BYU football may need a perfect season to reach the College Football Playoff

The AP Poll is already making me nervous about BYU's chances of a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Of course, the Cougars climbed up to the ninth spot in Week 3 -- an incredibly favorable position for a program that typically makes its first top-25 appearance around this time of year -- but the bias against the Big 12 Conference is more blatant than ever before.

Which is insane, because the Big 12 might be a stronger league than they were in the last two years.

Utah is gaining momentum as a trendy pick to win the league, as they haven't taken even the slightest step backward without Kyle Whittingham -- who is reeling a bit over in Ann Arbor.

Oklahoma State looks deadly after their baffling Week One loss at Tulsa, having now taken down Oregon and winning big in Morgantown.

Texas Tech, even with a scare against Houston and appearing a touch less daunting than they were a year ago, is still the most valuable roster in the Big 12 Conference and has the depth to defend their Big 12 title.

And BYU returns nearly all of last season's key pieces, now with an extra season of experience and explosive options on offense to compliment an excellent defense.

And yes, the Big 12 is building momentum as a possible two-bid league for the first time since the playoff format expanded to 12 teams (BYU, Utah, and Oklahoma State are the most popular picks to represent the league right now), but the SEC and Big Ten are receiving more favorable votes than ever before.

Take Oregon, for example. A team that struggled against G6 Boise State (who is a very good G6 team, for the record, but Oregon is Oregon), was dominated statistically by the Big 12's very own Oklahoma State, and then won against the ever underperforming USC (who is now criminally ranked 18th in the country, despite having accomplished nothing of note), yet is still ranked 15th. That's right -- above the same Oklahoma State team that beat them head-to-head.

At this point in the season, head-to-head has to be a monumental metric. A deciding factor. But one prominent voter said the quiet part out loud: it doesn't matter that OK State won against Oregon -- the Ducks' prestige is so great that the two aren't even comparable.

"To me, the Tulsa loss is so bad it should drag down Oklahoma State’s overall resume to a point where I don’t directly compare them to Oregon right now." -- Nicole Auerbach

Disgusting and embarrassing.

In a sport where subjectivity dictates a program's standing, it's our obligation to cling to objectivity wherever it's available. OSU won the game 38-31, and voters like Auerbach choose to ignore that result because the Cowboys lost to Tulsa.

In other words: head-to-head results don't matter, except when they do.

College athletics are controlled by subjectivity at a level that professional sports leagues are not. And an uprising is imminent. Voters are being harassed when making an oversight in their rankings, and fans of the sport are exhausted by the rampant hypocrisy.

When the biggest leagues are partnered with the media companies that host the championships, it's a clear conflict of interest. The same can be said of the AP Top 25, where the SEC has more voters than any other league by a wide margin, followed by the Big Ten and a massive drop-off before the ACC and Big 12 get involved.

It's a broken system, but unfortunately nothing will change. Missouri and Kentucky will remain ranked, despite accomplishing nothing of note beyond Kentucky's win over a horrible Texas A&M team.

Which is why I believe BYU will need a nearly perfect season to reach the Playoff as an at-large bid. A win against Notre Dame could give the Cougars some grace if they fall against Utah in SLC or in the Big 12 Championship game. Lose against the Irish, however, and I find it hard to believe the selection committee would grant entry to an 11-2 BYU team, even if they're more than deserving of a chance.

This is the appeal of the proposed 24-team playoff: give more teams a chance, and let the best team win.

On the surface, I adore limiting the chance of a national championship to just 12 teams. That way, you get the cream of the crop and exclude those who don't belong.

That sounds great on paper, but in practice, the ultimate decision-makers haven't proved capable of ignoring bias and granting a chance to those who most deserve it.

And if the BYU Cougars reach the Big 12 Championship game yet again and are refused at the door of the CFP, I simply won't be surprised.

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