.
Predictions
Question of the week: With Sam Houston and Southern Utah in the rearview mirror, up next is SEC’s Arkansas in Fayetteville on Saturday. Is BYU ready for the challenge?
Jay Drew: I would like to say BYU is ready to face an SEC team on the road in front of more than 73,000 fans in Fayetteville, Arkansas, but I just can’t. Why? Because the Cougars simply have not looked like a decent Power Five football team through two games of the 2023 season. Sure, they might get there — they are adding 60 new faces to the roster, after all. But they aren’t there yet. Games against Sam Houston and Southern Utah were closer than they should have been for a team hoping to win enough games to get to a bowl game in 2023, which is and should be the goal.
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Obviously, the Cougars have the talent, thanks to some nice additions via the transfer portal. But depth could be another concern and the fact that the offensive line is off to an awful start. I think BYU will keep it reasonably close against Arkansas in the first half, then wear out against the Hogs and superb dual-threat QB KJ Jefferson.
Prediction: Arkansas 35, BYU 17
Dick Harmon: The Cougars are off to a 2-0 start. That was expected. But in this early going, I was hoping to see a very physical offensive line push around Sam Houston and SUU defenders along the line of scrimmage. We didn’t see that. The trip to Arkansas and Big 12 play will demand it. Football is essentially an organized fight. BYU’s offensive line will need to get meaner, get more physical, get more in sync or it will be a disaster in Big 12 play.
I think Kedon Slovis is the guy. He can lead BYU to a bowl game. But he needs help. The O-line’s best work is protecting him, but even that can improve. I expect the receivers and running backs to deliver, but BYU has to win its share of short-yardage battles on fourth-and-2s, third-and-1s, and at the goal line or Slovis will not do what he’s capable of doing. He needs a bruising, physical run attack to surface. BYU’s offensive line is big enough and I think it is talented enough. It just needs more focus and attitude.
I’ve seen BYU beat Texas, Michigan State, Oklahoma, USC, Tennessee and others on the road. BYU can compete, but it needs to overachieve to play against teams with higher-evaluated talent. The O-line needs to step up this week.
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Prediction: Arkansas 34, BYU 24.
Cougar tales
Right after beating UCLA, women’s soccer achieved a No. 1 ranking and then spanked Utah in dominating fashion. Former Cougar and No. 2 overall draft pick Zach Wilson found himself QB1 after star Aaron Rodgers got injured just four plays into Monday’s game against Buffalo to open the NFL regular season. Keanu Akina won an international golf event, adding to an impressive summer for Bruce Brockbank’s players. Men’s cross-country won the annual autumn classic. No. 8 BYU’s women volleyball dropped a four-set match to Washington State.
From the archives
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Extra points
Fanalyst
Comments from Deseret News readers:
The Y just simply does not have the talent level with depth needed as a P5. Has their been an increase in talent? Yes. But still not there by a long shot.
Defense is definitely improved. Jay Hill has them on the right trajectory in terms of scheme, philosophy and the right culture. Nice not to see the bend don’t break philosophy that plagued the program. Hill simply does not have the sufficient number of athletes to create the disruption in the backfield with sacks and tackles for loss his system and schemes are designed to create. I do think the DBs are pretty solid with coverage, etc. But not enough athleticism and talent level with the LBs and D-line.
O-line can definitely pass block effectively. Just lacks the physicality to push people around with the run game. RB talent level is decent to be effective; but no push from the O-line that needs to get more nasty in the run game where linemen are truly knocking the defensive lines around and beating them up. They are not doing that so far this season. I want an O-line that beats people up, gets a few unsportsmanlike while beating up the defense. Even an occasional late hit just to get in a defense’s head and push them around more. Need to play with a more intense attitude. Then the run game can take hold.
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Arkansas is going to be a tough game this week that could get ugly like last year. The gap in athleticism is going to really show this next week unless the offensive and defensive fronts can improve.
— Jayson Meline
Blah, blah, blah. The Y is what it is. A brand that has held up against an unfair P5 system from the outside with ever-shifting goal posts. The P5 with its native driven standards that move to make the critic of those on the inside right.
Now BYU is on the inside. Let’s see where this goes. 😀
PS. I hope Y fans will treat the Boise States of the non-P4 (those still on the outside) with respect as they darn well deserve. Let’s not change our tune on how unfair the P4 system is just because we are now on the inside. Let’s not do like many from the school up north.
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The Boises are better by a long shot than the bottom parts of the P4 word and at times as good as many in the top half. Think if they had access and money like the P4 programs??. Oh wait, that’s why the P4 system was set up.
