BYU coach Kalani Sitake plans to let quarterback Jake Retzlaff speak for himself on the topic of his court matter and seven-game suspension for having premarital sex, a violation of the university honor code.
“First of all, I love Jake Retzlaff,” Sitake said Tuesday at the Big 12 Conference gathering in Frisco, Texas.
“We love Jake Retzlaff and appreciate all that he’s done for our program. I think it would be inappropriate for me to make a statement in his situation first. I think that’s his right. I think it’s a private matter that he can speak for himself, and I’m going to give him the opportunity to do that.”
Retzlaff is planning to transfer, according to reports, rather than return to the program where he faced a civil suit accusing him of sexually assaulting a woman at his home in 2023. The suit was recently dismissed but Sitake said three quarterbacks will compete for the starting job in 2025, but the list of candidates no longer includes Retzlaff.
Two transfers — Treyson Bourguet from Western Michigan and Bear Bachmeier from Stanford — and holdovers from last season are competing with McCae Hillstead. Hillstead is the newest arrival after transferring from Utah State.
Replacing Retzlaff might be more of a concept than a reality.
He led the team in rushing and was responsible for more than 65 percent of the Cougars’ total offense on the way to a 9-0 start in 2024. BYU finished with an 11-2 record and capped the season with a 36-14 blowout of Colorado in the Alamo Bowl.
BYU begins the 2025 season against Portland State on Aug. 30 before facing Stanford (Sept. 6), East Carolina (Sept. 20) and Colorado (Sept. 27).
–Commissioner Brett Yormark stands up for Big 12
A single representative in the expanded College Football Playoff from the Big 12 was not sufficient in the opinion of conference commissioner Brett Yormark.
Arizona State took Texas to double-overtime in the Peach Bowl, a quarterfinal in the first 12-team playoff, but Yormark said his league is the “deepest football conference in America.”
The Big 12, ACC and Notre Dame are supporting a change to the current playoff model, counter the plan of the Big Ten and SEC to load the bracket with teams from their leagues.
For the 2026 season, with 16 teams expected to be in the playoff, Yormark has gained allies who are on board with granting automatic bids to the five highest-rated conference champions with the CFP selection committee deciding how to award 11 at-large bids. The Big Ten touts a model with its teams automatically receiving four bids, and four more going to the SEC.
“We want to earn it on the field. It might not be the best solution today for the Big 12 … but long-term, knowing the progress we’re making, the investments we’re making, it’s the right format for us. And I’m doubling down today on 5-plus-11.”
–Scott Frost comes to grips with ‘wrong move’ to Nebraska
With 16 wins in five seasons at his alma mater Nebraska from 2018-2022, Scott Frost can agree with the sentiment that one can never go home again. He was hired as coach of the Cornhuskers following a 13-0 season at UCF in 2017.
“I got tugged in a direction to try to help my alma mater and didn’t really want to do it. It wasn’t a good move,” Frost said Tuesday. “I’m lucky to get back to a place where I was a lot happier.”
When Gus Malzahn departed UCF to become offensive coordinator at Florida State, the door opened for another return Frost never felt would happen. Now he’s back at UCF with a new perspective.
Frost, 50, worked for the Los Angeles Rams as an offensive consultant last year and was introduced a second time as UCF head coach in December.
“Biggest thing I’ve learned, probably. … You can’t do anything alone,” Frost said, arousing many corners of the Nebraska fanbase on social media with his final, lasting lesson.
“Don’t take the wrong job.”
–Field Level Media
