BYU Football: Three Storylines Ahead of the Next CFP Rankings
The second edition of the 2020 College Football Playoff rankings will be unveiled on ESPN tonight at 7 PM ET. BYU dropped from #8 in the AP poll to #14 in the first CFP rankings. The Cougar's ranking surprised the ESPN analysts during the show and national analysts expressed their displeasure about BYU's ranking throughout the week on twitter. Given the drama surrounding BYU's ranking this week, here are the three main storylines ahead of tonight's new CFP rankings:
1. Will the committee rethink BYU's ranking?
The committee received a lot of backlash for BYU's ranking. Will the public pressure cause them to re-evaluate their position on BYU? It wasn't just BYU fans that were upset, some of the biggest analysts in college football came to BYU's defense. College Gameday dedicated an entire segment about it and Urban Meyer (yes, that Urban Meyer) said BYU should be ranked "much higher".
2. How fall does Northwestern fall?
No. 8 Northwestern lost to a bad Michigan State team on Saturday. How far will Northwestern fall? Most people (including this author) have assumed that Northwestern's loss would put them below the Cougars in the rankings, but the committee has already placed multiple one and two-loss P5 teams ahead of BYU in the rankings.
3. Who will be the new group behind BYU?
I can say with confidence that BYU won't drop below #14 in the rankings tonight. Why? The five teams ranked behind BYU either lost or were idle last week. #15 Oregon lost to unranked Oregon State. #17 Texas lost to #13 Iowa State, and #19 North Carolina lost to #2 Notre Dame. #16 Wisconsin and #18 USC were idle last weekend.
This is an important group to monitor. These are the teams that could leapfrog BYU if they win big games in December.