FRISCO, Texas — It was not part of Brigham Young coach Kalani Sitake’s prepared remarks at the Big 12’s preseason media extravaganza. Instead, it was off the stage and, seemingly, off the cuff.
In response to a question about the competitive state of college football, Sitake wondered aloud about changing the scheduling format across the Power Four conferences.
“Let’s settle it on the field,” Sitake said Tuesday. “We play three non-conference games. I would love to play an ACC team, an SEC team and a Big Ten team. Line ’em up. Let’s do this. Why can’t we do that?”
How much time do you have, Kalani?
The suggestion — which would effectively create a four-conference scheduling partnership — makes loads of sense in an ideal world, where the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC are aligned on goals and collaborative on implementation. A world where self-interest is relegated to third string and the betterment of the game is prioritized.
But nothing in college football is easy, and crossover scheduling series are particularly difficult to arrange.
Such an endeavor would require the cancellation of hundreds of non-conference games already under contract.
It would require a drastic change to the College Football Playoff selection process (to devalue the impact of losses).
It would probably require the ACC and SEC to add a ninth conference game.
And it would absolutely require the wisdom of Solomon to create a schedule rotation that mollified all the competing factions.
That said … kudos to Sitake for the creativity. The sport needs to think differently about traditional issues. It needs new concepts to marinate in the public realm.
There’s no better time for suggestions than July, when the power conferences hold their football media events. The Big 12 was first up in the rotation, with the SEC following next week and then the ACC and Big Ten.
Yes, there are enough word salads uttered by coaches and players to feed a 100-man team for a month. But some comments resonate. In addition to Sitake’s scheduling idea, here are five more comments in Frisco that caught our attention.
1. Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham on the first team meeting of 2025 and the tone he attempted to set after the stunning run to the College Football Playoff:
Comment: “We really didn’t do anything special. We did something that’s actually normal. We were just the team that accomplished that normal that year. What would be special would be to continue to build off of that. The real challenge was how do we not become what normal teams in our situation do, which is fall back to where we’ve always been.”
Reaction: The Sun Devils return many of the core players from the team that won the Big 12 title, and yet, everything is different. The internal expectations are different, the external expectations are different, and the opponents’ motivation on game day will be different. Dillingham’s candor with his players should help them view 2025 as its own entity. But will it be enough? Conference titles are won on the margins. Everything broke right for ASU last season.
2. Colorado coach Deion Sanders on what changes he’d like to see in college football:
Comment: “I like the professional rules to be implemented in college. They’re getting ready to be pros. So, let’s go two feet in on the catches. Let’s mark the foul if it’s pass interference. Let’s do the same thing the pro game is, let’s introduce it to college.”
Reaction: Requiring pass catchers to have two feet in bounds isn’t a bad idea at all. But we aren’t sure about turning defensive pass interference into a spot foul (instead of 15 yards). The officiating isn’t good enough to justify the change. Offenses would feast on the bad calls and chuck the ball 40 yards downfield at every opportunity.
3. Utah coach Kyle Whittingham on the impact of quarterback Devin Dampier, a transfer from New Mexico:
Comment: “He’s got the respect of his peers, having been voted on the leadership council. His leadership — I talk about his physical ability — he’s got that ‘it’ factor that you look for in quarterbacks … He’s a guy that everybody gravitates towards. There’s no doubt who’s in charge on offense. We don’t huddle, so it’s not like he commands the huddle, but everybody looks to Devin as the leader of the offense.”
Reaction: Dampier belongs on the short list of the most impactful players in the Big 12 this season. Given Utah’s talent along the offensive line and history of fielding first-class defenses — there’s no reason to think the Utes won’t be stout on that side of scrimmage — Dampier doesn’t need to play at an All-American level. If he’s efficient from the pocket and limits mistakes, the Utes should be in the thick of the conference race.
4. Arizona coach Brent Brennan on the reasons for optimism entering a critical season:
Comment: “It starts with the decision we made with the coaching staff.”
Reaction: Brennan mishandled his staff upon taking the job 18 months ago and paid for it with a brutal first season that has jeopardized his own future in Tucson. The new coordinators, Danny Gonzales on defense and Seth Doege on offense, are clear upgrades. But will they elevate the Wildcats to the level needed to ensure Brennan returns for Year 3?
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5. TCU coach Sonny Dykes on the new NIL enforcement arm, the College Sports Commission, which is designed to eliminated fake NIL (i.e., pay-for-play) and bring sanity to the player-acquisition market:
Comment: “So what happens if you violate that? What’s going to be the cost of doing that? There’s so much passion around college football right now. You’re gonna have people, boosters and fans, want to break rules. I mean, that’s been part of the game of football forever. Going back 100 years, it’s been happening forever. And I think finally now we have a system, or we’re developing a system, that is supposed to help provide some guidance in that. And my hope is that … college football provides them with an opportunity to help manage these things.”
Reaction: Dykes articulated what so many are wondering: Will the newly created College Sports Commission root out pay-for-play with the Delliotte-designed technology that determines fair-market value for NIL deals? Under-the-table payments have existed for eons. Until the cheaters are caught and punished, a hefty dose of skepticism seems warranted.
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