The College Football Playoff rankings have been released, and why am I not surprised? BYU falls to 12th after an admittedly stifling defeat to the now 6th-ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders. At a glance, this makes perfect sense. Right in front of 13th-ranked Utah, a team that BYU took down just a few weeks ago, this was about as far as the Cougars could have reasonably fallen, so that's exactly what happened.
But at second glance, all of a sudden, the craftsmanship of this top 25 seems... off. The rungs on the ladder seem a bit shoddily-crafted, the wood is splintered, cracked, and termite-bitten. The College Football Playoff rankings are inconsistent the longer you stare at them, and I feel it's my responsibility to point out these flaws, because the only explanation I can gather is that prestige bias is heavily influencing the decision-making process.
The only bullet point I need is this: at 12, BYU sits behind three two-loss teams, each with a weaker resume than the Cougars.
9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-2)
Best win: 17 USC
Losses: 3 Texas Tech, 15 Miami
Take Notre Dame, standing high and mighty in the 9 slot. The Irish famously opened the season 0-2 with losses against Miami and Texas A&M. Both slip-ups have aged fairly well, though Miami's luster has tarnished with recent losses to Louisville and SMU.
Nobody is knocking the Irish for losing tough games in the early season -- that happens with a challenging schedule -- but the fact that the Irish's best win is to 17th-ranked USC and have a remaining schedule filled with low-tier Power Four programs makes their two losses carry more weight, and should weigh the Irish down. If they can beat Pitt this weekend, however, Notre Dame certainly has a stronger case to make the cut, and the strongest of the three teams I'll be highlighting.
In the meantime, I won't be singing their praises for the teams that beat them. Two losses has to mean something.
10 Texas Longhorns (7-2)
Best win: 11 Oklahoma
Losses: 1 Ohio State, Florida
Then come the Texas Longhorns, perhaps the least-respected SEC contender this season, with losses to Ohio State (that's fine) and Florida (not as fine). The Longhorns flexed their muscles in the Red River Rivalry against 11 Oklahoma, but turned around and struggled with a 3-point win against Kentucky and needed overtime to overcome Mississippi State.
The loss to Florida is easily the weakest among any top 10 team, but here's the good news for those questioning Texas' worthiness: the Longhorns still have to face Georgia and Texas A&M by season's end. If they're fraudulent, that'll be clear by conference championship weekend.
11 Oklahoma (7-2)
Best win: 18 Michigan
Losses: 7 Ole Miss, 10 Texas
In a similar vein to ND, we cannot be rewarding the Sooners for losing tough games. Can we respect the program for their challenging schedule? Of course, that's only fair. But losses to Ole Miss and Texas are not resume-strengthening results. OU took down Michigan early in the season, and that's remained a notable accomplishment. All the same, the contests with Ole Miss and Texas weren't particularly close, and the Sooners have lost twice on the year.
12 BYU (8-1)
Best win: 13 Utah
Loss: 6 Texas Tech
BYU is the only team on this list to have lost fewer than two games, and they own the second-best victory, according to the selection committee, in a Utah game that wasn't nearly as close as the scoreboard suggests. Though they were run off the field in Lubbock this past weekend, BYU's only objectively weak result was a road win against the Colorado Buffaloes -- a game that BYU won.
They're the anti-Texas -- BYU is deemed fraudulent because preseason projections weighed the team down through the first half of the season, and every win past preconceived expectations is taken with a major grain of salt due to their lack of prestige.
BYU has lost one game this season, to a top 10 team, and has won out otherwise. Just as Texas has a chance to prove their worth through the remaining season, BYU likewise can silence all doubters by winning against TCU, Cincinnati, and UCF down the stretch.
My opinion won't influence the selection committee, and I understand that. But with their strong victory against the Utes and the advantage of just one loss, it's hard to justify slotting BYU behind these teams for reasons outside of league and brand value. I'd argue those factors don't win football games.