College Football Playoff 2020: 5 biggest snubs from initial rankings
By Andrew Tineo
5. BYU Cougars (No. 14)
This one might be the most glaring team that did not help having the input of the College Football Playoff. It was expected by many that BYU and Cincinnati would be near each other in the rankings. Both have not had a strong schedule, both have excellent quarterback play and have blown out just about every team they played.
So it was head scratching to see BYU pop up at No. 14 and Cincinnati nowhere to be seen outside the top 10. It wouldn’t be till later that Cincinnati would hold the highest ranking by a Group of Five team in the playoff era at No. 7.
Cincinnati has no wins against any team in the Top 25, while teams like Iowa State, Oklahoma and Georgia all have wins against teams that are in the playoff rankings. The ingredients for a team to make the playoff while being in the Group of Five is having a dominant team led by a Heisman level quarterback.
BYU has that formula, with Zach Wilson, who has been nothing short of brilliant this season.
https://twitter.com/Mitch_Harper/status/1330263132862812160?s=20
The main complaint has been the schedule and that has been a fair criticism up to this point. Prior to COVID-19 ruining their schedule, the Cougars was slated to have one of the toughest schedules in all of college football until they had to completely restructure it, including taking off Pac-12 teams, because they would not allow non-conference games.
This bombshell would then drop, discussing how the Pac-12 will all of a sudden begin scheduling non-conference games, in hope of getting a team to play enough games with a hope to make the CFP, something the conference hasn’t done since 2016.
All of this to say, if the playoff is going to criticize one team for one issue, you have to do the same for the other team that has that same issue. Both teams have passed the eye test up to this point and have done exactly what a top 10 team does to their schedule they have been handed to them.
The playoff committee’s justification was that BYU’s best win was against No. 21 Boise State and they officially emphasized that the Broncos were without numerous starters. BYU would go on to win that game, 51-17.
Gary Barta asked about why BYU is so low: "The Committee is very impressed with BYU. Zach Wilson is playing at a high level but as you look at their best win, against Boise State. Boise was shorthanded in that game."
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) November 25, 2020
Justified Ranking: No. 9