The 2016 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University in the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cougars, led by first-year head coach Kalani Sitake, played their home games at LaVell Edwards Stadium. This was the sixth year BYU competed as an NCAA Division I FBS independent. They finished the season 9–4. They were invited to the Poinsettia Bowl where they defeated Wyoming.
Before the season
Coaching changes BYU hired a new coaching staff in 2016. Gone from the program were Bronco Mendenhall, who accepted the Head coach position with the Virginia Cavaliers on December 4, and assistant coaches Robert Anae, Garett Tujague, Mark Atuaia, Jason Beck, Nick Howell, and Kelly Poppinga, who accepted positions on Virginia's new coaching staff.
On December 19, 2015, Kalani Sitake was announced as the new head coach. Sitake is the first Tongan to become a FBS collegiate football head coach.
On December 24, 2015, Ilaisa Tuiaki was appointed the defensive coordinator and Ty Detmer the offensive coordinator.
On December 26, 2015, Ed Lamb was appointed the assistant head coach.
In December 2015, Nu'u Tafisi was reported as being named as the strength and conditioning coach. On January 14, 2015, Tafisi was confirmed as a new member of the staff. Steve Kaufusi was also announced as a returning member of the staff, and former BYU offensive line coach Mike Empey, who served as offensive line coach under the legendary LaVell Edwards, was announced as a new staff member.
On January 20, 2016 Ben Cahoon was hired as the wide receivers coach.
On January 25, 2016, Steve Clark was hired as the tight end coach, Russell Tialavea was hired as the director of football operations, and AJ Middleton was hired as the asst. strength and conditioning coach.
On January 28, 2016, the final members of the coaching staff were hired. Reno Mahe was hired as the running backs coach, Jernaro Gilford was hired as the cornerbacks coach, and Tevita Ofahengaue was hired as the director of recruiting operations.
2016 recruits Name Pos. Height Weight Hometown Kainoa Fuiava DL 295 Downey, CA Alema Pilimai TE 205 Tustin, CA Chris Wilcox DB 170 Corona, CA Britton Hogan DS 205 Salt Lake City, UT Keenan Pili LB 205 Provo, UT Jake Oldroyd K 170 Southlake, TX Jonah Trinnaman WR 190 Ephraim, UT Transfer from Snow College Handsome Tanielu DL 300 Ephraim, UT Transfer from Snow College Troy Warner DB 185 San Marcos, CA Aleva Hifo WR 170 Menifee, CA Hayden Livingston QB 185 Rigby, ID Isaiah Armstrong DB 193 Redland, CA Transfer from Riverside City College Keyan Norman OL 305 Cedar City, UT Transfer from Southern Utah University Andrew Eide OL 301 Cedar City, UT Transfer from Southern Utah University Solomone Wolfgramm DL 260 Laie, HI Transfer from BYU-Hawaii Hunter Marshall TE 242 Ephraim, UT Transfer from Snow College
2016 returning missionaries Name Pos. Height Weight Year Notes Sam Baldwin DB 196 Austin Chambers OL 270 Zac Dawe OL 275 Kavika Fonua LB 220 Rylee Gautavai LB 238 Kyle Griffitts TE 240 Mitch Harris DS 215 Chandon Herring OL 270 Tanner Jacobson DB 185 Transfer from Texas Tech Isaiah Kaufusi LB 216 Taggart Krueger WR 190 Hiva Lee DB 190 Transfer from Willamette David Lowe DL 220 Transfer from Southern Utah Uriah Leiataua DL 240 Kieffer Longson OL 295 Inoke Lotulelei WR 190 Austin McChesney DB 190 Andrew Mikkelsen K 200 Trajan Pili LB 225 Riggs Powell DB 205 Transfer from Cabrillo College Addison Pulsipher OL 280 Mack Richards WR 190 Thomas Shoaf OL 275 Merrill Talialuli DL 305 Beau Tanner WR 188 Transfer from Scottsdale Community College Young Tanner QB 190 Transfer from Phoenix College Johnny Tapusoa LB 225
