BYU nearly suffered its first loss of the season in the Holy War against Utah in Week 11 and through the first two weeks of the 12-team College Football Playoff rankings, they’ve learned that they can’t afford to. Even at 9-0 with wins over Kansas State, which was ranked 16th on Tuesday night, and SMU, which checked in at No. 14, the Cougars were slotted behind No. 5 Indiana and No. 4 Penn State.
Four Big Ten teams are ranked ahead of BYU, the highest-ranked team from the Big 12. Yet, neither Penn State nor Indiana have a win over a team ranked in either week’s CFP rankings. The Nittany Lions are primarily buoyed by their 20-13 loss to Ohio State in Week 10, a game in which they didn’t score a single offensive touchdown and were spotted 14 points by Buckeyes quarterback Will Howard who fumbled through the end zone and threw a pick-six on his first pass attempt of the game.
Penn State’s most impressive win is likely a 21-7 victory over then No. 19 Illinois or a 33-30 road win over now 4-5 USC in overtime. Indiana is 10-0, but the Hoosier’s best is a 56-7 win over Nebraska, which has since lost to Ohio State and UCLA.
By ESPN Analytics’ strength of record rating, BYU is No. 2 in the country only behind 10-0 Oregon, which has a win over now No. 2 Ohio State. Penn State is No. 5 and Indiana is No. 6.
BYU did jump up from a wildly disrespectful No. 9 ranking in the first edition of the CFP rankings, helped by losses from Miami and Georgia, but sixth is still far too low for the Cougars.
The good news for BYU fans is that ultimately, the rankings may not even matter. The top four seeds in the 12-team College Football Playoff will be claimed by the four highest-ranked conference champions. So, if Kalani Sitake’s team wins out and claims the Big 12 crown, the lowest they can fall is No. 4 in the bracket.
The only reason that this ranking could be a bad sign is if BYU loses because with the Cougars at No. 6 and the next highest-ranked Big 12 team at No. 16, the league will almost certainly only claim one bid.