Kalani Sitake Isn't Going to 'Waste' Time Campaigning to the CFP Committee

BYU head coach Kalani Sitake against TCU | BYU Photo

It's not uncommon in November for college football coaches to use their platforms to campaign for their team's spot in the College Football Playoff. BYU head coach Kalani Sitake is taking a different approach, he explained on Monday. Sitake is focused on what he can control - winning - instead of anything that is outside of his control.

"I know it exists, guys," Sitake said on the CFP rankings and the narratives surrounding the BYU football program. "I'm not dumb. I know all the stuff that's out there. I know what people are saying in the metrics and analytics and the style points and all that stuff. My focus isn't on that. I understand everything that's out there. I've got to be focused on what we can control, which is playing football and the preparation today. That, that's what I got to focus on... it's nice that we're in the mix and that people are recognizing what we do, but what does that matter if we don't go 1 to 0 this weekend? So my focus and, and what I'm trying to keep the team focused on, is the stuff that we can control."

For those that have followed the BYU football program since 2020, it's not a secret that BYU has not been viewed favorably by the CFP committee. In terms of rankings compared to strength of record - an unbiased ranking of a team's resume - few teams have been ranked lower than they should have been than BYU.

Sitake says he is not going to "waste his energy" on the things that are out of his control.

"I'm not going to sit here and campaign and waste my energy on stuff that I can't control," Sitake said. "I don't know all the other people's schedules. I can't speak as an expert on everything because I don't know what everybody's done and who everybody's played...if we take care of business and do things one step at a time, then things should work out in your favor, and that's what I'm banking on happening....Let's just go play the game, be at our best, and then see what happens next week."

Most importantly, BYU still controls its path to the Big 12 championship game and the College Football Playoff. If the Cougars win out, including the Big 12 title game, nobody will be able to keep BYU out. The only problem is that BYU is given much, much less margin for error than other big brands that are ahead of them in the CFP rankings. Take Notre Dame, for example. Notre Dame has one more loss than BYU, a worse strength of record and strength of schedule than BYU (the two metrics that the committee is supposed to use), and the Fighting Irish don't have a win as good as BYU's win over no. 13 Utah. Still, the Fighting Irish are ranked comfortably ahead of the Cougars, and nobody in the national media seems to protest it.

From a coach's perspective, Sitake is certainly taking the right approach. That doesn't mean he has to agree with the committee. Rather, he recognizes that wasting his energy trying to campaign to the committee will not change the fact that BYU needs to keep winning. If BYU doesn't beat the Bearcats, the Cougars' chances for an at-large bid will evaporate. The committee has proven that a 10-2 BYU team will not be seriously considered for an at-large spot.

So Sitake stays focused on the only thing he can control: winning. That's one reason, he explained, why BYU hasn't been worried about style points.

"I know about style points," Sitake said. "I know what style points are, you know, I want to win. That, that's the key. You want to win...You can't sit there going, 'We're going to go into this trying to win with style.' I want to win the game first. I understand all that stuff and people running up the scores...I understand that whole concept, but I want to win the game first."