BYU's Bowl Hopes Plummet After Blowout Loss to Iowa State

There are more questions than answers surrounding the BYU football program after the Cougars suffered a third consecutive blowout loss. This time, BYU lost at home to Iowa State 45-13. With two games left on the schedule, BYU is 5-5 and desperately searching for one more win to reach bowl eligibility.

Unfortunately for BYU and its bowl aspirations, the schedule gets even tougher over the next few weeks. BYU hosts Oklahoma at home on Saturday morning (yes, a 10 AM local kickoff time) before traveling to Stillwater to take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys to finish the season.

ESPN's predictive college football algorithm, the football power index, updated its prediction for BYU-Oklahoma and BYU-Oklahoma State after Saturday's action. FPI gives BYU a 5.8% chance to beat Oklahoma at home and 18.2% to beat Oklahoma State on the road.

Before the loss to West Virginia a few weeks ago, BYU had a 69.8% chance to finish with six or more wins. That dropped to 52.2% after the loss to the Mountaineers. After the loss to Iowa State, the odds that BYU will reach six wins are 22.8% according to the Football Power Index.

If BYU wants to redeem its season and reach a bowl game, it will have to pull off at least one more upset.

BYU is trending in the wrong direction right now. Kalani Sitake and the BYU coaching staff has two more chances to right the ship and reverse the disconcerting trend.

Facebook - @CougsDaily

Twitter - @Cougs_Daily and Casey Lundquist at @casey_lundquist

Instagram - @cougs_daily