This Covid year is a gift to BYU. In a regular year, the P5 eat up all of the slots with conference champs taking 5 spots and a couple of SEC teams for something like that.
Covid so far took out Wisc., very little wiggle room there.
Covid took out Clemson, but could come back to bite us if Clemson wins a championship game over ND and they both make the playoffs.
Covid took out 2 P12 teams this Sat, and that is after the P12 had no margin for error. So it does not seem conceivable that they will be represented in the Playoff.
Then you have the Big 12 blue bloods, Tex and Oklahoma with 2 losses each and OST playing a red hot OK on Nov 24.
The same can be said about the blue bloods of the Big 10 with Penn St losing big, Mich out of the picture, Mich St struggling and the leaders are Indiana and Northwestern…who knew?
Three conferences are struggling with a lot of eyes on BYU destroying BSU at home in a fashion that never happens @ BSU.
We need UCF take out Cinn, and BYU is in at least a NYs day bowl, long shot for a playoff but the CF rankings will torpedo that hope.
Seems like scheduling weak teams up until the last month of the season is the recipe for success.
If this season has taught me anything, its that scheduling big 5 teams week in and week out is not nearly as important as they say it is. This is the worst schedule in byu history, yet they are ranked higher than ever.*
Hard to say where byu would be right now had they been able to play their (best ever) 2020 schedule. I dunno, but I highly doubt we’d be talking about new year’s six and Heisman trophies. Unless…byu is really thaat good.
Its a whole lot funner playing against the big boys though. I was so upset that this season’s schedule was decimated. Such a beautiful schedule it was.
That reasoning is faulty. If BYU scheduled this way on purpose the P5 teams with 3-4 losses would be ranked ahead of us. The only reason the coaches and media are giving us a look is that we actually played rather than pandering. ESPN is thankful for the games. Coaches in other programs are actually happy for BYU putting the pressure on their leagues and administrations because they played and didn’t fold. We have to play 4-5 P5 teams a year … in normal years to get better and have respect. Good recruits want to play against good teams. People don’t realize that in today’s college sports environment the players want to be seen on TV and play against good competition. They don’t care about winning a crappy conference championship. They want good coaching, exposure and publicity. We aren’t going back to a G5 conf until the massive realignment happens. Indy is where it is at and also what pays the bills. Win! Recruit! Keep good coaches and watch the program blossom.
I agree completely. BYU is doing well in the polls BECAUSE it is doing well on the field. I think BYU will have trouble finding a P5 team to add to its schedule simply because they might not fair well on the field. That is assuming a P5 conference has so many games cancelled due to COVID 19 that they may not qualify a team to send to a CFP or New Years 6 bowl without another game. All the coaches and ADs know that BYU wants to play a P5 or ranked team this year, but it’s November and no takers so far. The prospects do look good for a New Years 6 bowl invite, but I will not be counting any chickens just yet. Go Cougars!
I am not advocating playing just any P5 team right now. I am advocating playing the right P5 team in a few weeks. A P5 team with incentive to play us! We need a P5 team that has to show the selection committee that they played a little tougher schedule than their competitors, for a CFP slot. We won’t have to talk them into the deal … they will want to play us because it will be a great schedule addition and they think they will win! It will have to be team that is slightly on the outside looking in at the CFP and they need a signature win to push them into a possible CFP slot. A one loss team who is basically in a toss up with another 2 or 3 one loss teams who might get into the CFP but aren’t assured of it so they are looking for a resume’ builder.
Of course that is a high risk move! If we lose a game like that it means no NYD 6 bowl for us. If we pull an upset though … could mean big exposure and a possible CFP spot. What would we rather do? Play it safe and hope we beat SDSU, schedule a Marshall and hope we win or just hope that we get a NY6 Bowl with our current schedule being undefeated? If we play a Marshall or Cincy or UCF and lose we will get the shaft. If we play a top P5 program and suffer a close loss or beat them … we up our credibility. I am not sure what I would do, but my gut says we have to take a shot at the big boys and try and Win! If that means losing out on a NY6 Bowl … that will be a bitter pill to swallow. But if we don’t take a chance … and luck out by holding our ranking while we have bye weeks … and still get a NY6 invite and then lose badly, we will never live it down!
I am inclined to try to get a big P5 team in Provo or go play away with no fans and try to send a message and have the upside of a big bowl.
I can agree with some of that, but when is the last time you’ve seen byu in the media spotlight like this? The reality is, winning big over weak teams far outweighs, ranking wise, losing to Utah and ending up 11-1 or 10-2. It depends on what you consider success. Perception is reality, especially in this age of social media craziness.
We’ve gone through the wac days of dismal seasons and drab games. I get it. But you gotta admit that it’s more exciting right now with an undefeated team, along with the ESPN hype and legit new years six possibilities, than the normal reality where nobody is talking about the team because they lost a game or two early on. All things considered, byu is in a great spot right now regardless of the lack luster schedule.
And…even in a normal season, an undefeated non p5 team with a weakish schedule can still get there. Ala Memphis, Houston, etc.
I like your thinking. I would love to see BYU play Cinn or Marshall but Cinn will never happen this year. We could get a USC if they need a game and I would take that all day. Something like that would get BYU into the playoff.
And your thinking. BSU had a winning way by doing just that…Play a P5 then winning the Wac or now the Mtn.
BYU is at this place because of ESPN TV exposure and a ligit Heisman contender. The reality is that the BCU rankings come out on Nov 24th and while eye candy is a big part, that ranking will have BYU out of the picture due to all of the cupcakes BYU has HAD to play. After all The whole thing was created after BYU won it all in 1984.
The BCS Power 5 was created to keep all of the $$$$. They found a way to kick the Big East out and it is the major reason why we don’t have a common sense 8 game playoff rather then the exclusionary 4 team playoff.
The CFP makes their choices on Dec 20. Neither BYU nor Cincy plays on the 18th.
Let the 2 unbeatens play a play-in game on the 18th.
Even better, if BYU and Cincy schedule this now, it may force the CFB’s hand into taking the best of the unbeatens.
I think we need to wait … Cincy still has to get by UCF. Plus we would be better off playing a P5 if we can get a Oregon or a Georgia/Texas AM or Indiana.
The ruling class in our current political structure was designed to do the same thing. There are a few people, not associated or connected to government, that become wealthy and powerful. Most of them nowadays are government people (or have connections or ties to government) who aspire to garner money and power by being involved in politics.
Governor only saying to those local sports like recreation center and community sports just for two weeks. Local college sports and high school sports can continue their events because they do Covid test every so often
Well we have an opening but I am not sure it is a perfect fit. Alabama has a Covid cancelation with LSU not being able to play. This is what I am taking about in terms of opportunities. But Bama is already in the CFP and they wouldn’t want to risk it. But this type of thing will happen again to a bubble team and I think we ought to go for it.
I just read the governors news release and Utah high schools sports are shut down for 2 weeks except the remaining state FB semi finals and championship. All the rest of the winter sports are on hold. College football is exempt because of protocols and testing.
