East coast bias plus the recent prolonged strength of the AAC relative to the other G4s is why UC is up there. BYU schedule has been awful, to no fault of their own. The AAC is clearly a deeper conference. Plus, you can't go nearly three weeks this late in the year without playing a game. If they can get an Oregon/Washington winner on the schedule, it would vault them over UC IMO. Unfortunately the winner of that game would probably get USC in the PAC 12 Championship game.

(11-25-2020 10:26 AM)RUScarlets Wrote:  East coast bias plus the recent prolonged strength of the AAC relative to the other G4s is why UC is up there. BYU schedule has been awful, to no fault of their own. The AAC is clearly a deeper conference. Plus, you can't go nearly three weeks this late in the year without playing a game. If they can get an Oregon/Washington winner on the schedule, it would vault them over UC IMO. Unfortunately the winner of that game would probably get USC in the PAC 12 Championship game.

It is their fault. Join a conference, if you want the benefits of a set schedule. If you don't like that, I get it. These are the consequences though.

(11-25-2020 12:18 PM)Z-Fly Wrote:  

(11-25-2020 10:26 AM)RUScarlets Wrote:  East coast bias plus the recent prolonged strength of the AAC relative to the other G4s is why UC is up there. BYU schedule has been awful, to no fault of their own. The AAC is clearly a deeper conference. Plus, you can't go nearly three weeks this late in the year without playing a game. If they can get an Oregon/Washington winner on the schedule, it would vault them over UC IMO. Unfortunately the winner of that game would probably get USC in the PAC 12 Championship game.

It is their fault. Join a conference, if you want the benefits of a set schedule. If you don't like that, I get it. These are the consequences though.

Once again, their Indy schedule WAS stronger than any G5 schedule.

(11-25-2020 01:56 PM)esayem Wrote:  

(11-25-2020 12:18 PM)Z-Fly Wrote:  

(11-25-2020 10:26 AM)RUScarlets Wrote:  East coast bias plus the recent prolonged strength of the AAC relative to the other G4s is why UC is up there. BYU schedule has been awful, to no fault of their own. The AAC is clearly a deeper conference. Plus, you can't go nearly three weeks this late in the year without playing a game. If they can get an Oregon/Washington winner on the schedule, it would vault them over UC IMO. Unfortunately the winner of that game would probably get USC in the PAC 12 Championship game.

It is their fault. Join a conference, if you want the benefits of a set schedule. If you don't like that, I get it. These are the consequences though.

Once again, their Indy schedule WAS stronger than any G5 schedule.

Right, but his point still stands, because being in a conference protects you from having everyone cancel on you and you then being responsible for trying to coble together a schedule. UNC didn't have to make 100 phone calls to get a 10-game schedule, once the ACC decided it was playing, the conference took care of that.

(11-25-2020 01:58 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(11-25-2020 01:56 PM)esayem Wrote:  

(11-25-2020 12:18 PM)Z-Fly Wrote:  

(11-25-2020 10:26 AM)RUScarlets Wrote:  East coast bias plus the recent prolonged strength of the AAC relative to the other G4s is why UC is up there. BYU schedule has been awful, to no fault of their own. The AAC is clearly a deeper conference. Plus, you can't go nearly three weeks this late in the year without playing a game. If they can get an Oregon/Washington winner on the schedule, it would vault them over UC IMO. Unfortunately the winner of that game would probably get USC in the PAC 12 Championship game.

It is their fault. Join a conference, if you want the benefits of a set schedule. If you don't like that, I get it. These are the consequences though.

Once again, their Indy schedule WAS stronger than any G5 schedule.

Right, but his point still stands, because being in a conference protects you from having everyone cancel on you and you then being responsible for trying to coble together a schedule. UNC didn't have to make 100 phone calls to get a 10-game schedule, once the ACC decided it was playing, the conference took care of that.

Well my point stands that planning your athletic conference allegiances around the possibility of a worldwide pandemic is not sound reasoning.

