BYU Football: BYU’s path to a New Year’s Six Bowl
By Adam Gibby
Teams Ranked Behind BYU
Normally, especially when opponents are playing big games and BYU is not, being jumped in the rankings is a real concern. That does not appear to be the case this year however. Of the teams behind BYU, there is not a single team that seems to be in a good spot to outright jump BYU, or at least jump them without another team falling below BYU.
Here is the complete breakdown.
No. 15 Ole Miss – The Rebels still have two tough games, one against No. 12 Texas A&M and against rival Mississippi State. In a perfect world, Ole Miss beats the Aggies convincingly, Alabama loses another game or two, and then Mississippi State beats Ole Miss to knock them below BYU.
In all likelihood however that won’t happen. What will happen however is either Texas A&M or Ole Miss loses this Saturday and one will drop below the Cougars in the rankings, barring of course overtime, or something else that shows both teams should be ranked in the low teens.
No. 16 North Carolina State – Just like Ole Miss, the Wolfpack have a ranked matchup this week against No. 12 Wake Forest. The loser of this game will be ranked below BYU no matter what. There is no way that even an overtime loss would keep Wake Forest ranked above BYU.
No. 17 Auburn – Auburn has Alabama looming at the end of the season. Beating Alabama would certainly be enough to jump BYU, but those odds are low.
No. 18 Wisconsin – For the rest of the season Wisconsin likely doesn’t have enough of a schedule to move up to the point of passing BYU. If they do, their fate will likely be decided against Ohio State. If Ohio State beats them, BYU will pass them again.
No. 19 Purdue – Purdue has a real chance this week of jumping into, or near the top ten against Ohio State. I just don’t think it will happen. And if it does, Ohio State likely will only be one loss away themselves from dropping below BYU.
No. 20+ Nobody ranked between 20-25 seems to have enough left to jump BYU. The one team who could make a big move is Utah, who lost a head to head to BYU.