Frisco, Texas • Kalani Sitake says he’ll never campaign for an expansion of the College Football Playoff, but he does have a preference for one particular model.

He’d like to see a 24-team playoff someday.

“Twenty-four makes the most sense to me, where everybody can feel comfortable being in a playoff,” Sitake said Tuesday at Big 12 Media Days. “The FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) has been doing it for a while now, and other divisions of football have been doing it. But I’m not the decision maker of that stuff.”

BYU — and the rest of college football — will have to live with the 12-team model for at least this season.

And the Cougars know how difficult it can be to break through.

Last year, the Cougars fell short of an at-large bid after losing in the Big 12 championship to Texas Tech.

BYU can’t change the past. If you ask team leaders, the program can only learn from it and grow.

“We obviously didn’t make it last year, and we have a big chip on our shoulder this year,” BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier said Tuesday. “That’s just added fuel to the fire for us. So we’re motivated to just work hard and get back there and do even more this year.”

Senior linebacker Isaiah Glasker added: “We felt a little disrespected. We haven’t made it both years. We’ve had a good record. I feel like it’s fueling us this year.”

Sitake and the Cougars have plenty to be confident about heading into this season.

Bachmeier is back with a refined knowledge of the playbook.

“I think you guys see him and see the physical change that he’s made,” Sitake said. “We need to make sure that there’s a positive mental change in him, as he gains football IQ.”

Running back LJ Martin is healthy after having offseason surgery on a shoulder that bothered him last year. Martin was the engine of BYU’s offense last season, finishing with 1,305 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns.

“He’s ready to do whatever it takes for our program, our team to be successful,” Sitake said. “I just want to make sure that he knows he doesn’t have to do it himself. He can depend on the other ten guys on the field with him, and he can also depend on the other two phases.”

Martin, meanwhile, said the program learned what it took to win the conference after losing to Texas Tech in the title game.

“I would say what we lacked a year ago was just honestly that we weren’t good enough,” Martin said. “Texas Tech was a really good team, and we weren’t good enough to beat them. We’re trying to get that extra edge this year.”

The Cougars will also have an opportunity at a marquee win over non-conference opponent Notre Dame when the Fighting Irish come to Provo in October.

If BYU had a win over the Fighting Irish on its resume last season, its postseason fate could’ve potentially been much different.

“I want to play the best,” Sitake said. “I’m glad that [Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman] wanted to play us too.

Will a new mentality and a tougher schedule be enough to get the Cougars into the playoff this season, though?

BYU will begin to answer that when the season kicks off on Sept. 5.

“I think the key is to keep focusing on what we can accomplish,” Sitake said. “We know that last year was some really cool things, some awesome success. But at the same time, we know what we can do better, we can improve. I’m looking at the opportunities to just find a way as a head coach to get these guys to play their best 12 times.”