Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- BYU faces Georgia Tech in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, aiming for a 12th win.
- Coach Sitake's contract extension boosts BYU's momentum after a strong season.
- Bowl games hold significance for BYU, offering seniors a chance to end well.
ORLANDO, Fla. — No. 22 Georgia Tech isn't expecting anything less than a Big 12 title contender and team that won 22 games in the past two seasons when it faces No. 12 BYU in the post-Christmas tradition that is the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Saturday.
In another world, the Yellow Jackets (9-3) know they might not have this shot — because head coach Kalani Sitake and the Cougars wouldn't have been available for selection for the Big 12-on-ACC bowl berth.
"We believe that we're playing against a (College Football Playoff) team," Georgia Tech defensive coordinator Blake Gideon said. "We have a ton of respect for coach Sitake, for his staff, and his players and what they've built there."
Indeed, the Cougars are 11-2 and Big 12 runners-up a year after going 11-2 with a win over Colorado in the Alamo Bowl — a 22-4 record that is the sixth-best winning percentage (.846) in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Ditto for Georgia Tech, which opened the season 8-0 with one of the more electric dual-threat quarterbacks in the country in Haynes King and a defense that held SEC champion Georgia to just 16 points in a 7-point loss.
So in between trips to DisneyWorld and Universal Studios and a postgame sacrifice of an entire trove of live Pop-Tarts mascots inside of a giant toaster, a pretty good football game should be expected at one of college football's most fan-favorite games cheekily called the People's National Championship.
"I think this fits with our culture, and helps us play loose," BYU wide receiver Chase Roberts said. "I think we're a mature team, and we can spend a week in Orlando, have fun at Disney — and then go win a football game.
"That's the kind of culture we have here, and what we're going to do this Saturday."
The Most Magical Place on Earth. pic.twitter.com/oTHxRsVMoS
— BYU FOOTBALL (@BYUfootball) December 25, 2025
BYU's 56-20 record and .737 winning percentage since 2020 is the ninth-best mark nationally, behind only Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon, Notre Dame, James Madison, Michigan and Ole Miss.
There's plenty of momentum behind BYU and its head coach that just signed a long-term contract extension that will reportedly make him a top earner among Big 12 coaches. A big chunk of Sitake's new deal also includes additional resources for both coordinators, his assistant coaches, and commitments to the team's revenue-sharing and name, image and likeness capabilities.
But perhaps the biggest momentum driver came from last year's 36-14 win over Colorado in the Alamo Bowl, when BYU's offense ran circles around Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter and the defense flummoxed Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders. Despite a myriad of contrarian opinions, bowl games can be more than television inventory to celebrate a season.
"People who think that bowl games are meaningless, it's not true, man," offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick said. "I still think bowl games are super important in college football; otherwise there is only one team in the country that gets to end the season feeling good.
"I really hope for our seniors that we go out and play well, and let those guys get to experience a win one more time."
Getting to that point wasn't easy, though. In between back-to-back double-digit win seasons in 2020-21 and 2024-25 was a 5-7 drop-off in 2023 — the Cougars' first season in the Big 12 that included a 2-7 mark in adjusting to life in a power conference and several "humbling" losses, Roderick noted.
"We really found out the hard way what it was going to take to compete at a high level in this conference," he said.
Roderick credited the Cougars' senior class led by Roberts, a captain and All-Big 12 third-team selection with 2,529 career yards and 17 touchdowns, for the recent surge.
"We want to end with a positive feeling," said Roberts. "To roll over into next season, we saw what it did last year — it jumpstarted us into this next season. We want to do that for the young guys, and we want to see BYU succeed."
Aside from ending the season on a positive note, a 12th win would mark BYU's highest single-season win total since 2001.
"To be able to do that with this team as a senior will be something super special," Roberts added. "It will go down in the history books, and something that will be such a good momentum builder."
