BYU head coach Kalani Sitake looks to the field between plays during an NCAA football game against the UCF Knights held at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret NewsDick HarmonSun, November 30, 2025 at 3:32 AM UTC·10 min readFew, if any, believed back in August that No. 11 BYU would race to an 11-1 season and face No. 5 Texas Tech in the Big 12 title game in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Dec. 6.
But someone forgot to tell the players and coaches.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBYU outscored UCF 41-7 after trailing 14-0 Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium to finish the regular season 11-1 with an 8-1 Big 12 record.
The Cougars tied Texas Tech at 8-1 when few, if any, experts believed any of the league teams would finish better than 7-2. The preseason thought was that the top teams would likely finish in a multi-team tie wherein tiebreaker rules would determine participants in Arlington.
Unlike a year ago, BYU and TT made sure there were no tiebreakers needed. These two teams ruled supreme from start to finish.
Saturday’s 10 a.m. Mountain Time game in the home of the Dallas Cowboys will feature an intriguing matchup between the Red Raiders and Cougars. Texas Tech will be favored, but this game will not be in Lubbock and BYU’s offense is less likely to throw a conservative play call blanket over their freshman QB Bear Bachmeier, as they did in a disappointing 29-7 mistake-laden loss to the Red Raiders back on Nov. 8.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBYU will leave a day early for Arlington, departing Thursday to prepare and adjust to the early kickoff. Coinciding with the buildup of this rematch of the league’s two top teams this week is hype and argument over whether or not the Big 12 deserves to have two teams in the College Football Playoff, regardless of the outcome of the game.
The winner receives an automatic bid in the CFP. In other words, the only way BYU is a lock for the playoff is to beat TT.
The Cougars and Raiders have a combined 22-1 record, and before BYU lost to TT in Lubbock, BYU was ranked No. 7 and TT No. 8.
“I have all the respect for Texas Tech in the world,” said BYU coach Kalani Sitake in his postgame radio show Saturday, “but we just feel we didn’t show our best that day and we’d love to have another chance to prove that.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBYU’s 3-0 finish to the 2025 regular season after the Nov. 8 loss stamps back-to-back 11-win seasons for the Cougars, who are 23-3 over the past two seasons.
On Monday, both TT and BYU head coaches will join Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark in a Zoom press conference to build up the title game. With No. 16 Texas beating undefeated No. 3 Texas A&M and No. 8 Oklahoma barely escaping an upset by unranked LSU in Norman on Saturday, the CFP will have an interesting week.
Neither A&M nor Oklahoma passed the “eye test,” a crazy added “metric” added to the mix in Week 11 when BYU lost to TT on the Red Raiders’ home field — and did so unimpressively.
Some may make a case for 9-3 Texas with Friday’s upset of A&M, but the Longhorns have as many losses this season (3) as BYU has in the past two seasons.
Many Big 12 media members expect Yormark to do some politicking publicly for the CFP committee to take a closer look at adding both BYU and TT to the playoff bracket. In the meantime, the SEC is furiously campaigning that its respective teams deserve slots despite two and even three losses.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBYU has played in two conference title games. The first, a win over Wyoming in 1996, and a 1998 loss to Air Force, both when the Cougars were in the WAC.
Cougars defy pundits
BYU’s trip to Arlington defied almost every published Big 12 prognostication you can find.
Stewart Mandel of The Athletic projected a two-way tie between ASU and Kansas State with 7-2 records, followed by Texas Tech, Utah, Iowa State and Kansas all tied at 6-3. He had BYU finishing 5-4 in conference with an 8-4 overall record.
Athlon Sports senior editor Steven Lasson picked Kansas State to top the league, followed by ASU, Texas Tech and Baylor. He had BYU finishing ninth.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Analyst.com OPTA Computer also had Kansas State finishing No. 1 followed by ASU, TCU, and Kansas, with UCF No. 5. He had BYU No. 8.
Schuyler Callihan picked Baylor to win it all in a four-way tie at 7-2 with Iowa State, Utah and Texas Tech. He had Baylor, TT and Utah at 10-2. He had BYU finishing No. 8.
ESPN’s FPI on August 4, by Bill Connelly, had ASU No. 1 followed by Texas Tech, Kansas State, TCU, and Utah. He had BYU finishing No. 7, just ahead of Baylor.
Paul Myerberg of USA Today picked K-State and ASU in Arlington, with Texas Tech on the outside at No. 3, followed by Utah and TCU. He had BYU finishing No. 10.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementDavid Kenyon of Bleacher Report did not put BYU in the top three tiers of the Big 12, projecting BYU to finish No. 9.
