2020 BYU Cougars Football Thread

[UVACoug]

Any predictions on how far Northwestern falls in the CFP rankings tomorrow? They fell 5 spots in the AP poll and 4 spots in the coaches poll, but weren't ranked as high as they were in the CFP rankings.

My prediction is that they fall 5 spots to #13 ... right ahead of BYU at #14 ... which would be frustrating.

[UVACoug]

Three PAC schools (that we know of) are still dealing with outbreaks that put Saturday games in question: USC, WSU, and ASU. Two of them (WSU/USC) are scheduled to play each other. ASU is supposed to play UCLA.

If the schools don't confirm tomorrow they are cleared to play based on today's tests, I think we will see more cancelles games this week. Obviously there need to be an odd number of ineligible pac teams to open the door for a byu game. I wonder if we would be more willing to take a game on short notice this time around.

Forgot to note that USC already played ASU (their only game) this season so I would think paring the two again would not he an option if WSU can't go.

If it appears likely to happen, I think we would go for it at this point. Would love to play USC, but any P5 team would work at this point.

[Omaha 680]

Three PAC schools (that we know of) are still dealing with outbreaks that put Saturday games in question: USC, WSU, and ASU. Two of them (WSU/USC) are scheduled to play each other. ASU is supposed to play UCLA.

If the schools don't confirm tomorrow they are cleared to play based on today's tests, I think we will see more cancelles games this week. Obviously there need to be an odd number of ineligible pac teams to open the door for a byu game. I wonder if we would be more willing to take a game on short notice this time around.

Forgot to note that USC already played ASU (their only game) this season so I would think paring the two again would not he an option if WSU can't go.

[Bo Diddley]

I was really hoping for an announcement today about a game this week. Doesn't look like it's going to happen. I did get my hopes up when I saw a tweet from BYU Football making a joint announcement with ESPN about broadcasting...the SDSU game at 8pm on Dec 12 on ESPN2.

Phewff! At least that's settled!

[Pelado]

I was really hoping for an announcement today about a game this week. Doesn't look like it's going to happen. I did get my hopes up when I saw a tweet from BYU Football making a joint announcement with ESPN about broadcasting...the SDSU game at 8pm on Dec 12 on ESPN2.

Edit: Here's the tweet:

https://twitter.com/BYUfootball/stat...836195842?s=20

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[wapiti]

Northwestern is currently idle this week now that Minnesota had to cancel. It’s a pipe dream, but that would be a great game for the Cougars.

Yep. The BIG will never allow it.

[Joe Public]

Northwestern is currently idle this week now that Minnesota had to cancel. It’s a pipe dream, but that would be a great game for the Cougars.

[Pelado]

Let's all fast and pray that BYU gets this game:

https://twitter.com/ByTimReynolds/st...060972035?s=19

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Damn.

https://twitter.com/BruceFeldmanCFB/...123929600?s=19

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[Omaha 680]

ACC pairing Miami with Duke this week. We miss out again.

[Bo Diddley]

Fortunately it is SDSU, so there is no reason to feel bad about beating them by all of the points.

Yeah, maybe bad is the wrong word. I would hate to be in their shoes. Let's leave it at that.

[All-American]

I feel bad for SDSU.

Fortunately it is SDSU, so there is no reason to feel bad about beating them by all of the points.

[Bo Diddley]

Not worried. We won't drop, and if we sand the floor with SDSU like we need to they'll have all the opportunity in the world to right their wrong. If not, it was never meant to be.

I feel bad for SDSU.

[Commando]

It will be really interesting to see what the committee does with BYU this week. They were excoriated across the board for rating them at 14 last week, but there’s not much cover for them to change their minds. NW lost, so that’s one spot they should climb. Maybe throw in another if we are lucky. But it is hard to imagine getting up to 12, and we need 11 or 10 to be sure of an NY6.

Not worried. We won't drop, and if we sand the floor with SDSU like we need to they'll have all the opportunity in the world to right their wrong. If not, it was never meant to be.

[All-American]

It will be really interesting to see what the committee does with BYU this week. They were excoriated across the board for rating them at 14 last week, but there’s not much cover for them to change their minds. NW lost, so that’s one spot they should climb. Maybe throw in another if we are lucky. But it is hard to imagine getting up to 12, and we need 11 or 10 to be sure of an NY6.

[UVACoug]

Miami could have some incentive. I doubt they have a shot at the playoff, but they could get shut out of the Orange Bowl if Clemson or Notre Dame drop from the top 4. A victory over BYU improves the Hurricane resume so that if Notre Dame loses big to Clemson in the ACC title game, Miami might be able to edge higher than the Fighting Irish.

There is significant risk, though. Losing to BYU could drop them from the Orange Bowl spot even if both Clemson and ND make the playoff.

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Hard to see them surpassing a ND team with only one loss to Clemson, regardless of how bad of a loss it is. ND has already beaten Clemson once and Miami lost to Clemson by 25 points. Miami also struggled against UVA, NC State, and Va Tech.

If Miami stays in the Top 10 of the CFP rankings, they will go to a NY6 bowl regardless of what happens to Clemson or ND, either as the ACC team in the Orange Bowl or as an at large team in another bowl (probably the Sugar Bowl). They'd probably prefer to got to the Orange Bowl, but I don't think their preference for Orange over Sugar would be enough to risk losing to BYU.

To get in the playoff, I think Clemson, Florida, aTm, and Georgia would all need one more loss. Pretty unlikely, given those teams remaining schedules (especially aTm's and Georgia's). It is possible that they jump Georgia with a good win, but they already have one on their schedule in North Carolina in two weeks. They'd also have to jump Cincinnati, which I think is likely, but is not guaranteed. I think there is also a good chance that Oklahoma passes them and takes a playoff spot (if it is available) if Oklahoma wins out and wins the Big12 Championship. Does a BYU win help in any of that? Maybe it would help them jump Georgia and Cincinnati, if beating North Carolina doesn't do the trick. I don't think that's enough of an advantage to risk losing to BYU.

The one good thing that may diminish the effect of a BYU loss is that they are scheduled to play North Carolina on 12/12. So if they win that game, they would like remain the highest ranked ACC team and take the Orange Bowl spot if ND and Clemson are both in the playoff. That's actually not good for BYU though, as it would put another guaranteed NY6 team outside the CFP Top 12 (the other one being the Pac12 champ), requiring BYU to be in the Top 10 in the CFP rankings to get an at large NY6 bid. If Clemson loses again to ND though, I think they'd be out of the playoff and Miami would likely lose an at large NY6 bid if it loses to BYU.

On balance, it's not a huge risk either way, but the downside clearly outweighs the upside, IMO. I hope I'm wrong and it gets scheduled. We can beat Miami and it would shut up most of the critics.