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Provo • While most coaches would have been dejected or downright angry after a last-second loss to a bitter rival in a game filled with a season's worth of mistakes, controversial ejections and puzzling decisions from both the referees and assistant coaches, BYU rookie head coach Kalani Sitake was surprisingly upbeat late Saturday night.

Instead of making like Rich Rodriguez did after the Cougars edged Arizona 18-16 in Glendale a week ago, Sitake took the higher road, held his head high. He praised Utah for gutting out the 20-19 win, shrugged off suggestions that losing star safety Kai Nacua and freshman cornerback Austin McChesney on back-to-back targeting penalties caused irreparable damage to BYU's weakened and tired defense in the fourth quarter, and promised a better performance this week.

"It didn't go our way. It's OK. We will get better," Sitake said, seemingly consoling BYU fans who long ago grew tired of seeing the Cougars lose close games to the Utes. It was Utah's sixth straight win in the rivalry. The three at Rice-Eccles were by a combined five points (17-16, 24-21, 20-19).

One of the drawbacks of playing the rivalry game so early in the season — although everybody seems to have warmed up to the idea after the fourth September clash in six years — is that the combatants have to turn around and play again seven days later.

It's kind of anticlimactic, especially for independent BYU, with no conference championship to pursue.

However, Sitake said after the game the Cougars can't afford a rivalry hangover, not with the 1-1 UCLA Bruins and sophomore quarterback Josh Rosen coming to Provo this Saturday. Utah plays at San Jose State.

Unless BYU's appeal to get the ejections of Nacua and McChesney overturned is successful, the defensive backs will sit out the first half on Saturday. Rosen should be licking his chops.

He did not play well in UCLA's 24-23 win over BYU last year at the Rose Bowl, but he was sharp in Saturday's 42-21 win over UNLV — at least in the first half. The highly touted quarterback was 15 for 21 for 155 yards in the first half and finished 23 for 38 for 267 yards against the Rebels, who trailed just 28-21 with 13 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter when they also lost a safety to a targeting call.

UCLA scored after UNLV's Kenny Keys was ejected, then tacked on another touchdown to win going away.

Sitake said he's not entirely sure how the process works, but was fairly certain BYU would appeal at least the Nacua ejection, seemingly the less egregious hit of the two. The senior from Las Vegas is arguably BYU's best defender; His three interceptions in two games is tied for first nationally, and BYU's five picks is tied for fourth.

The Cougars were already thin up the middle, with nose tackle Travis Tuiloma having to sit out the second straight game with a Lisfranc foot injury. His absence was apparent in the fourth quarter when Utah drove 78 yards in 19 plays and took 11 minutes and 21 seconds off the clock before Andy Phillips kicked what turned out to be the game-winning 29-yard field goal with 2:47 remaining.

"We are going to move on, get ready for UCLA," Sitake said when asked about appealing the targeting calls, which were not helmet-to-helmet. "That is not my expertise. My expertise is getting us ready for the next game. So, we will learn from this game, and get better. A lot of great things happened in this game. I am really proud of our guys; We just didn't get the victory."

Sitake said both teams improved from their opening-game wins, but acknowledged the Cougars have some work to do in the passing department — especially with the high-flying Bruins coming to town. Eighteen or 20 points probably won't get it done in the home opener at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

BYU is the only team in the country without a pass play longer than 20 yards and is averaging just 9 yards per completion, 121st out of 128 teams nationwide.

"Look, we are confident no matter who we play," said BYU's Taysom Hill, whose quarterback draw for the two-point conversion with 18 seconds left didn't stand a chance against a blitzing Utah defense. "Whether this was a close game or whatever, that is not going to dictate how we feel. We feel like we can compete with anybody in the country, and unfortunately we fell a little bit short tonight. We will learn from it and move on to UCLA."

drew@sltrib.com Twitter: @drewjay —

UCLA at BYU

P Saturday, 8:15 p.m.

TV • ESPN2