The BYU football team finished its 2017 campaign with a 30-20 win over Hawaii on Nov. 25.
The Cougars finished the year with a 4-9 record, marking the first losing season since 2004.
“I’m glad we got the win,” said BYU coach Kalani Sitake. “I’m glad we put it on our O-line to help us run some yards. I thought the running backs did a good job. I thought we got some first downs, scored early points and stuck with it. I’m proud of our players.”
Squally Canada led the Cougars with 113 rushing yards and two touchdowns in the first half. As a team, BYU finished the night with a season-high 285 yards on the ground.
Canada did not play in the second half due to injury.
Up 13-7 at the break, Joe Critchlow found Neil Pau’u for an 11-yard touchdown pass to make it 20-7 BYU.
Hawaii responded with a touchdown, but the Cougars blocked the PAT to preserve a seven-point lead.
Andrew Mikkelsen then kicked a 35-yard field goal and Riley Burt added his first career rushing touchdown to put the game out of reach.
Hawaii scored another touchdown with just under two minutes to play, but the Cougars recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock.
With no bowl game this postseason, Sitake said the attention immediately shifts to next season.
“I’ve said it before, but I owe it to the fans and players to get this team right and make sure that this season doesn’t happen again,” Sitake said. “The first year we went 9-4, the second year we went 4-9 and where will we go the third year? I’m willing to work with our coaching staff and players to work as hard as we can and see what happens when we play Arizona next season.”
