2023 BYU Cougars football team

The 2023 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University (BYU) as a member of the Big 12 Conference during the 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cougars were led by eighth-year head coach Kalani Sitake and played their home games at LaVell Edwards Stadium. The season was the first year that BYU competed in the Big 12.

Coaching changes
On November 28, 2022 defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki announced his resignation. On December 7, 2022 Jay Hill was announced as his replacement leaving his head coaching position at Weber State University. Hill was also given the title of associate head coach replacing Ed Lamb who was named the Head coach at Northern Colorado. Preston Hadley joined Lamb at Northern Colorado as the defensive coordinator. Kelly Poppinga returned to BYU after stints with the University of Virginia and Boise State University as the special teams coordinator and defensive assistant. On December 20, 2022, former NFL player Sione Pouha was hired as a defensive assistant coach. On January 2, 2023, it was announced that Kevin Clune was not retained and the final defensive assistant coaching position was announced as Justin Ena who played for the cougars and coached with Hill previously.

Sam Houston
Sources: Brigham Young University entered the season at home against the transitioning FCS to FBS team, Sam Houston State. BYU were favorites to win the game, especially at home.

BYU started off the game with an 8 play, 50 yard drive ending it with a 5-yard Kedon Slovis touchdown run. Two quarters went by with no score attempted by both the Cougars and Bearkats, before an 11-play, 55 yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, and Kedon Slovis ended the drive with a 1 yard touchdown run.

The Cougars ended off the game winning 14-0 in their first ever meeting with Sam Houston State.

Southern Utah
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Arkansas
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Kansas
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Cincinnati
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TCU
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Texas Tech
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No. 7 Texas
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West Virginia
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Iowa State
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No. 14 Oklahoma
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No. 20 Oklahoma State
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