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BYU football head coach Kalani Sitake reacts during a Big 12 game against TCU at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Evan Johnson sacks TCU quarterback Josh Hoover in a Big 12 football game at LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025.

Marcia Harris, Special to the Herald

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When BYU football was competing in the Western Athletic Conference, or the Mountain West Conference, or an independent schedule, the Cougars knew that if they were having a special season a single loss would knock them out of national contention.

That’s just how the college football world worked.

When BYU accepted an invitation to the Big 12, the assumption was that would all change.

It has … but not much.

Three years into being a Power 5 program, BYU is having a terrific season, fashioning a 9-1 record behind freshman sensation Bear Bachmeier at quarterback and a rugged defense. Its only loss was to No. 5 Texas Tech in Lubbock.

The lack of respect from the College Football Playoff committee is almost comical: The Cougars are No. 11 in this week’s rankings, behind three two-loss teams (Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Alabama) and a one-loss Oregon team whose resume is clearly inferior.

Notre Dame was sixth in the preseason AP poll, Oregon seventh, Alabama eighth and Oklahoma 18th. The Cougars, which finished the 2024 season 11-2 with a dominating Alamo Bowl win against media darling Colorado, was unranked but 26th in the voting.

BYU would likely be the first team out if the playoffs started today.

Another loss in the final two games of the season (at Cincinnati and at home against UCF) or even a loss in the Big 12 title game (presumably to Texas Tech again) would almost assuredly keep the Cougars out of the playoffs as well.

So all of the positive momentum, all of the scheduling upgrades, all of the additional money spent in infrastructure and recruiting has earned BYU exactly one game in the loss column when it comes to the College Football Playoffs.

There’s more.

Here is some irony in the Cougars struggling to make the CFP with a 9-1 record and a member of a Power 5 conference: If this year’s BYU team was G5, it might have a better chance of earning a playoff spot. No. 24 Tulane (8-2) is on track to earning the G5 auto qualifying bid — quarterbacked by former Cougar Jake Retzlaff, who left Provo rather than face a seven-game suspension after an alleged sexual assault.

Additionally, Utah AD Mark Harlan was added to CFP Committee a week ago to replace Mack Rhoades, Baylor’s AD who stepped down for personal reasons.

BYU fans don’t have much hope that Harlan, who famously threw a tantrum after the Cougars beat his Utes in Salt Lake City last year, will be in those meetings fighting for his fellow Big 12 member down south.

Even usually outspoken Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark seems a bit muted in his responses about the CFP.

“I am thrilled to see the Big 12 Conference getting the respect it deserves,” Yorkmark wrote in a statement. “I said at Big 12 Football Media Days in July that we would earn it on the field, and we continue to do that.”

There is frustration among Cougar fans that head coach Kalani Sitake doesn’t believe in style points. Whenever BYU has a chance to run up the score against an opponent, Sitake opts for the gentlemanly approach. It may earn respect from his peers but doesn’t move the needle at the national level because blowouts are sexy.

Being a good sport isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The problem might be that when the Cougars have a comfortable lead in a game, Sitake goes conservative offensively and starts to sub in backup defenders. Meanwhile, the opponent keeps playing and might make a two or three-touchdown deficit a single-digit finish.

Some examples: BYU led West Virginia 38-17 with 8:50 left in the fourth quarter but allowed a late touchdown to the Mountaineers in the final minute with backups on defense, making a three-touchdown win a two-touchdown finish. The Cougars had a 10-point lead in the Utah game but the Utes scored a cosmetic touchdown with 1:24 remaining.

Maybe those touchdowns are meaningless, because the goal is to win the game, but maybe they aren’t so meaningless in the eyes of the CFP committee.

BYU’s 29-7 loss to No. 5 Texas Tech two weeks ago made a significant impact on the committee’s view of the Cougars.

“It’s really the way they looked in that game against Texas Tech,” CFP Committee Chair and Arkansas AD Hunter Yurachek said. “They were dominated on both sides of the ball in that game against Texas Tech. Then you look at their wins, they have a win over Utah, who’s ranked 13th, but then their other wins are against … what we would consider quality wins are against an unranked Iowa State team, Arizona and East Carolina.

“Then you look at a two-loss Alabama team that’s got wins against No. 4 Georgia, No. 14 Vanderbilt, No. 21 Missouri and No. 20 Tennessee. Notre Dame’s got a win over 15th ranked Southern Cal, and then last week a dominating win on the road at Pitt, who’s ranked. Then Oklahoma has wins against No. 18 Michigan, No. 20 Tennessee and then at No. 10 Alabama. I think it’s just the number of quality wins that with those two-loss teams ahead of them and how they looked in that game two weeks ago in Texas Tech — against Texas Tech.”

There are plenty of arguments on social media against Yurachek’s stance but they seem to be taking place in an echo chamber as the CFP committee marches forward to the drumbeat of the SEC and the Big Ten, business as usual.

Through all of this, BYU head coach Kalani Sitake is trying to keep his team focused on playing what amounts to two playoff games to end the season at Cincinnati and at home against UCF.

“When I say I don’t really pay attention to it, I know it exists, guys,” Sitake said. “I am not dumb. I know all the stuff that’s out there. I know what people are saying and the metrics and the analytics and style points matter and all that stuff.

“My focus isn’t on that. I understand everything that’s out there. I have to be focused on what we can control, which is playing football, and the preparation today. So it’s nice that we’re in the mix and that people are recognizing what we have done. But what does that matter if we don’t go 1-0 this weekend?”