What a week it was for the BYU football program.
The Cougars have been one of the most talked-about teams in the country the past seven days, an amazing development considering they haven’t played a game since walloping North Alabama 66-14 on Nov. 21 and haven’t played against a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) opponent since crushing Boise State 51-17 on Nov. 6.
Interesting, too, was the way the national discourse regarding the 9-0 Cougars flipped in a 24-hour period. They went from catching considerable derision for allegedly ducking a potential game with the Pac-12’s Washington Huskies to earning widespread sympathy for the way they were disrespected when the College Football Playoff committee pegged them at No. 14 in the inaugural release of the rankings.
As Week 14 in this most unusual, chaotic and pandemic-altered college football season arrives, two questions are on the table for BYU, which stayed put at No. 8 in both the Associated Press Top 25 and the Amway Coaches Poll on Sunday.
First and foremost: Will athletic director Tom Holmoe be able to line up a game this week?
Second: Will anything change when the new CFP rankings are released Tuesday night?
“Be in a position where you are ready if we get a game scheduled next week. If not, be ready for San Diego State. The concept of staying focused and living in the moment and taking advantage of the time you have now is still very important.” — BYU football coach Kalani Sitake’s message after CFP rankings snub.
The Cougars aren’t scheduled to play again until Dec. 12 against San Diego State, but everyone on the planet who cares knows that getting more games on the schedule is job No. 1 for Holmoe, especially after it became apparent last Tuesday that anything lower than a No. 12 ranking in the CFP won’t get BYU into a New Year’s Six bowl game.
“Be in a position where you are ready if we get a game scheduled next week,” is the message coach Kalani Sitake says he delivered to his players Tuesday night as they left Provo for Thanksgiving reunions with families and friends. “If not, be ready for San Diego State. The concept of staying focused and living in the moment and taking advantage of the time you have now is still very important.”
Obviously, Sitake reminded his players to do all they can to avoid the spread and infection of COVID-19.
So what are the possibilities for the Cougars?
A juicy one surfaced Saturday when No. 10 Miami (7-1) saw its scheduled ACC game against Wake Forest canceled because of positive tests, quarantining and contact tracing within the Wake Forest program. The Hurricanes haven’t played since beating Virginia Tech 25-24 on Nov. 14 and would seemingly be eager to get an opponent the quality of BYU as they make a push for a berth in the national semifinals.
However, late Sunday night the Atlantic Coast Conference announced that the Canes will play at Duke this Saturday. The Blue Devils were originally scheduled to host Florida State.
Now, the Cougars would like to face the highest-ranked opponent they can, as Sitake has repeatedly acknowledged.
“We will respect everybody that we play, but there is no fear in us,” Sitake said, refuting reports that BYU ducked Washington, which ended up defeating Utah 24-21 Saturday night in Seattle. “That is not anything unique to us. That is what makes college football so great.”
Another possibility for BYU might be the cancellation of another Pac-12 game, although if the Washington scheduling fiasco showed anything it is that BYU isn’t as willing to abide by the Pac-12’s stipulation that a non-conference game could be called off prior to 48 hours of kickoff if another league opponent becomes available.
As for the second release of the CFP rankings, it will be interesting to see if the committee takes into account the backlash and negative publicity it received by ranking BYU so low and makes a readjustment Tuesday.
On the field, the only team ranked ahead of BYU that lost was No. 8 Northwestern, which fell 29-20 to Michigan State in East Lansing.
No. 9 Georgia blasted South Carolina 45-16, No. 10 Miami didn’t play, No. 11 Oklahoma’s game at West Virginia was postponed, No. 12 Indiana outlasted Maryland 27-11 and No. 13 Iowa State edged No. 17 Texas 23-17 in Austin.
No. 15 Oregon, which some folks figured would leapfrog BYU with a win, was upset 41-38 by instate rival Oregon State in Corvallis.
In its release Sunday trumpeting the No. 8 ranking in both polls, which are now fairly meaningless in the big scheme of things, BYU noted that the school’s “consistent top-10 ranking in the national polls with supporting NCAA statistical comparisons contrast the controversial No. 14 assessment the Cougars received by the CFP selection committee.”
The release said BYU ranks in the top 10 in 14 different statistical categories, most notably No. 4 in scoring offense (47.6), No. 4 in scoring defense (13.9 ppg.), No. 5 in total offense (535.8) and No. 6 in total defense (292.6).
Quarterback Zach Wilson is No. 1 in points responsible for (208 points) and in the top 10 in seven other individual statistical categories.
Also Sunday, BYU soared from No. 17 to No. 9 in the Sagarin Ratings and stayed at No. 7 in ESPN’s Bill Connelly’s highly regarded SP+ rankings, a tempo- and opponent-adjustment measures of efficiency in college football.
Wrote Connelly: BYU’s SP+ ranking “suggests that if an overall top-five team has played against this schedule, it wouldn’t have fared any better than BYU has… They have proven everything they possibly could against their schedule, and it’s appalling that the committee, which continues to meet in person and discuss these rankings for hours, couldn’t come up with an opinion more rigorous than they ‘ain’t played nobody.’”