(11-25-2020 02:03 PM)esayem Wrote:  

(11-25-2020 01:58 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(11-25-2020 01:56 PM)esayem Wrote:  

(11-25-2020 12:18 PM)Z-Fly Wrote:  

(11-25-2020 10:26 AM)RUScarlets Wrote:  East coast bias plus the recent prolonged strength of the AAC relative to the other G4s is why UC is up there. BYU schedule has been awful, to no fault of their own. The AAC is clearly a deeper conference. Plus, you can't go nearly three weeks this late in the year without playing a game. If they can get an Oregon/Washington winner on the schedule, it would vault them over UC IMO. Unfortunately the winner of that game would probably get USC in the PAC 12 Championship game.

It is their fault. Join a conference, if you want the benefits of a set schedule. If you don't like that, I get it. These are the consequences though.

Once again, their Indy schedule WAS stronger than any G5 schedule.

Right, but his point still stands, because being in a conference protects you from having everyone cancel on you and you then being responsible for trying to coble together a schedule. UNC didn't have to make 100 phone calls to get a 10-game schedule, once the ACC decided it was playing, the conference took care of that.

Well my point stands that planning your athletic conference allegiances around the possibility of a worldwide pandemic is not sound reasoning.

If that was your point, then OK, I agree.

(11-25-2020 01:56 PM)esayem Wrote:  

(11-25-2020 12:18 PM)Z-Fly Wrote:  

(11-25-2020 10:26 AM)RUScarlets Wrote:  East coast bias plus the recent prolonged strength of the AAC relative to the other G4s is why UC is up there. BYU schedule has been awful, to no fault of their own. The AAC is clearly a deeper conference. Plus, you can't go nearly three weeks this late in the year without playing a game. If they can get an Oregon/Washington winner on the schedule, it would vault them over UC IMO. Unfortunately the winner of that game would probably get USC in the PAC 12 Championship game.

It is their fault. Join a conference, if you want the benefits of a set schedule. If you don't like that, I get it. These are the consequences though.

Once again, their Indy schedule WAS stronger than any G5 schedule.

BYU had a set schedule it just happens that COVID ruined it. I forgot how good BYU's original schedule was. Here it is:

09/03 – at Utah
09/12 – Michigan State
09/19 – at Arizona State
09/26 – at Minnesota
10/02 – Utah State
10/10 – Missouri
10/16 – Houston
10/24 – at Northern Illinois
10/31 – OFF
11/06 – at Boise State
11/14 – San Diego State
11/21 – North Alabama
11/28 – at Stanford

That is a great schedule.

Being thankful this Thanksgiving morning.
- BYU made its first ever appearance in the College Football Playoff rankings.
- In spite of all the covid-craziness of 2020, BYU has played 9 football games this season and hopefully get a few more in.
- The team is stronger and deeper than they have been in a long, long time. Several more players will be making the leap into the NFL draft/tryout cycle than recent years have produced.
- Despite the much lower ranking than any other poll has given, it was nice to hear college football analysts almost universally rally that BYU was not placed where they should be. All that national attention has actually been better than if they had come in high and have people looking down their nose at your ranking questioning if you are worthy of it. Since there will be several more revisions of this poll before it becomes final after week 16, I'm hoping BYU can change a few minds and still have the ability to move up.

Wishing a happy and healthy Thanksgiving to all of you and yours.

(11-24-2020 08:02 PM)THUNDERStruck73 Wrote:  

(11-24-2020 07:51 PM)whittx Wrote:  

(11-24-2020 07:48 PM)THUNDERStruck73 Wrote:  

(11-24-2020 07:45 PM)Foreverandever Wrote:  

(11-24-2020 07:26 PM)f1do Wrote:  What this ranking means is BYU better be hunting for another game for 12/5 and will need help to get high enough for a NY6 game. And that 12/5 matchup isn't going to be Cincinnati (why would they not just run their schedule out with their #7 ranking?).

Other AAC teams may be possible. But Cincy is on track with the way the schedules are set to have a very good chance to sneak in the back door to the play off, that's the benefit of being in a strong conference and knowing you will have strong teams on your schedule guarenteed.

