The following notes are from BYU's 18-16 win over Arizona in the Cactus Kickoff Classic. Click here for the RECAP.

ATTENDANCE: 50,528
AMERICAN FLAG BEARER: Kaipo McGuire
TEAM FLAGS: Jamaal Williams, Chris Badger
ALUMNI FLAG BEARERS: John Beck, Max Hall, Aaron Francisco

TEAM NOTES

Series Record
BYU improved its record against the Wildcats to 10-12-1, and 3-2-1 in season openers.

Season Openers
The Cougars won their third consecutive season opener. BYU improves to 58-32-2 in openers and 9-2 since 2006.

Fullback TD
The first touchdown of the Kalani Sitake era was scored by a BYU fullback (Brayden El-Bakri)­­­, the position Sitake played for most of his career.

Receivers
BYU threw to eight different receivers in the game, with five of them having multiple catches.

Tight ends
The revamped offense under Ty Detmer threw to the tight ends more, as expected. BYU had four receptions by tight ends in the game for 34 yards.

Defense
BYU’s defense held the Wildcats to 16 points, Arizona’s fewest since a 49-3 loss at Washington last season. Arizona also managed just 328 total yards, its fewest since 314 at Stanford in 2015.

Sacks
The defense also recorded four sacks. The Cougars move to 50-3 since 2005 when managing three or more sacks. BYU was No. 6 nationally in 2015 with 3.08 sacks per game.

TFL
The Cougars posted eight tackles for loss and have at least six in 13 of their last 14 games. BYU averaged 7.5 tackles for loss per game in 2015, No. 9 nationally.
 

PLAYER NOTES

Taysom Hill
Hill played his first game since injury in 2015. He finished 21 of 29 for 202 yards and one touchdown. He also added 37 yards on the ground on 11 attempts.

Jamaal Williams
Williams rushed for 162 yards on 29 carries, his 11th career game over 100 yards and first time since Utah State (102) in 2014. His 162 yards were the most since 219 at Nevada in 2013. Williams also moves into No. 5 at BYU with 2,688 career rushing yards, passing Jeff Blanc.

Jonny Linehan
Linehan punted six times for 274 yards with an average of 45.7 yards per punt. He dropped two punts inside the 20-yard line that were both downed at the 1-yard line and 2-yard line, respectively.

Butch Pau’u
In his first career start, Pau’u led the team in tackles with nine, including seven solo, 2.5 tackles for loss, one sack and one forced fumble.

Francis Bernard
Bernard made his first start on the defense and recorded one interception, one sack and four tackles.

Kai Nacua
Nacua recorded his ninth career interception, tying him with Jernaro Gilford for No. 2 at BYU since 2000.

Jake Oldroyd
Oldroyd, a freshman, came in for his first career field goal attempt with eight seconds remaining and knocked in the 33-yard game-winner.
 

FIRSTS (The following players recorded their first in a respective category)

First career starts for:
FR Aleva Hifo (WR)
JR Tanner Balderree (TE)
SR Andrew Eide (OL)
JR Keyan Norman (OL)
SO Moses Kaumatule (DL)
SO Merrill Taliauli (DL)
SO Butch Pau’u (DB)
FR Troy Warner (DB)
 

Reception: Tanner Balderree, Jonah Trinnaman, Hunter Marshall
Field goal attempt: Rhett Almond, Jake Oldroyd
Field goal make: Rhett Almond, Jake Oldroyd
Tackle: Corbin Kaufusi, Dayan Lake, Corey Edwards, Francis Bernard, Troy Warner, Johnny Tapusoa
Tackle for loss: Butch Pau’u, Francis Bernard, Corbin Kaufusi
Sack: Butch Pau’u, Francis Bernard, Corbin Kaufusi
Interception: Francis Bernard
Forced fumble: Butch Pau’u

Postgame quotes
BYU head coach Kalani Sitake
"Yeah, it was a good game. I am really thankful for the opportunity to play this game. Thank you to the Cactus Kickoff Classic for inviting us. I'm really thankful that we had a good opponent like Arizona, it was a great game. Things just went our way. We were able to get the victory, I’m super pleased with how the guys played.  This isn’t about me, it’s about these guys, they worked extremely hard for this win. It was just a great game all together."

