The BYU Cougars are ranked 8th in the land with a perfect 4-0 record. It's the strongest position a BYU football team has been in for as long as I can remember. A member of a Power Four conference, coming off a runner-up season in the Big 12, and bringing back nearly every major contributor or replacing them with even more impressive transfer additions.
It's a team that, on paper, has no clear discernable weaknesses. On the field, however, BYU has delivered plenty of reason to doubt.
Against Colorado State, the Rams' third-string quarterback torched the BYU reserves in the fourth quarter.
Against TCU, Bear Bachmeier threw for just 62 yards in a 7-point win over the reeling Horned Frogs.
The only notably impressive win on this team's resume was their Week 2 result against Arizona, a team that is currently 4-1 and still in contention for the Big 12 title after wiping a previously unbeaten Cincinnati team from off the face of the Earth.
Yet this team is receiving something that no previous BYU football team ever did: the benefit of the doubt from the AP Top 25. This team opened the season as the 14th-ranked team and has since climbed to 8, courtesy of SEC-on-SEC crime in the top-10. Even with less-than stellar results against their mediocre schedule, the Cougars have covered the point spread in all four contests.
And though the Iowa State Cyclones are overperforming in the wake of Matt Campbell's departure to Penn State, they'll roll into Provo against a team that has something to prove: can BYU play a complete game against a Power Four opponent?
They've been great on the defensive side of the football, allowing 3 total points in the second half against Big 12 competition, but their offense was suspect in a 17-10 win against TCU in Fort Worth.
I expect Aaron Roderick spreads out the field a bit more on Friday, utilizing Legend Glasker in more favorable routes than predictable third-and-long tunnel screens, leaning on the size of Kyler Kasper, and getting the stellar tight end duo of Roger Saleapaga and Walker Lyons involved through the air.
LJ Martin is currently listed as doubtful after suffering an ankle injury against TCU, and I suspect the team will opt to preserve his health with Notre Dame approaching next weekend.
Still, BYU's bread and butter has been a run-heavy offense supplemented by a soft-spot passing attack. Bachmeier is a more than capable passer, though he didn't display that well in the rain. If last weekend's offensive structure bored you, the subpar Iowa State defense should get the offense's engine up and running again.
Iowa State has allowed 31 and 42 points against Big 12 offenses this season (Utah and WVU, respectively), and BYU should put on a show with their home crowd finally back in action after three straight weeks of dormancy in LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Most critically of all, however, is that BYU cannot get lost in the sauce of their impending meeting with the 3rd-ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.
It's been the most highly-anticipated date on BYU football's calendar all season. A chance to prove the validity of Cougars' CFP candidacy with no bearing on the team's Big 12 title picture, a win over Notre Dame could cement BYU's spot in the 12-team bracket. A loss does little damage, assuming the Cougars aren't viciously blown out in front of their home crowd -- only SEC teams are allowed to lose by 30 points and maintain their position in the CFP race, isn't that right Florida, Mississippi State, and Ole Miss?
The stakes are high, but they crash to Earth if BYU can't handle business against the 3-2 Cyclones.
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