CBS Sports, on Aug. 20, had Tom Fornelli and 247Sports pick ASU and Texas Tech in the championship game, with Baylor and Kansas State on the outside. This group had BYU No. 8.
One of the highest predictions for the Cougars came from Buffaloes Wire. He had Kansas State and ASU in Arlington and BYU finishing No. 3.
Media nets Sitake
Kalani Sitake finished the regular season with a ton of good vibes. Opposing coaches love him, his dance moves are highlights on national broadcasts and his explanation of keeping his team hungry and humble has became part of the fabric of college football 2025.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAccording to Kenny Cox, BYU’s football sports information director, since the beginning of the football season, Sitake has done about 30 national interviews, including television with ESPN, Fox, CBS Sports, TNT, print interviews with USA Today, The Athletic, SI.com, ESPN.com and radio with personalities like Jim Rome on Sirius XM College Sports, Big 12 Tune in Radio and other YouTube outlets.
He also does weekly production interviews with BYU’s broadcast partners (ESPN and Fox) and their affiliates. Those take place once a week, typically on Fridays before games. He then has his coaches show, internal interviews and spots for the athletic departments’ content teams.
“He’s probably done more than 100 interviews for the season all together. That doesn’t include fall camp,” Cox said.
The season was filled with drama, beginning in the offseason with unexpectedly losing starting quarterback Jake Retzlaff. That single news event erased the Cougars out of any discussion of a 2025 challenge for the Big 12 title.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementInjuries and missed games by star defensive players Jack Kelly, Isaiah Glasker, Choe Bryant Strother, Siale Esera, and offensive players Waylin Lapuaho, LJ Martin, Chase Roberts and JoJo Phillips forced adjustments.
This led to BYU being unable to crack the Associated Press preseason rankings in August. BYU was listed as the first team outside the Top 25 with “others receiving votes” with 154 points, just ahead of Utah at 144.
Eleven weeks later, the Cougars were ranked No. 7 in the AP poll with an 8-0 record, just one spot ahead of also undefeated Texas Tech, whom they would face in Lubbock in their next game.
Propelled by a contract extension that enabled Sitake to keep his entire staff intact, the consistency paid off for both coordinators. On offense, Aaron Roderick used a soft early schedule to “break in” Bachmeier, who earned six Big 12 Freshman of the Week honors and may earn another next week.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementRecruiting bump
BYU is knocking on the door of a top 10 CFP ranking as it heads into the Big 12 championship game. To go with it, the Cougars are expected to take a big jump in their acquisition of talent, starting with the Class of 2026 that signs on Wednesday.
BYU currently has the 21st ranked signing class for 2026, according to 247Sports. This is just two spots behind Texas Tech, which is ranked No. 19 for 2026.
How does this compare with BYU’s recruiting trends the past five years?
It is a huge jump, led by QB Ryder Lyons, who started the year as a 5-star recruit according to 247 but has since dropped to a 4-star, perhaps because he has been battling a high ankle sprain this season.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSome critics believe the drop was political. When Lyons committed to BYU, Oregon immediately went after Boise State commit Bryson Beaver out of Southern California. Within weeks, Beaver was elevated to a 4-star recruit.
Lyons just led Folsom High to a CIF section title for the fifth-straight year.
BYU’s five-year average recruiting rank from 2021 to 2025 is 61st in the country, with No. 72 in 2021, followed by a No. 55 ranking in 2022, No. 65 in 2023, No. 44 in 2024 and last year’s recruiting class of 2025 that ranked 59th.
When asked at a recent media interview session how this 2025 season has impacted recruiting, defensive coordinator Jay Hill declared he liked what is happening.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“Well, it’s way easier to recruit when you’re winning,” he said. “I know that the last two seasons have been huge for us, and so far this year we’ve had some really great recruiting... .We have some top-notch guys committed to us right now, so I think recruiting just keeps getting better, and as we continue to win with NIL and BYU and everything that the school represents, I think recruiting is going to get better.”
To get to 11-1 as a Power Four program and 23-3 the past two seasons with an average recruiting rank of 61st in past five years? Well, this is overachieving by players and coaches at a very high level, but is it good enough?
The Cougars cannot afford to face TT with the same slow start witnessed in Lubbock and repeated on Saturday against a 5-6 UCF team that finished the season 5-7.
Do that, and the Red Raiders will eat up BYU’s good vibes heading to the postseason.
AdvertisementAdvertisement