Neither one of them is going to risk a bird in the hand for two in the bush. Playing a middle ranked team hives you a better price. Both are playing with house money right now.

If Liberty can knock off Coastal, both teams can play on 12/19.

You mean BYU and Liberty, right?

If I were Liberty, I would pick a neutral site.

(11-24-2020 12:06 PM)YNot Wrote:  

(11-24-2020 11:00 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(11-24-2020 10:56 AM)Arch Stanton Wrote:  

(11-24-2020 01:07 AM)sierrajip Wrote:  

(11-21-2020 08:06 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  "Coming from me"? WTF? I think UC has a non-trivial chance to make the playoffs. It's not a good chance, not as high as some models say, but an undefeated UC maybe has a 15% chance to get in. That's something.

And a win over a top-10 BYU would boost that higher.

Lets see what the committee has to say.

But even if the committee puts BYU ahead of TAMU and FLA tonight (which I doubt they do). TAMU, FLA, NW, ORE, USC, Miami and even OK will be placed ahead of BYU by the committee in subsequent rankings.

I'm not sure they "will" be passed, but I do think BYU runs a very high risk if they like their ranking tonight and then assume they will keep it while being idle for two weeks while other teams are playing. Two weeks of being out of sight, out of mind does raise a strong chance of getting passed by, so if I were them I'd schedule at least one more game for 12/5, and not vs North Alabama.

BYU is trying. I believe BYU tried to schedule Marshall for this weekend, a couple of weeks ago. But, it didn't happen. BYU tried to get a game with Washington this weekend, but Washington was unable to guarantee that the game would actually be played because of the PAC 12's new and short-sighted OOC restrictions. (Looks like Washington and Utah will play this weekend anyway, so it wasn't happening.)

I still hold on to hope that BYU will be able to move the SDSU game up to this weekend (or move it to a future year), which would open up possibilities for good games on 12/5, 12/12 and/or 12/19.

Maybe vs UCF not in Utah.

(11-25-2020 09:56 AM)esayem Wrote:  This is what gets me:

BYU and Cincinnati both beat common opponent Houston handily.

BYU crushes ranked Boise State, while Cincinnati crushes ranked SMU.

How is Cincinnati #7 and BYU #14?

That is a HUGE difference in poll-land, and I think the two should be much closer to one another, however you want to make that happen.

Have you checked out the UH UC game score? Is this what you are basing this on?

Rumors tonight that BYU will have a "good" opponent for 12/5--but is not ready to reveal it yet.

(11-29-2020 12:05 AM)f1do Wrote:  Rumors tonight that BYU will have a "good" opponent for 12/5--but is not ready to reveal it yet.

Clemson!!!

(11-28-2020 09:13 PM)sierrajip Wrote:  

(11-25-2020 09:56 AM)esayem Wrote:  This is what gets me:

BYU and Cincinnati both beat common opponent Houston handily.

BYU crushes ranked Boise State, while Cincinnati crushes ranked SMU.

How is Cincinnati #7 and BYU #14?

That is a HUGE difference in poll-land, and I think the two should be much closer to one another, however you want to make that happen.

Have you checked out the UH UC game score? Is this what you are basing this on?

Yes. Also, I’ll need to amend my post as SMU is no longer a strong win.

(11-28-2020 09:13 PM)sierrajip Wrote:  

(11-25-2020 09:56 AM)esayem Wrote:  This is what gets me:

BYU and Cincinnati both beat common opponent Houston handily.

BYU crushes ranked Boise State, while Cincinnati crushes ranked SMU.

How is Cincinnati #7 and BYU #14?

That is a HUGE difference in poll-land, and I think the two should be much closer to one another, however you want to make that happen.

Have you checked out the UH UC game score? Is this what you are basing this on?

But Cincinnati has also beaten Army, UCF, and Memphis...Who has BYU beaten again...

(11-29-2020 09:44 AM)whittx Wrote:  But Cincinnati has also beaten Army, UCF, and Memphis...Who has BYU beaten again...

