College football has a history of older players — but is age always an advantage?

Kalani Sitake’s eyes got wide. The BYU head coach leaned in. He heard what his fellow coach said, the thing normally whispered but now said on national television. Maybe it was said in jest. But it required a response.Sitake was appearing on an ESPN “Coaches Film Room” broadcast during the 2017 national championship game. He said something about the blocking of his BYU players, when then-Syracuse coach Dino Babers cracked: “A lot easier to protect when a lot of those offensive linemen are a lot older.”Advertisement