On using freshman kicker, Jake Oldroyd
"Our special teams coordinator, Assistant head coach, Ed Lamb, felt really comfortable with him.  Especially after the field goal earlier. Probably not a good time to do it, but Ed felt comfortable with Jake being in that position. We had practiced it quite a bit. I had to lean on him as the special teams coordinator to make that decision, and I was okay with it and it worked out."

On watching kick go through the uprights
"I was excited, but I had to wait until it went through before I could celebrate. Then I had all the anxiety of having one more play left. It was a great game. I was really proud of Jake and it was a lot of fun."

Feelings after Arizona went ahead 16-15
"Surprisingly, I felt calm. I have a lot of trust in our players. While we’ve been in this position in practice, you can’t really simulate it at all but just the fact that we had that opportunity I think these guys were ready for the moment and they stepped up to the plate and were ready to roll. It helps having great players but I’m just really pleased with their demeanor. But the whole team was about the win. It was worth all the time and all the practice they put into it."

On feeling good after first win
"Well yeah, but this is not about me.  These guys deserve it.  I wish you would ask them more of the questions. I’ve been really impressed with the leadership on this team but that just shows the type of character we have on this team. The guys that we have. I’ll say one thing about Jamaal. He had some big time penalties take away big gains from them and the fact that he was that hungry to keep playing, he had a great attitude about it and our guys feed off of that. I thought the guys did a great job on offense, defense, and special teams. I thought it was a great team win."  

BYU quarterback Taysom Hill
On the final drive thoughts
"Field goal for sure.  Going into it, we were calm the whole time.  Coach and I were talking through the entire process. We had two time outs, ninety seconds, We needed a field goal; this is what we do all the time. We knew we had a great opportunity. What really sprung it for us was that first completion that really built and established the momentum for us to continue to move forward. It allowed us to run the ball down and get the ball a little closer to field goal range. It’s a great way to win a football game."

On Arizona defense
"Yeah, they were a good football team. It wasn’t anything we hadn’t seen before but they have some good athletes and they got after us and quick guys up front that really pressured us around the edges. But I think we adjusted really well with what they were doing defensively. And I think a lot of it was we were kind of shooting ourselves in the foot. We were moving the ball really well but had a hard time finishing drives. It was a great win and they certainly gave us a lot of things that we can continue to work on. We will get it on tape and break it down and make sure we’re better next week."

On Jamaal Williams
"Yeah, Jamaal’s the MVP for sure. He carried us basically the entire game. He was a beast the entire game. I wasn’t surprised, when we needed a big play the entire game, Jamaal stepped up. Going into the last drive, guys were looking around the huddle and I think it is important to feel the energy and the confidence coming from me as I was making the calls in the huddle and I made sure I told the guys we were good, we got plenty of time here, trying to talk to them before each play in the huddle and guys continued to make plays and continued to step up. It was a team effort."

BYU running back Jamaal Williams
On what was said in the huddle prior to final drive
"Mostly just getting down the field. I knew we were going to have to pass and have a great pass rotation and that is what we did. I was proud of how the offense came out and we stayed cool and collected and we did everything we need to do to win. It showed, coming from practice we do that all the time and putting that in a game it just shows that hard work in practice works.  I’m just really proud of my teammates and how they worked."

On putting the game in the hands of the kicker
“You know you gotta have faith in your teammates. And honestly you just got to stay positive and you gotta believe in your teammates. I have no doubt that everyone on that sideline was believing to make that field goal. And it was great to see [Oldroyd] coming off smiling and it’s just great for him to have that type of accomplishment. We couldn’t be prouder of him for doing something like that.”

BYU linebacker Francis Bernard
“We knew they were gonna come out and hurry up their offense and catch us off guard. So throughout the course of fall camp and the off season we just kind of practiced that. The offense helped us out a lot by slowing the game down. I’d say good for them for slowing the game down so we could get out there and run some plays.”

BYU linebacker Butch Pau'u
“I think the biggest thing for us was just to make sure that our defensive linemen were sound and that we knew our assignments. We know as backers that without our defensive lineman we can’t really do much. And what was nice was we saw throughout the game that our coverage from our defensive backs and safeties was on point, where they were in coverage for at least five to six seconds and then our defensive linemen would get there for the sack. So it was nice to prepare ourselves from the defensive linemen to the backers to the safeties and everyone was playing well together.” 

On fourth quarter
“I think what I saw was that we weren’t assignment sound in the fourth quarter. The only reason they had those breaks was because we saw those first three quarters they weren’t running as well and there weren’t many passing yards. But we kind of broke down defensively a little bit but we managed to come back in the end.”

Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez
“I thought they played well enough for the majority of the game. We played a new scheme and we are a little undersized of course. [Defense] gave us a chance to win the game. There were still a lot of things out there that we could fix. The tackling was poor. I’m concerned about that and that is usually a concern when you are playing a really good, big running back. You worry about tackling and a couple things but they played hard. We played hard.”

On adjustments:
“It was a little different. Things that they were doing in all three phases. But they could probably say the same thing so I don’t know if that was as big of a factor. Our guys didn’t look wide eyed and totally confused but again there are a lot of reasons we didn’t execute. Until I watch the film. Unless you guys are a whole lot sharper than I am and I should hire you. You usually have to watch the film and rewind it and see all 22 in slow motion to get the correct answer about some of the things that happened. Not all things but some of the things. Again starts with the staff and myself and working through that. And the one thing I said earlier, I think these guys are very conscientious. I think they love playing football and I think they will be committed to getting better. And that’s what you got to do. Win or lose, you gotta make the most improvement I think from your first game on. Without any preseason scrimmages or anything live against somebody else the first game there is a lot of things you need to fix.”  

PROVO, Utah – BYU football starts the 2016 season in Glendale, Arizona for the Cactus Kickoff against the Arizona Wildcats on Saturday, Sept. 3 at 7:30 p.m. MST (Mountain Standard Time) at the home of the NFL's Arizona Cardinals–University of Phoenix Stadium. The game will be televised nationally on Fox Sports 1.

Please note that Glendale, Arizona does not observe Daylight Saving Time and observes Mountain Standard Time all year. If viewing the game from Utah, the game kicks at 8:30 p.m. MDT (Mountain Daylight Time).

Fans can tune in for live coverage on the Cougar IMG Sports Network with Greg Wrubell, which can be found on Sirius XM 143, 1160 AM, 102.7 FM and BYUcougars.com. IMG’s radio coverage will begin at 5:30 MST (6:30 p.m. MDT).

BYUtv will provide pregame and postgame coverage with Countdown to Kickoff starting at 6:30 p.m. MST (7:30 p.m. MDT). Postgame coverage runs for half an hour after the game.

BYU (0-0) vs. Arizona (0-0, 0-0 Pac 12)
Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. MST (8:30 p.m. MDT)
University of Phoenix Stadium (63,400)
Glendale, Ariz.

BYU Game Notes

Arizona Game Notes

Fan Event Day Information

Notes

SERIES HISTORY. BYU and Pac-12 foe Arizona last faced off in the 2008 Las Vegas Bowl with the Wildcats picking up a 31-21 victory. The two teams have matched up 22 times. BYU is 9-12-1 against Arizona, with an 0-1 record at a neutral site. The teams opened the season against each other in 2006 and 2007, splitting the opening games with Arizona winning in 2006 and BYU winning in 2007. BYU has opened its season five times against Arizona, going 2-2-1 in those games. 

HEAD COACHING DEBUT. Head coach Kalani Sitake is making his head coaching debut. He is one of 19 new FBS head coaches coaching in their first game. Sitake is just BYU’s fourth head coach since 1972. Bronco Mendenhall dropped his opener in 2005 to Boston College but Gary Crowton defeated Tulane 70-35 in 2001 and LaVell Edwards won in 1972 against Kansas State 32-9. Another BYU head coach made his debut against Arizona, Tally Stevens in 1959. Stevens won 18-14.

PAC-12. The Cougars are facing an opponent from the Pac-12 in a season opener for the fifth time since 2006. BYU faced Arizona in 2006 and 2007, Washington in 2010 and Washington State in 2012. BYU is 3-1 in season openers against the Pac-12 in that time span. BYU is also playing its first three games of the 2016 season against Pac-12 teams, all from the south division.  

The following quotes are from Monday's post-practice press briefing from head coach Kalani Sitake and select players. 

Quotes

Head coach Kalani Sitake
Thoughts on game week
It feels great. We had a great practice this morning, feeling good. The legs are fresh. We’re going through the week and getting in season mode. Everyone’s really excited, myself included. The fun of game one is you don’t know what’s going to happen. There will be a lot of adjustments made during the game from the first series to the next. This is why we have a great coaching staff and why we communicate with our players. We’ll see who can make the best adjustments during the game.  