The problem the SEC and Big 10 don’t seem to understand is that there us more good talent than their schools can house coming out of HS. …
Sept. 16 | 5:30 p.m. | Football | University of Arkansas | @ Fayetteville, Arkansas
BYU soccer fans fill the stands at South Field in Provo to watch the Cougars battle Saint Louis Aug. 18, 2023. Thursday night the Cougars will face TCU in what will be the first contest against a Big 12 foe since becoming a member of the Power Five league.
Arkansas Razorbacks (5-1) vs. Illinois Fighting Illini (5-1)
Kansas City, Missouri; Thursday, 4 p.m. EST
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BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Fighting Illini -2.5; over/under is 154
BOTTOM LINE: Illinois plays No. 19 Arkansas in Kansas City, Missouri.
The Fighting Illini are 5-1 in non-conference play. Illinois leads the Big Ten in rebounding, averaging 46.3 boards. Tomislav Ivisic leads the Fighting Illini with 8.7 rebounds.
The Razorbacks are 5-1 in non-conference play. Arkansas averages 12.5 turnovers per game and is 4-0 when turning the ball over less than opponents.
Illinois scores 89.0 points, 29.8 more per game than the 59.2 Arkansas allows. Arkansas averages 8.3 made 3-pointers per game this season, 2.8 more made shots on average than the 5.5 per game Illinois gives up.
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TOP PERFORMERS: Will Riley is scoring 17.2 points per game and averaging 5.3 rebounds for the Fighting Illini.
Boogie Fland is shooting 48.1% from beyond the arc with 2.2 made 3-pointers per game for the Razorbacks, while averaging 17.2 points, 5.5 assists and 2.2 steals.
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
The No. 21 Missouri Tigers enter their final regular season game with the least injury questions than they have had for most other games since the beginning of November.
But, there was a few new additions to the team’s availability report ahead of the Week 14 game against Arkansas. Below is the full availability report for the Tigers and the Arkansas Razorbacks.
This post will be updated throughout the week with new availability reports posted Thursday, Friday and 90 minutes before the 3:15 p.m. kick off.
Missouri Initial Availability Report:
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Note: Missouri players with injuries previously reported to be season-ending are not listed on this post.
• DB Shamar McNeil – OUT • LS Brett Le Blanc – OUT • OL Logan Reichert – OUT • RB Kewan Lacy – QUESTIONABLE
True freshman running back Kewan Lacy took one carry against Mississippi State in Week 13 before exiting the game with injury. Head coach Eli Drinkwitz said in the week leading up to that game that he would expect Lacy to see more opportunities going forward.
Le Blanc handles punting long snapping duties for Missouri, while Trey Flint takes care of field goals and extra points. Expect Flint to slide in for Le Blanc Saturday.
Arkansas Initial Availability Report:
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• DL Nico Dalliver – OUT • DB Jaylon Braxton – OUT • K Kyle Ramsey – OUT • DL Anton Juncaj – DOUBTFUL • RB Braylen Russel – QUESTIONABLE • DB Anthony Switzer – QUESTIONABLE
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The partnership will improve Arkansas Children’s service and care for patients and their families. Credit: Vita Monart/Shutterstock.
Arkansas Children’s, a private, non-profit paediatric care organisation, has partnered with Press Ganey to improve paediatric patient experience.
Beginning 1 January 2025, this collaboration is aimed at bolstering the paediatric care organisation’s commitment to improving service and care for patients and their families.
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Arkansas Children’s executive vice-president and chief operating officer Jamie Wiggins said: “We believe that every interaction with our patients is an opportunity to make a meaningful impact.
“By leveraging Press Ganey’s expertise and industry-leading pediatric benchmarks, we will gain valuable insights that will empower our teams to continuously improve and innovate in delivering compassionate care.”
Press Ganey will offer its patient experience and provider star-rating solutions to help Arkansas Children’s monitor feedback and enhance care quality.
The partnership will enable Arkansas Children’s to leverage Press Ganey’s AI-powered text analytics.
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This will help analyse open-ended feedback from online reviews and post-visit surveys, providing an understanding of patient and family perspectives.
The goal is to gain actionable insights that can further improve the patient experience.
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Press Ganey provides experience measurement, data analytics and insights to health systems and caters to more than 65% of all freestanding paediatric hospitals.
This partnership will allow Arkansas Children’s to benefit from shared learning and innovation within Press Ganey’s network of institutions.
Press Ganey CEO and chairman Patrick Ryan said: “Families trust Arkansas Children’s to provide the highest quality care for their children.
“This partnership reflects their dedication to listening to families, responding to their needs, and innovating to create a world-class paediatric healthcare experience.”
Arkansas Children’s network includes two paediatric hospitals, a nursery alliance, statewide clinics, a research institute, a USDA nutrition centre, and numerous education and outreach programmes.
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