With BYU coming this far into the season and winning every game, they haven’t just had to overcome all the teams they have played. They have also had to overcome the pandemic for one but also the adversity that has come up this season. Adversity and the pandemic were both two things that they had to overcome as well as playing all the other teams, and winning against them.
Adversity and success
First off, the pandemic took BYU to the brink of canceling the season, which thanks to Tom Holmoe didn’t happen as he railed back the season. This pandemic had almost blown away the season. Then comes the cuts, bruises, and even illnesses, which they had plenty of. Tristen Hoge had even got pneumonia and missed a few weeks due to it. But all these cuts and injuries hadn’t had much to do with Covid-19, moreover adversity. The cougars had faced plenty of adversity from other locales, but with this, the cougars have come out in this season with an undefeated 6 games now. “With that comes a new adversity: success” as said by the cougars. BYU inched up in the rankings and moved up to no. 10. They have also moved up to no. 11 in the associated press top 25, which was followed by the win against Texas State 52-14 as the final score. As Kalani Sitake and the players don’t really like talking about it, “Success breeds challenges just as much as injuries, illness, suspensions, and on-field losses.”
Handling adversity
Now BYU has talked about how to handle adversity really well and also been able to bounce back at it, and as Kalani has said BYU has also handled their success well and humbly. He believes that they have a fine line and they are well balanced. But with this, it’s hard to not get into their heads with the honors and accolades, and drink the poison. With the media, they know that it’s their job to praise teams and criticize them as well, but it takes maturity and years to accept both success and criticism. It’s not just the adversity that they have handled too, it’s themselves that they find being their own enemies, trying to fix their mistakes, and finding the weaknesses in one of the top 10 national teams this year. BYU has had to face all kinds of distractions during this season, and they have learned how to handle all of it well. BYU has had to go through a lot of adversity, but this season they have learned to handle it well and while having an undefeated season.
