With an ultra-tough schedule that threatens to snap the school's streak of 11 consecutive bowl appearances, and the eyes of the Big 12 conference upon the football independent desperate for an invitation to that Power Five league, every game is huge, and Sitake knows it.
"I wouldn't want it any other way," he said in June. "This is the kind of schedule I would have wanted to play when I was a player."
Earlier this week, Sitake said he had no butterflies in his stomach before his coaching debut, having prepared for dozens of big games like this as a defensive coordinator at Oregon State and Utah.