BYU football: Final conference rankings and why they matter
By Adam Gibby
BYU football hasn’t played in weeks, but the college football world is still turning. The bowl season is wrapped up, we’re eight months away from the next game. But things still matter for the Cougars.
College football bowl games are a way to measure up how powerful a conference can really be. Generally teams are matched up with other teams of the same “talent” to provide great ratings and an equal opportunity for both teams to have success.
What happens sometimes, however, is that a conference is viewed as either stronger or weaker than they actually may be. So when the matchups are given, there can be a dominance factor for one of the two teams.
This season was a perfect example of just that. Some conferences that were viewed as “weak” won a majority of their bowl games and vise versa. What does this have to do with BYU though? Probably nothing, but potentially a lot.
Here is a complete ranking of the conferences based heavily on bowl records and what it means for BYU football.
*Disclaimer* I realize that everything should not be based only off of one season. However, bowl games can play a big role in showing how good a conference really is. Just because the Pac-12 finished 1-7 does not make me think they are a bad conference, just that they were over rated this season. And that could mean something for the future with BYU football.
Bottom Tier
11. Mid-American Conference (MAC)
Record: 1-4
Summary: In losses the MAC had a combined losing score of 153-31. Ouch! And it wasn’t elite competition either. Losses came to Duke, Appalation State, Florida Atlantic and Wyoming. The MAC teams were favored in four of their five games. The one win was Ohio against the FBS comeback team UAB, and everyone wanted UAB to win for a great story. So in some sense the MAC really went 0-5.
What it means for BYU football: The Cougars have not really ever considered going to the MAC, but after that performance it would be a shock if the Cougars even considered going to this conference.
10. Pac-12
Record:1-7
Summary: I ALMOST put them as the last ranked team here as they had both the lowest win percentage as well as the fact that the Pac-12 is a Power Five Conference. After seeing the margin of losses in the MAC however, I had to give them the slight edge. The Pac-12 had a lot of heartbreakers. Honestly, they were very close to having a 4-4 record if Arizona, Stanford and Washington had been able to finish out games. The lone win came from Utah (again). Love him or hate him you have to respect what Kyle Whittingham has been able to do in bowl games since becoming the coach by winning 11 out of 12 games.
What it means for BYU football: The Pac-12 is down. They have only had two teams ever in the playoff and only one of those teams has gone to the championship game (Oregon in 2015). It is no secret that the conference is struggling to get viewers from the east coast. BYU would add viewership more than any other team that the Pac-12 could pick up. Also it could help the brand of the Pac-12 by adding a solid team. But on the flipside, there are a number of political issues that would likely muddy the waters between the Cougars and Pac-12.
9. ACC
Record: 4-6
Summary: In the preseason many, if not most, experts had the ACC as the best conference in the nation. Clemson, Florida State, Miami, Louisville and Virginia Tech were all in the top 25 to start the season. They also had five teams in the final rankings. Four of those teams lost in bowl games making the conference look much weaker than anyone believed. This was all topped however when the No. 1 seeded Clemson lost to the No. 4 seeded Alabama 24-6, a game that was really never competitive.
What it means for BYU football: Not much. BYU is too far from the ACC to be a conference member.