Thoughts on Arizona
They’re difficult, especially with all of their skill and how they spread the ball offensively. Rich Rodriguez has seen every defense out there, and so they know how to attack you. For us, it’s a matter of execution and making sure we’re assignment sound. That kind of offense tests you on the ground and in the throw game. We have to be a disciplined defense in order to defend them. Defensively, they’re a good team too. They have a great coaching staff - I’ve known that coaching staff for a long time and it’ll be fun.

What makes Arizona so good offensively
The pace combined with the talent. Like I said before, they spread the ball around. It’s a nice system and you need a quarterback who knows how to handle it, and they have two. I imagine they’ll be difficult to defend. If we do things as a team offensively and special teams-wise, we should be OK. 

Finally getting to the season after fall camp
I’m excited to coach for BYU and be in this position. Once we get to game day, it’s always been about the players and about the team. I’m excited to watch them play. This is their team and we’re going to have a lot of fans there, so I’m excited for the moment. But this is not about me as the head coach. It’s about our program and I’m excited about our players, especially the seniors and the leadership we’ve seen. I look forward to those guys leading this team into this first game. 

Preparing for Arizona’s two QBs
We’re preparing for both quarterbacks. It’s just like Tanner (Mangum) and Taysom (Hill). They have their strengths and their weaknesses, but I think they’re really strong in the system they run. They’re similar in a lot of ways. One might throw better than the other and one might be a better runner, but it’s been a long time since the bowl game. They’ve had a lot of time to improve. I’ve seen players improve a bunch in a matter of weeks, and they’ve been given months, so we’ll prepare for the best quarterback that can run and throw at the same time. We’ll see who shows up. 

Team captains
Offensively, we have Taysom Hill and Jamaal Williams. On defense, we have Kai Nacua and Harvey Langi. That’s how the team voted and the majority of the votes went to those four guys. 

Nervous for Saturday?
I’ve been more nervous for a lot of different things, but I feel confident in our guys. I feel really confident in our guys and the talent we have. It’s not about me. As a coach, I’m excited and ready to go. More than anything, we’ve been waiting a long time and this is like Christmas. Our guys are ready. I’m really happy about what they did in the offseason. I’m looking forward to them showing what they did and their hard work and sacrifice paying off on Saturday.

Fan turnout against Saturday
We have the best fans ever. We have fans all over the world. It was evident when we went and did our firesides throughout the country at the destinations we will be playing. We’re going to have fans at every game wherever we play. Arizona happens to be a place where we have a lot of fans and we’re looking forward to them making a lot of noise. We have to give them reason to rise and shout. 

Confident in physicality of both lines?
That’s why we hit the weight room harder than we’ve ever done before. We felt like we needed to get that edge on the line of scrimmage and we did some unique things to get our guys ready. If you ask our players, we squatted more than any team. I can tell you confidently, we squatted more than any team in the country and we ran more stairs than them. So that built a lot of strength. We lifted every day. We did the same thing in camp. If you want to get bigger, stronger and have confidence, the weight room is the best place to do it. All of our guys worked out and our o-line gained weight and are big and strong. 

Senior QB Taysom Hill
On getting on the field and completing a game
I’m ready. I don’t think about how long it’s been since I’ve completed a game or all that stuff. I’m looking forward to being back out on the field with the team and being in a venue like we’ll be in in Arizona. I can’t wait.

On being named a captain again
The biggest thing is that it’s humbling when your teammates choose you to represent them. I’ll do my best to represent them on the field. It’s humbling to have that responsibility and I certainly don’t take it lightly. I look forward to the opportunity.

New relationships with receivers
There was a group of us last year, Mitch (Mathews) was one of those guys that I was super close with, and some of those guys are still here like Mitch and Garrett Juergens. I went through the entire finance program with them, so I probably spent more time with them than anyone on the team. We’d study till midnight some nights. Nick Kurtz is another guy who was part of that group. There was a tight knit group that was there last year and those guys are back. We have a lot of good friends and good chemistry that we’ve built on and off the field.

