BYU Football: Can the Cougars make it back to the NY6 discussion?

BYU Football saw their slim College Football Playoff hopes disappear, but a New Year Six Bowl is still possible.

BYU Football appears to be heading to the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana. While I’m sure Shreveport is a great town and the bowl itself is fine, when you look at the recent matchups it becomes clear that BYU probably doesn’t want to play in this game if they are 10-2 or better.

While some projections have the Cougars facing the UTSA Roadrunners in the bowl game, it is really a lose-lose situation. UTSA is a really solid undefeated program. If the Cougars win, they beat a C-USA team. If they lose, they become the laughing stock of the bowl season.

So the question becomes, can BYU somehow, someway make it back to the New Year Six Bowl discussion with a loss?

Yes, but it is out of their control.

Here is what we already know:

1. The ACC, Big 12, Big 10, Pac 12, SEC and G5 Champ will all make a New York Six Bowl outside of the playoff UNLESS Cincinnati makes it in the Playoff, then the remaining NY6 bowls will have four at-large spots.
2. As of right now, it is looking very likely that the ACC and possibly Pac 12 will have a representative that is OUTSIDE of the Top 12.
   • This means that the team ranked No. 11 or No. 12 may not get an at-large spot.
     • If BYU is ranked No. 12 (last NY6 at-large spot) but Wake Forest wins the ACC as the No. 18th ranked team, they get a spot while the No. 11 spot becomes the final at-large spot.
3. The Big 10 East is going to be self-destructive. Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State and Ohio State all still have to face each other. How this shakes out is anyone’s guess.
4. The SEC is making things really tough on BYU. Ole Miss, Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, and maybe even Texas A&M all are in a better spot than BYU. By default, some of these teams will lose, but if two or three win out, BYU’s at-large bid chances diminish to almost nothing.

With that being said, BYU’s hopes for an at-large bid are out of their control. While the chaos of the season up to this point most would think that would play in BYU’s favor. The issue however, is as mentioned before, if a P5 champion is not ranked in the final Top 12, that takes away a ranking that will make a NY6.

For BYU’s sake, they need the following to happen:

1. No upsets in Conference Championship games. The best thing that can happen is for No. 5 Oklahoma to take down No. 10 Oklahoma State.
2. Arkansas, Ole Miss, Arizona State, Ohio State, Michigan State OR Michigan, Kentucky, and Penn State all need to lose at least one more game.

If those two things happen and the Cougars are able to run the table, there is a very good chance of having a chance to play on New Years Day as opposed to December 18th in Shreveport.

Either way, just keep winning.

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What do you think? Can the Cougars make it back in the NY6 picture?