Five Things We Learned From Kalani Sitake For BYU/Colorado Week
Sep 23, 2025, 11:44 PM | Updated: Sep 24, 2025, 1:01 pm
PROVO, Utah – The 2025 season rolls on for No. 25 BYU football this week as they kick off Big 12 play against the Colorado Buffaloes on Saturday, September 27.
In preparation for the game, BYU head coach Kalani Sitake addressed the media in a virtual press conference via Zoom.
Sitake spent 19 minutes during his weekly Zoom call to set the stage for Saturday’s matchup with the Buffaloes. BYU will be making its first trip to Folsom Field since 1981.
Here are five things we learned from Kalani Sitake’s press conference.
#1 Respect for Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders
There’s a lot of respect between Kalani Sitake and Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders. We saw that mutual respect in December in San Antonio. Even after a lopsided victory in favor of BYU, the respect remains intact.
“I think Coach Prime will tell you that our relationship, I have tons of respect and admiration for him and what he’s done as a coach, as a father, and as a disciple of Christ. I’m really excited about the matchup.”
Sitake later added, “I’m a big Deion Sanders fan. That’s how it came about. Seeing the way he played football and all of the things that he did. Then, a lot of people that I knew that kind of crossed paths with him, Tom Holmoe, and Brian Mitchell, who was a great teammate of his, said all of these wonderful things about him. So, being a fan, then being able to meet him and talk with him, it’s not just him, it’s his staff.”
#2 Preparing for all three Colorado quarterbacks
At Big 12 football media days in July, Colorado head coach Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders brought two quarterbacks with him in Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter and true freshman Julian “Juju” Lewis.
Salter ended up winning the week one job. However, in week two, against FBS newcomer Delaware, Salter, Lewis, and third-string quarterback Ryan Staub all earned playing time. Staub emerged as the top performer in the win over the Blue Hens, to the point that Coach Prime named Staub the starter in the Buffs Big 12 opener at Houston.
Colorado struggled against Houston in a blowout loss, leading Coach Prime to revert to Salter in a win over Wyoming.
The expectation is that Salter will be the quarterback moving forward for the Buffs. But Sitake acknowledged they will be prepared for all of Colorado’s signal-callers.
“Until they tell us for sure what they’re gonna go with, I think we have to assume that they can play all three,” said Sitake. “So yeah, that’s part of being prepared for all of them. All three that we’ve seen on film can play, they can throw the ball, and they’re very talented.”
#3 “Things are starting to click” for BYU QB Bear Bachmeier
BYU freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier had a breakthrough performance in the win at East Carolina, passing for a career-high 246 yards, 72% completion rate, and accounting for two touchdowns.
In the second half, Bachmeier was dealing, completing seven consecutive passes at one point.
Sitake on the success of Bachmeier at East Carolina.
“I think he was making great decisions before [the second half at ECU]. He just wasn’t connecting on all of the plays. Starting with play one, however, it was between him and Parker (Kingston), that should have been a completion, but you just keep playing. You take advantage of the opportunities that come down. It’s a play-to-play type of deal, you have to forget about it, and keep moving on. He did a great job at that, moving on from when he could have had a throwaway, could have had a play.
“I was just really pleased with everything that he’s done from the audibles, the checks that he made, getting the guys out of the huddle. I thought he did a great job, and he seemed to grow up quite a bit from the first play to the second half. I think that was really good for us to see him do that. I’m excited about what he can do. He’s highly intelligent and has a great football IQ, great leader, tough, and things are starting to click for him. So we just need to make sure to keep that momentum going.”
#4 One message is clear as BYU enters Big 12 play
Last season, BYU football was left out of the Big 12 Championship Game due to a tiebreaker. They finished with a 7-2 Big 12 record, but didn’t reach Arlington after back-to-back losses to Kansas and Arizona State.
What’s the message to Sitake’s squad as they begin another pursuit of a Big 12 championship?
“Just control what we can control. Stay humble, work hard, don’t talk, just keep working,” said Sitake.
“I mean, we’re not here campaigning for things. We’ve got to control what we control, and that’s the things that I’ve got to do as a head coach. There’s a lot of momentum and a lot of buzz going on, but we’ve just got to play football. We’ve got to be humble, we’ve got to work hard. The only statements that we can make have to be on the field. That’s pretty much what I’m trying to keep the guys focused on. Let’s focus on this week and let’s get better.”
#5 Rematch against Colorado
BYU crushed Colorado in the Alamo Bowl last December, 36-14.
Is there much that carries over in this “rematch” between the Big 12 foes?
“There’s always some carryover. The players aren’t the same on both sides. You’re always trying to find ways to get you a competitive advantage, so that’s the fun part in the game, and the prep during the week is that we don’t know exactly what they’re going to do,” Sitake said. “We have an idea, but they don’t know exactly what we’re going to do, too. So you have to kind of prep for all of it, and then you have to make adjustments and see what happens in the game on Saturday night.”
No. 25 BYU at Colorado
Date: Saturday, September 27, 2025
Kickoff: 8:15 p.m. (MDT)
TV: ESPN
Radio: KSL NewsRadio (102.7 FM, 1160 AM) — Extended pregame begins at 6 p.m.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast daily on KSL Sports YouTube and KSL NewsRadio (SUBSCRIBE). Harper also co-hosts Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL NewsRadio.
Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU athletics in the Big 12 Conference on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram: @Mitch_Harper.