On Arizona’s defense
They’re a good football team. They’re a little smaller upfront, but they’re quick and agile and I think they do that on purpose so they can get up the field and get after the QB. They have some really good football players and it’ll be a good challenge for us. I’m excited and looking forward to the challenge. My brother played at Arizona State, and so he texted me the other day about when he played Arizona and what to expect and his experience playing those guys. I’m excited and we’re ready to go. I can’t wait  

On offense clicking in the past and the difficulty this year
What we did at UConn and what we did at Nebraska was we had some key guys who had been in the program and on offense for a long so we had been in game situations so there really wasn’t that learning curve. I still think there are a lot of unknowns this year. We certainly have guys who have been in game situations and have a lot of experience so that will help, but this is also the first time we’ve ran this offense. There are still a lot of unknowns out there. Hopefully we can pick up where we left off and score points right from the get go, but you just never know.

Senior DB Kai Nacua
On being named team captain
It’s a lot of responsibility and I’m really excited to take that role on. It’s my first time being a captain for this team. I’m going to do what I can and they know I’ll do whatever I can to help this team. It was really cool when coach announced it.

Knowing Arizona quarterback Anu Solomon
I grew up with him and played football with him. I played against him twice in high school. He played at Bishop Gorman and I played him in the state semi and in the championship. I lost both times, but it’s alright.  

On the challenge of playing against Arizona
I love challenges. I always step up to them and take them very seriously. If someone wants to challenge me to something I’ll give them everything I got and make sure I leave it on the field, especially for my team and to make sure after the game I’m not like I should have done this or that. I want to be able to say I did everything I could and I have no regrets at all.  

What feelings the coaches instill headed into the first game
Ready to wake the beast. Everyone stay calm and focus on what we need to focus on. Don’t let outside things get in the way and when game day comes unleash that beast and let it roll.

Difference it makes having lots of fans at road games
Whatever we do it’ll feel just like a home game to be honest. A lot of the guys have already been talking about it and we’re ready to feel the energy from the crowd so it will be good.

Senior DL Harvey Langi
On being named team captain
For me, it honestly humbles me. Coach Kalani asked everyone to write names down for those who they thought would best lead the team. There are 105 guys on the team and there’s a lot of them that motivate me and inspire me to be a better person. A lot of people wrote my name down, so hopefully I can be that guy for them. I just feel like I am more of a spokesman for the team. I don’t really feel like I’m different or that I am on a pedestal or anything. I just feel like if the team wants to talk, they just tell me and I will go talk. It is humbling and it allows me to know that there are some eyes looking at me from the team and there are some guys that look up to me and I look up to them as well. It’s a great feeling.

Starting off a new era of BYU football
Hype is cheap and talk is cheap. Sitake is a great coach, a great guy, a great man and a great friend. He’s come here and done a lot for us, but football is football. There is always a winner and a loser and he’s going to try his best to help us win. All of us are going to follow his lead and to do the things that he has taught us to get the wins we want this year. It’s a great change for BYU. But again, hype is hype. Every team in the country right now is trying to get hyped up and the biggest thing our team can do is work. We have five days until the hype can be settled and in these five days, all we can do is prepare and work.

How do you slow down Arizona?
I don’t know, but I’m going to try to sack the quarterback. They are a great team and they move fast. They have a lot great athletes on their team. To slow them down, everyone needs to be assignment sound and run to the ball. We need to take advantage of the opportunities to take away or stop the ball. We will try to force them to have their defense out more than their offense, so hopefully we can do that.

If you were to give us Harvey’s top 3 keys to winning against Arizona, what would you say?
My three keys would be to get some sleep, maybe drink a gallon of water, and go to class so that you can play. Maybe score more points than the other team. That would be my fourth key point.

Biggest strength of BYU defense?
The biggest strength is that we are very close-knitted this year. There are a lot of guys trusting each other, playing on the same side of the football, and just working together creates a great culture on this team. We have built a type of strength that a lot of people don’t see. A lot of people want to see a sack or a guy going off in tackles. When the whole side of the defense is tight knit like we are and just helps everyone do their job and to make plays and get excited when a teammate makes plays, the defense as a whole is very strong. We can’t always just choose a couple of players or a couple of positions that hold the defense. We have to do it together. Our whole defense holds the responsibility.

On fans traveling to Arizona
We need any and all fans. Fans make us feel cool and make us feel like the all-stars that we usually aren’t. The fans are the ones that keep us going. Of course, there are personal fans like parents and all of that, but all the other fans that are out there supporting us, we really appreciate them. We play not only for our family and university and team, but we play for the fans. That’s what fall is all about- getting the T-shirts and foam fingers and coming out to the games. We need all the fans we can get to come out here and have some fun.