Remind me why people think beating 7-2 Army is a badge of honor when their 7 wins come against 3 FCS teams (Abilene Christian, The Citadel, Mercer who cumulatively have a 1-12 record in the fall), 2 poor teams (0-9 ULM, 3-6 Middle Tennessee), 2 decent teams (7-4 UTSA, 6-4 Georgia Southern), and then a loss to 5-5 Tulane?

BYU destroyed 4-1 Boise State by more than 4 scores. They were ranked prior to the game and as of week 13 are still getting votes in the AP and Coaches polls.

(11-25-2020 01:58 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(11-25-2020 01:56 PM)esayem Wrote:  

(11-25-2020 12:18 PM)Z-Fly Wrote:  

(11-25-2020 10:26 AM)RUScarlets Wrote:  East coast bias plus the recent prolonged strength of the AAC relative to the other G4s is why UC is up there. BYU schedule has been awful, to no fault of their own. The AAC is clearly a deeper conference. Plus, you can't go nearly three weeks this late in the year without playing a game. If they can get an Oregon/Washington winner on the schedule, it would vault them over UC IMO. Unfortunately the winner of that game would probably get USC in the PAC 12 Championship game.

It is their fault. Join a conference, if you want the benefits of a set schedule. If you don't like that, I get it. These are the consequences though.

Once again, their Indy schedule WAS stronger than any G5 schedule.

Right, but his point still stands, because being in a conference protects you from having everyone cancel on you and you then being responsible for trying to coble together a schedule. UNC didn't have to make 100 phone calls to get a 10-game schedule, once the ACC decided it was playing, the conference took care of that.

But even being in a conference doesn’t protect you if they decide to cancel the season and you still want to play as we saw in late summer with Nebraska and the Big Ten. Let’s say BYU is still in the MWC and the conference office in Denver cancels the season as they did in August but somehow BYU defies the conference (since they’re the biggest brand and money maker) and gets away from playing. They still need to call 10-12 schools at the last minute.

(11-29-2020 12:13 PM)f1do Wrote:  

(11-29-2020 09:44 AM)whittx Wrote:  But Cincinnati has also beaten Army, UCF, and Memphis...Who has BYU beaten again...

Remind me why people think beating 7-2 Army is a badge of honor when their 7 wins come against 3 FCS teams (Abilene Christian, The Citadel, Mercer who cumulatively have a 1-12 record in the fall), 2 poor teams (0-9 ULM, 3-6 Middle Tennessee), 2 decent teams (7-4 UTSA, 6-4 Georgia Southern), and then a loss to 5-5 Tulane?

BYU destroyed 4-1 Boise State by more than 4 scores. They were ranked prior to the game and as of week 13 are still getting votes in the AP and Coaches polls.

Yes, no matter how you slice it, Cincy's schedule has been a soft schedule. Sagarin has it at #84 right now, and that seems about right.

Yes, it's been tougher than BYU's schedule, which has been very soft. But really, if you're talking about the #84 schedule vs the #110 schedule, you're talking degrees of softness. Not something that merits seven full ranking spots in the CFP.

(11-29-2020 01:24 PM)UTEPDallas Wrote:  But even being in a conference doesn’t protect you if they decide to cancel the season and you still want to play as we saw in late summer with Nebraska and the Big Ten. Let’s say BYU is still in the MWC and the conference office in Denver cancels the season as they did in August but somehow BYU defies the conference (since they’re the biggest brand and money maker) and gets away from playing. They still need to call 10-12 schools at the last minute.

Exactly. If BYU was still in the MWC, they would have not started games until week 8 and had a maximum of 8 games (with no bye or cancelation). If BYU was in the PAC12 (which they would have taken in a heartbeat), they wouldn't have started until week 10 and had a maximum of 6 games (with no bye or cancelation). We can complain about the quality of 2020 games all we want, but in the end BYU has played 9 games (and hopefully can get another 2 in before the season is up). No conference in the western half of the US would have given them that opportunity.

AP poll has UC at #7 and BYU at #8. If you play each other the winner may get to as high as #5. Even more props if the visiting team wins.

Go for it guys. Even offer to be the visitor. Get a return home game in the future.