It didn’t require any prompting or specific questioning for Kalani Sitake to come out and say it.
Instead, BYU’s head coach sat at the podium for just 30 seconds before he volunteered the quote that everyone was thinking, but few thought he would offer.
“Baylor is the standard of the Big 12,” he stated plainly. “We get to have the game in Provo. … We are excited to see how we match up against the conference champs.”
Whereas Sitake has been slow to fully embrace the talk about BYU’s progress to the future, this was about as clear of a dictum he could issue. There was no hedging on what this game means. It is a measuring stick for how close the program is to being Big 12 ready.
With the future conference change less than a year away, and Baylor being the only Big 12 member on the Cougars schedule, Sitake is going all in.
“I’m excited to see how we match up with them from last year to now,” Sitake continued, noting how Baylor beat the Cougars in Waco in 2021. “... They are a great standard to look at if we want to compete and be conference champions [in the future].”
The elements of this game almost align too perfectly for it not to be a temperature check for 2023.
Baylor is the favorite again to win the Big 12 this year and won it all last year. The Bears also sit as top 10 team in the country, fresh off a Sugar Bowl appearance.
And the way Baylor got here is exactly the model that BYU wants to adopt come 2023. Baylor wasn’t a name brand riding the coattails of its previous success in the league. Or a destination school somewhere that could reel in recruits with ease.
Dave Aranda had to completely rebuild the program from the ground up. He came in when the program was still feeling some effects of the Art Briles scandal. Baylor had a 2-7 record in 2020, Aranda’s first season.
Slowly, the accumulated talent started knocking off the blue bloods like Texas and Oklahoma.
“They are a program that we want to be like,” Sitake said. “You look at things like resources they have available to them. We need to prepare like Baylor does. They have a really good thing going for them and they are getting a lot of recognition for it. I think for us, it is trying to find a way to compete with them.”
BYU has no excuses to say this isn’t a good gauge. The game is at home and early in the season. At this point, there are no season-ending injuries the program can point to say this team isn’t strong enough to complete.
If anything, this team is much deeper than the one that will roll into the Big 12 in 2023. Most of the playmakers on this team, including BYU’s quarterback, will likely leave for the NFL.
And Baylor is also a team that the Cougars are comfortable with. They played them last year in Waco, losing 38-24. Now, there is a clear way to measure how much closer — or further away — BYU is to competing with the top end of their future conference. It doesn’t necessarily have to win to show progress, but it has to be competitive.
“Baylor is a really good team, and we are a really good team also,” tight end Dallin Holker said. “We respect Baylor and what they have going on over there. I am just trying to stay humble, but with humility comes confidence. We are confident we can play with anybody.”
In front of 63,000 at LeVell Edwards, this Saturday will give BYU a taste of Big 12 life. Sitake wants to see how competitive it can be.
Follow @kevinreynolds30