2016 departures Name Pos. Height Weight Year Notes Roman Andrus DL 270 Transferred to Snow College Devon Blackmon WR 187 Graduation Cody Bond RB 165 Austin Brasher K 183 Graduation Nate Carter RB 189 Graduation Tyler Cook LB 230 Medical Demetrius Davis OL 294 Transferred to Pima Community College Nathan DeBeikes LB 207 Darren Denucci OL 317 Bryan Engstrom RB 172 B.J. Fifita DB 203 Travis Frey WR 177 Graduation Jaterrius Gulley OL 346 Transferred to Alabama State Kurt Henderson WR 190 Graduation McCoy Hill QB 235 Transferred to Southern Utah Adam Hine RB 216 Graduation Toloa'i Ho Ching RB 241 Medical Figgs Hofheins OL 280 Terenn Houk WR 225 Graduation Adam Ingersoll DL 262 Ryan Jensen LB 216 Colby Jorgensen TE 228 Medical Mitch Mathews WR 215 Graduation Jackson Kaka TE 241 Bronson Kaufusi DL 280 Graduation Teu Kautai LB 228 Graduation David Kessler WR 193 Graduation Theodore King TE 265 Graduation Elliot Knox WR 196 Paul Langi LB 228 Jherremya Leuta-Doyere LB 230 Graduation Ryker Mathews OL 322 Graduation A.J. Moore RB 185 Graduation Zach Newman LB 229 Connor Noe DB 192 Taylor Parker P 193 Transferred to Southern Utah Remington Peck TE 270 Graduation Manoa Pikula LB 235 Graduation Jordan Preator DB 180 Transferred to Weber State Brian Rawlinson OL 305 Steven Richards TE 248 Medical Graham Rowley DL 280 Graduation Bryan Sampson TE 245 Medical Trevor Samson K 177 Graduation Zachary Saunders WR 180 Sione Takitaki LB 250 Leave of Absence Michael Wadsworth DB 221 Graduation Jake Ziolkowski WR 200 Josh Weeks WR 200 Transferred to UTEP Brad Wilcox OL 310 Peter Welsh RB 205 Felesi Tofi DL 280
Media
Football Media Day Football Media Day took place on June 30, 2016. It aired live on BYUtv, with a simulcast on ESPN3. On it Coach Sitake talked about future scheduling, Tom Holmoe discussed BYU's interest in the Big XII Conference, Coach Detmer talked about the switch to the Pro-style offense and how it will rely more on tight ends, and Coach Tuikai talked about the defensive scheme switching from 3–4 to 4–3. Throughout the day multiple players were also interviewed by Spencer Linton, Jarom Jordan, Lauren Francom, Jason Shepherd, Greg Wrubell, and various media members that covered BYU. Topics discussed during the interview included off-season workouts, marital status changes, the coaching changes, the QB controversy (Taysom Hill declared he could play that day if he was needed to), and many other topics. The day ended with a look back at the 1996 team that went 14–1 and won the Cotton Bowl.
During Media Day it was also revealed that Nike is working on a new shoe for Taysom Hill that gives additional support through the arch. It will also include the orthotics as an insole on top of that.
Cougar IMG Sports Network Affiliates
KSL 102.7 FM and 1160 AM- Flagship Station (Salt Lake City/ Provo, UT, iHeartRadio and ksl.com) BYU Radio- Nationwide (Dish Network 980, Sirius XM 143, TuneIn radio, and byuradio.org) KIDO- Boise, ID (football only) KTHK- Blackfoot/ Idaho Falls/ Pocatello/ Rexburg, ID KMGR- Manti, UTKSUB- Cedar City, UT KDXU- St. George, UT KSHP- Las Vegas, NV (football only)
Roster
Schedule The 2016 schedule was believed to be BYU's hardest schedule to date. It featured Power 5 teams from the Pac-12, Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC along with teams that have normally been ranked from the Group of 5 schools. However, at the end of the 2016 season it appeared noticeably weaker than previously predicted, with Sagarin ranking the schedule 75th.
Game summaries
Arizona
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Uniform combination: white helmet, white jersey, white pants.
The Cougar offense and defense dominated for three quarters of the game, but it took a 33-yard field goal from freshman kicker Jake Oldroyd for BYU to prevail 18–16 and give Kalani Sitake his first win as Cougar head coach.
Oldroyd originally wasn't scheduled to be on the road roster. A late Thursday move moved Oldroyd past James Baird on the depth chart and onto the roster. After sophomore kicker Rhett Almond missed the extra point, BYU decided to make the move to Oldroyd showing the kicking battle still hasn't been settled for the Cougars this season.
In his return to the Cougars Jamaal Williams had a fine game, rushing for 162 yards on 29 carries, an average of 5.2 yards per carry, and winning BYUtv's Y-Factor award. Williams would also catch one pass for 10 yards. It was Taysom Hill though who carried much of the team.
