Sperry

[Sean Mike Kelly @seankelly25]

How Can An Immaterial God Have An Image - Jacob Hansen vs 10

[Jake Welch @BYUAllBlue]

Welcome visitors, to LaVell Edwards Stadium.

It's our little slice of college football heaven, or for a few hours, your own personal hell.

Either way, if you're here you're dead.

[Shams Charania @ShamsCharania]

Free agent forward Jeremy Sochan has agreed to a one-year deal to sign with the Portland Trail Blazers, agent Deirunas Visockas of Gersh Sports tells ESPN. Sochan -- who has averaged 9.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists entering his fifth NBA season -- finished 2025-26 on the championship Knicks.

[AJ Dybantsa @AJ_Dybantsa]

Thank you Elder Rasband

[Sperry @sperrysports]

@adaptiveai Adaptive

[Greg Wrubell @gregwrubell]

CFP committee is using the nature of BYU's 29-7 loss at Texas Tech to exclude the Cougs from at-large candidacy--and let's remember, we're talking about the No. 4 team in the country, on its home field, with a nationally elite defense (1st rushing D, 3rd scoring D, 6th total D).

A closer look inside the numbers from Nov. 8 shows many interesting things:

BYU had negative yardage on two of 12 drives.
Texas Tech had negative yardage on four of 13 drives.

BYU scored one TD on 12 possessions.
Tech scored two TDs on 13 possessions.

BYU punted six times.
Tech punted five times.

BYU: 3.9 yards per play (season average 6.1)
Tech: 4.9 yards per play (season average 6.5)

BYU had more sacks (4-1).
BYU had more possession time (30:35-29:25).

BYU had 14 first downs.
Tech had 17 first downs.

Tech's points, first downs and yardage totals against BYU were the lowest in any of their 11 wins.

Most significant stats:
BYU was -3 in turnover margin (only BYU game this season without a takeaway); Sitake-era BYU is 0-10 at -3 or worse in turnover margin.

BYU was -18 yards in average starting field position (second-worst number of the Sitake era), influenced by multiple early special teams miscues. In the first 20 minutes of the game, BYU had a 19-yard shanked punt, a muffed punt-return giveaway and a missed field goal.

BYU's defense was very good, but needed to make takeaway plays that were there to be made.

BYU's offense was challenged, and LJ Martin was not healthy. BYU made multiple pre-snap mistakes in front of a loud crowd.

BYU's special teams struggled.

BYU should expect improvement in all three areas on Saturday.

The loss in Lubbock was bad, but there was enough good to give hope of a positive outcome in Arlington.

Go Cougs!

[First and 16 - A Big 12 Show @Firstand16_Pod]

BYU is now OFFICIALLY the first 1-loss P4/P5 to finish the regular season ranked outside of the Top 10 of the highest poll (CFP/AP).

Surely their resume must have been terrible to warrant this record breaking low ranking.

Probably no wins over ranked teams, or even bowl eligible teams. Also must have lost to a team like UMass or something.

I mean 90+ years is a long time, with hundreds of 1-loss teams, it must have taken something crazy to keep them out.

[ShowtimeCFB @ShowtimeCFBPod]

What has Notre Dame done that BYU hasn’t?

This is one of the worst cases of Brand Bias I have EVER seen.

Still waiting to hear answers.

[Dave Portnoy @stoolpresidente]

Do not piss on #ProvoDave head and tell me it’s raining. Nuts and bolts BYU got screwed.

[Jeff Fuller @jjfuller72]

Looking back at the LAST 30 YEARS, no 1-loss P4/P5 team has ever been ranked as low as BYU at #11 in the AP poll at the end of the regular season

All other year's lowest-ranked 1-loss teams ended with an AP ranking between #3-10, & there's a strong correlation between better AP ranking and better SOS... except for BYU, who showed better than average figures for all schedule strength data points, yet somehow received the lowest ranking on record

I utilized the weekly poll data from the College Poll Archive site and used the Colley Matrix for SOS data since it's the only one I could find with historical weekly data

I stopped the search at 1996 due to the data getting irregular with many "ties" in the records prior to that year and the confusion between the pre-Big12 conferences

Links in replies

[Sperry @sperrysports]

@joewheat27 Biggest game of my life this week, and instead I’m stressing over a coaching decision. NCAA needs to fix this scheduling mess, and Kalani needs to make a decision yesterday!

[BYU FOOTBALL @BYUfootball]

the numbers speak for themselves.

[HoboJ @HoboJ_]

Let's do some comparisons because as a college football fan I'm annoyed at the crime taking place...

2024 Indiana vs 2025 BYU

2024 Indiana
• SOR: 8
• FPI: 10
• SOS: 35
• Game Control: 6
• AVGWP: 6
^*Boosted numbers after playoff game*

Schedule
vs 4-8 FIU (W 31-7)
vs FCS Western Illinois (W 77-3)
@ 5-7 UCLA (W 42-13)
vs 5-7 Charlotte (W 52-14)
vs 4-8 Maryland (W 42-28)
@ 4-8 Northwestern (W 41-24)
vs 6-6 Nebraska (W 56-7)
vs 6-6 Washington (W 31-17)
@ 5-7 Michigan State (W 47-10)
vs 7-5 Michigan (W 20-15)
@ 10-2 Ohio State (L 38-15)
vs 1-11 Purdue (W 66-0)

•Cumulative FBS Opponent W/L: 57-75
•Cumulative FBS Opponent Win %: 43.18%
• Final Record before postseason: 11-1
• Number of bowl eligible teams defeated: 3
• Best Win: 7-5 Michigan
• Number of wins vs ranked teams in final poll before postseason: 0
• Did not qualify for Conference Championship Game

They were always safely in the playoff. Never in doubt. Never questioned.

