BYU Football: Understanding the CFP rankings
By Adam Gibby
Beating a Bad Team Does Nothing to Move the Needle.
Unlike the AP poll where a win is often good enough to move up, the CFP Committee seems to treat wins over bad teams in a similar manner as the college basketball NET rankings with a Quad 3/4 win, which is almost a negative thing.
BYU Football was the perfect example of this last year as the Cougars came in at No. 14 in the CFP poll while at the same time being ranked in the Top 10 in both the AP and Coaches poll. At the time, the Cougars’ best win was against Boise State (or UTSA).
Other examples that can we seen in this category include UCF never breaking the Top Four despite undefeated seasons, 10-1 Boise State in 2019, and even an undefeated Minnesota team late in the season who had avoided any tough opponents.