Kalani Sitake: BYU Sideline Hit By Burritos During Ga. Southern Win

PROVO, Utah – There’s something about BYU football games in the Sun Belt.

During BYU’s 34-17 win over Sun Belt Conference team Georgia Southern on Saturday, fans of the Eagles were throwing burritos down on the Cougars sideline, according to head coach Kalani Sitake.

Kalani Sitake in the postgame: “I think we had to kind of regain our composure. There was a lot of stuff going on. We were getting hit by burritos on the sideline. It was pretty hostile. But I’m just really proud of the way the guys bounced back and made some adjustments.”

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) November 21, 2021

“The first half, I don’t think we played our style of football. I think we had to kind of regain our composure and there was a lot of stuff going on. I mean, we were getting hit by burritos on the sideline. It was pretty hostile,” said BYU coach Sitake to the media. “I’m just really proud of the way the guys bounced back and made some adjustments.”

Kalani Sitake: “We were getting hit by burritos on the sideline”

Who else had instant thoughts of Ron Burgundy from Anchorman saying, “This burrito is delicious, but it is filling.” I guess the burritos at Paulson Stadium were too good that they had to be thrown onto BYU’s sideline.

Last season in an impromptu trip to Coastal Carolina, also in the Sun Belt Conference, there was some extracurricular activity from Chanticleer players going at former QB Zach Wilson.

Hostility appears to be a thing for BYU’s trips to the Sun Belt.

Sitake added, “We talked about it in the halftime, playing our style of football and I thought we did that in the second half. I thought we did some really good things in the first half too, but it was pretty chippy out there. I just wanted to get our guys focused. I know that Georgia Southern has gone through some adversity; they had a coaching change midseason, you know, those seniors, I feel for them. They wanted to play and this was probably not how they wanted their senior season to go. So I hope they do well in the future. For us, I’m just happy that we got the win. I think the offense played pretty good for the entire game. The defense played a lot more fundamentally sound [in the second half].”

Chippy play for BYU football in the Sun Belt

The sixth-year head coach who completed his 75th game as BYU’s headman shared similar sentiments to BYUtv in their postgame show.

Burritos from the stand? 🌯

.@kalanifsitake speaks to @Spencer_Linton following a chippy game.#BYUFOOTBALL | #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/UFC4J3sQPR

— BYUtv Sports (@byutvsports) November 21, 2021

During the second half of play, there was some chippy play on the field. GS linebacker Michael Edwards III gave a shove after a play was dead to Samson Nacua. Samson’s younger brother, Puka Nacua, who finished the game with two touchdowns in the win, took offense to that, shoving Edwards back.

On BYU’s final drive of the game, with the outcome already in the bag, officials called Georgia Southern’s defense for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Leaving many wondering if Kalani Sitake should have made a “style points” statement as a response to the chippy play.

Puka Nacua was asked in the postgame if he saw the flying burritos from the sideline, “Luckily, I didn’t. I think that might have been a first half thing because I think it would have been pretty feisty out here in the second half.”

BYU QB Jaren Hall and DB Jakob Robinson said they didn’t see the burritos as well.

BYU improves to 9-2 overall on the season. The 14th ranked Cougars will close out the 2021 regular season on Saturday, November 27, at USC in the LA Memorial Coliseum.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.

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