BYU AD Holmoe, HC Sitake Say Potential Playoff Expansion Is ‘Good News,’ ‘Good Sign’

PROVO, Utah – BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe and head football coach Kalani Sitake said that the potential of an expanded College Football Playoff is “good news” and a “good sign” for the Cougars.

Holmoe and Sitake spoke about the possibility of a 12-team CFP during the State of the Program portion of BYU football’s Media Day on Thursday, June 17.

The former BYU and NFL player turned athletic director said he’s been a fan of an expanded College Football Playoff field.

“I think it’s good news. I’ve always been a proponent of an expanded playoff,” Holmoe said of possible CFP expansion. “They’ll figure that out, but for them to come out and have an announcement from the CFP level, there’s going to go to twelve. And as I followed in the last couple days, it looks imminent, and it’s just a matter of where it is time wise. It’ll help us whether we’re an independent or in a conference or whatever it might be. It’ll help us in that there’ve been too many times when we’ve been just on the verge of getting in, on the outside looking in, and the numbers haven’t been just right, going back years and years.”

Athletic Director @TomHolmoe and Head Coach @kalanifsitake think that an expanded playoff format could give @BYUfootball a better shot in the postseason. #BYUMediaDay #BYUFOOTBALL pic.twitter.com/A5qY3ee1Vk

— BYUtv Sports (@byutvsports) June 17, 2021

Last season, BYU finished the year outside of the College Football Playoff and New Year’s Six games despite having an 11-1 record.

Moving from a four-team to a 12-team field could potentially allow more room for error in the case of BYU and other programs currently outside of the Power 5 conferences.

“Our emphasis as a team is just to perform at our best and we can live with the results, but what I do like about just the talking going around expanding the playoff, is that they’re willing to change,” Sitake said. “NCAA is embracing and involving others and giving other teams a chance and so this is a good sign that things will happen, can happen with scheduling. Last year was probably something that kind of made it a little bit easier, all these teams being able to put all these schedules together in such a short amount of time.”

What type of impact could a 12-team College Football Playoff have on #BYU? #BYUFootball @kslsports https://t.co/oYaThtWnGx

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) June 11, 2021

Holmoe was asked if BYU would look at remaining independent or joining a conference based on an expanded CFP.

“One of the things that we do every year is examine where we are, where we’ve been, and where we’re going,” Holmoe answer. So right now, in light of that news, it would be our responsibility to make sure that we see what the environment looks like out there, what the atmosphere is like, see what other people are talking about. There’s a lot of stuff that’s behind the scenes that doesn’t get out. You try to jump into that as much as you can. But if a decision is made, then we will have gone all the way up through our president and all the way up to Salt Lake.”

Who’s ready for #BYUMediaDay? 🙋🙋‍♀️

We will have you covered here at KSL Sports. Download our app for all the latest from Provo.#BYU #BYUFootball #GoCougs

📱: https://t.co/0gpDWgSPpP pic.twitter.com/mY56MVhezA

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) June 17, 2021

Click here to read more about BYU football’s 2021 Media Day.