Confirmation bias and the current ranking system are not a good match.

This BYU team is slow to get credit because they were pretty much universally expected to be a poor team...from national pundits and from within the B12 conference. Even as fans, most of us were hopeful to qualify for a bowl game.

And until the game against KSU, there was not a whole lot for the casual observer (or national folks who who have not watched a lot of BYU games) to see that justified changing that perception. SIU - need I say more? SMU - maybe they are not that good? And perhaps BYU was lucky to hold their offense to FGs? And of course, Wyoming is not an impressive team. Their game against BYU may have been their super bowl and perhaps they played well above their ability, but that means nothing to anyone. So, to most people, our 3-0 start was not terribly impressive. And to further cement that belief, look how we started last year and where we finished. Do they assume more of the same? And to make matters more difficult, many of these voters or media personalities have been on record either vocalizing their belief that BYU is not good, or simply treating them as an afterthought. Tough to publicly change your stance when BYU has not really done anything to truly justify they deserve much credit--at least in their eyes.

But this week, we finally get a real test. Fortunately, we took advantage and handily won. But there were easily things that these pundits can hold onto to confirm to them that this game was a fluke. KSU was driving the ball and outgained us significantly; BYU was "lucky" due to turnovers and the punt return; perhaps the venue and the altitude; or the young KSU QB got rattled.

Nobody wants to admit being this wrong about a team, so they are looking for reasons to discount what BYU has done. If rankings did not come out for at least a couple of weeks of play, I think we are in a better position. Fortunately, for us this issue is mostly irrelevant now. First, if we travel to Baylor and win on the road, it begins to confirm our KSU victory...now there are enough data points to justify a completely different view of BYU. And second, we are in the B12 and there is a 120team playoff. How any team starts ranked is now mostly irrelevant.