Hill threw for 202 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions. After BYU fell behind 16–15, Hill took possession of the ball at the 20. He scrambled twice for a first down and went 3-for-3 passing on the series. Overall Hill would carry the ball for 37 yards and four first downs.
A late illegal procedure penalty with :08 seconds left nearly cost the Cougars, but BYU chose to use their final timeout and avoid the 10-second runoff. The ball had been moved from BYU's 20 to Arizona's 16, but the loss of the timeout forced Oldroyd to kick from the left hash instead of dead center. After a failed freeze by Rich Rodriguez, Oldroyd nailed the kick right down the center to give BYU the lead back and ultimately the win.
Game Stats: Passing: BYU: Taysom Hill 21–29–0—202; Arizona: Anu Solomon 20–30–2—213. Rushing: BYU: Jamaal Williams 29–162, Hill 11–37, Algernon Brown 3–7, Squally Canada 2–6, Brayden Al-Bakri 1–1; Arizona: Nick Wilson 17–138, Orlando Bradford 1–1, J.J. Taylor 1-(−4), Solomon 7-(−20). Receiving: BYU: Jonah Trinnaman 6–49, Moroni Laulu-Pututau 4–49, Colby Pearson 4–37, Hunter Marshall 2–29, Brown 1–14, Williams 1–10, Nick Kurtz 1–9, Tanner Balderdee 2–5; Arizona: Nate Phillips 7–69, Trey Griffey 4–66, Tyrell Johnson 2–28, Shawn Poindexter 1–19, Samajie Grant 3–14, Wilson 2–11, Josh Kern 1–6. Interceptions: BYU: Kai Nacua 1–1, Francis Bernard 1–0.
Utah
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Uniform combination: white helmet with royal blue decals and royal blue chromium facemasks, royal blue jersey, white pants Turnovers plagued both teams. A pick six on the first play of the game put BYU behind the eight ball and made many people fear it would be the Las Vegas Bowl all over again. BYU rebounded from the pick six though, forcing 6 turnovers (3 interceptions, 2 fumbles, and a muffed punt). The turnovers led directly to 13 of BYU's points.
However a hard hit caused Jamaal Williams to sit most of the fourth quarter, and two questionable targeting calls ejected two of BYU's top defenders, one of which was captain Kai Nacua (the referee couldn't initially get his number right, first saying 32 and 13 before finally correctly saying 12) who had intercepted two passes to that point; Austin McChesney was ejected for targeting as Francis Bernard (the actual number 13) came down with the third pick.
Even with all the questionable calls and forced turnovers, both BYU and Utah found they had ample opportunities to score that they didn't capitalize on. A failed two-point conversion attempt was followed by a failed onside kick attempt and ultimately cost BYU the game.
One game after limiting his rushing, Taysom Hill rushed was 87 yards and 2 touchdowns. BYU now prepares for their home opener against UCLA with a +5 turnover margin. Whether the offense can some of the turnovers into touchdowns though is a tossup.
Game Stats: Passing: BYU: Taysom Hill 21–39–3—176, Mitch Juergens 1–1–0—9, Team 0–1–0—0; Utah: Troy Williams 14–23–3—194. Rushing: BYU: Hill 13–87, Jamaal Williams 12–58, Brayden El-Bakri 1–1, Algernon Brown 1-(−3); Utah: Troy McCormick 10–62, Zack Moss 12–58, Joe Williams 10–26, Troy Williams 7–13, Kyle Fulks 2–11, Team 1-(−1). Receiving: BYU: Juergens 8–52, Nick Kurtz 3–35, Moroni Laulu-Pututau 3–31, Jonah Trinnaman 2–27, Colby Pearson 2–10, Williams 1–10, Corbin Kaufusi 1–9, Aleva Hifo 1–7, Ului Lapuaho 1–4; Utah: Tyrone Smith 2–60, Tim Patrick 3–59, Rae Singleton 2–23, Evan Moeai 2–21, Harris Handley 2–21, Demari Simpkins 2–6, Joe Williams 1–4. Interceptions: BYU: Kai Nacua 2–0, Francis Bernard 1–0; Utah: Sunia Tauteoli 2–41, Reginald Porter 1–1.
UCLA
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Uniform combination: White helmet, blue jersey, white pants
Game Stats: Passing: UCLA: Josh Rosen 26–40–1—307; BYU: Taysom Hill 26–48–1—250