2025 BYU
• SOR: 6
• FPI: 15
• SOS: 35
• Game Control: 14
• AVGWP: 24
^ *most current numbers*

Schedule
vs FCS Portland State (W 69-0)
vs 4-8 Stanford (W 27-3)
@ 8-4 East Carolina (W 34-13)
@ 3-9 Colorado (W 24-21)
vs 4-8 West Virginia (W 38-24)
@ 9-3 Arizona (W 33-27)
vs 10-2 Utah (W 24-21)
@ 8-4 Iowa State (W 41-27)
@ 11-1 Texas Tech (L 29-7)
vs 8-4 TCU (W 44-13)
@ 7-5 Cincinnati (W 26-14)
vs 5-7 UCF (W 41-21)

• Cumulative FBS Opponent W/L: 77-55
• Cumulative FBS Opponent Win %: 58.33%
• Final Record before postseason: 11-1
• Number of bowl eligible teams defeated: 6
• Best Win: 10-2 Utah
• Number of wins vs ranked teams in final poll before postseason: 2 (for sure)
• Qualified for Conference Championship Game

And the committee is saying they have to win out.

Oh but I'm not done. Let's explore that "they have to win out" idea from the committee.... and for the "Why doesn't BYU just beat Texas Tech in the conference championship" crowd...

Let's compare 2025 BYU to another team who went 11-1, lost their conference championship game, and still got in to the CFP... 2024 SMU

2024 SMU
• SOR: 18
• FPI: 13
• SOS: 41
• Game Control: 18
• AVGWP: 16
^ *Boosted numbers after CCG and playoff*

Schedule
@ 3-9 Nevada (W 29-24)
vs FCS Houston Baptist (W 59-7)
vs 10-2 BYU (L 18-16)
vs 8-4 TCU (W 66-42)
vs 2-10 Florida State (W 42-16)
@ 8-4 Louisville (W 34-27)
@ 3-9 Stanford (W 40-10)
@ 9-3 Duke (W 28-27)
vs 7-5 Pitt (W 48-25)
vs 7-5 Boston College (W 38-28)
@ 5-7 Virginia (W 33-7)
vs 6-6 Cal (W 38-6)

• Cumulative FBS Opponent W/L: 68-64
• Cumulative FBS Opponent Win %: 51.52%
• Final Record before postseason: 11-1
• Number of bowl eligible teams defeated: 6
• Best Win: 9-3 Duke
• Number of wins vs ranked teams in final poll before postseason: 0
• Qualified for conference championship game

SMU got in to the CFP even after losing the conference championship game to a 9-3 Clemson.

Now... It is quite clear that 2025 BYU has a better resume than both of these teams.

Why does that matter?

Well it's a little thing called precedent. The CFP Committee has set precedents over time. Not mine. THEIR OWN. Here they are...

• Since the inception of the CFP in 2014, NO 11-1 P4 team has been ranked outside of the top 10 in the final regular season rankings

• 2024 Indiana set the precedent that if you're 11-1 in a P4... You're in, under any circumstance. Because their resume was boo boo.

• 2024 SMU set the precedent that if you're 11-1 in a P4 and you lose your conference championship game.. you're still in.

So, in closing... Yes, BYU should be in the CFP. Regardless of the Big 12 championship game result. I rest my case. Good luck to the defense counsel, you're cooked.

[Dave Portnoy @stoolpresidente]

Playoffs scenario is very simple. Regardless of what happens in championship games the final 2 teams in the playoffs should be BYU and Alabama. If BYU wins Big 12 put Texas Tech in there. Thats it. End of story. Anything else is wrong and an injustice

[First and 16 - A Big 12 Show @Firstand16_Pod]

I went back and looked at the last decade of where the lowest ranked P4/P5 1-loss team finished the regular season and here are the results:

2025: BYU (11 Projection)
2024: Indiana (8)
2023: Alabama (8)
2022: Ohio State (4)
2021: Notre Dame (5)
2020: NA (Covid)
2019: Baylor (7)
2018: Ohio State (6)
2017: Georgia (6)
2016: Washington (4)

AVERAGE ranking: 6

BYU is being absolutely robbed.

[BYU FOOTBALL @BYUfootball]

11-1

Headed to the Big 12 Championship.

It would be a disservice to our sport if this team’s not a playoff team.

[Big 12 Conference @Big12Conference]

It’s all about the facts when it comes to this CFP resume.

[steven ammann @sammann222]

The way the CFP should actually look:

1. OSU (B1G Champ)
2. IU
3. A&M (SEC Champ)
4. Georgia
5. Ole Miss
6. Texas Tech (B12 Champ)
7. Oregon
8. Oklahoma
9. Alabama
10. Miami (ACC Champ)
11. BYU
12. Tulane (G5 Champ)

Those are the 12 best resumes that fit the CFP parameters.

[CFB Kings @CFBKings]

10-1 #6 Oregon:
• 1-1 vs. ranked opponents
• 4 wins over bowl eligible teams
• Lost to #2 Indiana at home

10-1 #7 Ole Miss:
• 2-1 vs. ranked opponents
• 3 wins over bowl eligible teams
• Lost to #4 Georgia on the road

10-1 #11 BYU:
• 2-1 vs. ranked opponents
• 6 wins over bowl eligible teams
• Lost to #5 Texas Tech on the road

Why is BYU not bare minimum #8? The committee DESPISES them for some reason.

[Greg Wrubell @gregwrubell]

The idea that a one-loss team in a Power 4 conference (BYU) can be currently out of the bracket and ranked behind three two-loss teams with lower SOR numbers is embarrassing for the sport.