If you are BYU head coach Kalani Sitake, how do you approach the rest of the season?

BYU Head Coach Kalani Sitake (Sean Gardner, Getty Images)

It's Monday morning, November 6, 2017, and you are BYU head football coach Kalani Sitake. Your team is officially eliminated from the post season. Any chance at finishing the season with even a 0.500 record is gone. You just lost your starting quarterback for the rest of this season and possibly next season. You have been doing damage control in recruiting for a few weeks already.

You also have a game to prepare for this week and two more after that. How do you approach the rest of the season?

Quarterback
Who is going to be your starting quarterback? Beau Hoge filled in for Tanner Mangum after he left the game at Fresno State. He didn't play very well. He may have just been a little rusty since he hasn't played since September due to injury. Which brings up another consideration. Hoge seems a little fragile. He got dinged up during his first half relief. Can he stay healthy enough not just to finish this season, but to be the guy next season?

A team can deal with injuries and rotating players at any position, except quarterback. Consistent play at quarterback is essential in football, and that starts by having the same guy play that position every game. That might make freshman Joe Critchlow the best option.

He was Mangum's back up while Hoge wasn't serviceable. Critchlow played in three games, and looked pretty good against San Jose State. There is nothing intimidating about the final three opponents. The more real game footage you have of Critchlow, the easier it will be to assess his performance in the spring and fall. That will be very valuable if you are holding an open competition for the starting job.

Coaches on the hot seat 
It is just your second season as head coach, and you did have a solid 9-4 record last season, but this season has been off-the-rails bad in every possible way. Considering your future may depend on the outcome of these final three games, how do you approach them? Play the guys who give you the best chance to thoroughly dominate, and hope that gives the decision makers a sufficient level of comfort to retain you?

Do you focus on developing players for next year? That way, in your end of the year evaluation, you have something tangible to point to as you build a case that the groundwork has been laid for next season to be a huge rebound year. However, that will only happen if you get to stay on the job.

If Athletic Director Tom Holmoe has told you in private that your job is secure for 2018, that doesn't mean your assistant coaches have the same luxury. Who is definitely gone? Who can save their job by improving player performance over these final three games? What are you going to do to find adequate replacements (i.e. guys who have proven FBS experience)?

Culture and Identity
It seems that a condition to you keeping your job in 2018 would be fixing culture and identity issues.  

Culture 
There have been some off the field issues. They have involved both veterans and newcomers. This has to be cleaned up. The first step to getting control over the product on the field is to get better control of what is happening off the field.

The effort, the drive, and the passion that fans have come to expect from BYU football has been missing this season. How do you bring that back?

Identity 
Another major problem this season has been the lack of identity. That goes for both sides of the ball. The rhetoric of being aggressive worked for one week. After positive results, that message seemed to be forgotten. If that is part of your team's identity, it should be present every week.

The offense needs to implement an aggressive philosophy, and figure out how to make that work against any opponent. The offense shouldn't change its philosophy each week in order to attack the weaknesses of the opponent. BYU created a name for itself by being great at what it did, and finding ways to attack how opponents tried to stop it.

The defense needs to get back to the identity it had a year ago: force turnovers and get pressure on the quarterback. BYU had 29 sacks, 74 tackles for loss, and 13 quarterback hurries in 2016. The Cougars were second in the nation in turnovers forced. The numbers are way down this year in all areas.

The last time the BYU football program found itself in this position, the fix was to get rid of the head coach. How do you approach the rest of this season so you can avoid the same fate?

The Editor appreciates all feedback. He can be reached via email at bluecougarfootball@gmail.com