I am not sure why we as a fan base can't just be honest with ourselves; why does it matter what we are ranked?

BYU has a couple decent wins this year, our only really good win was against SMU before they decided to actually start their best QB after bringing him in as a backup against us; give him all the practice reps and turn the team over to him - since then they are a completely different team and would beat us in a rematch I think.

I understand and agree somewhat to the glaring double-standard that exists in rankings and committee decisions that are going on - but we need to take our team out of that equation. The pundits turned out to be spot on about us - we were fools gold at 9-0; and we've only gotten worse as a team since then.

I think if BYU ends the season (assuming we win a bowl game) ranked between 20-25, that will be a completely justified and acceptable spot. Asking for anything more than that is really reaching and putting way too much blue fan-juice behind it IMO.

do I think Alabama should get ranked as high as they do when they go on the road and throw an embarrassing game like the OU game out there for everyone to see? No - but, if Alabama and BYU were to play on a neutral field, Milroe would go for 150yd+ against us - their O-line would push around our D-line and our undisciplined secondary would get roasted. Our O-line would get manhandled by a much larger D-line and our run game would be difficult to establish. I think we'd be lucky to have a result in the 40-15 area for that game (those are field goals by a great kicker btw, not touchdowns for us).

"Just Win" IS the answer btw; that is why these other teams are getting the benefit of the doubt; I mean, even Michigan while having a horrible year this year by their standards were able to go into Columbus and beat the #2 team in the country. Just Win fixes a lot of things, not hoping for a miracle that 1 year out of 15 that you actually have a good record.

Now, if BYU would have taken care of business vs Kansas and then had a squeaker loss to ASU on the road as their only blemish, and the offense were actually playing well, then your argument would have way more weight and I'd join you in wanting BYU ranked above a 3-loss SEC perennial brand.

Now - here is the silver lining for this year. The B12 is finally stable and has a really bright future. 4 decent teams all vying for a spot in the conference championship while being ranked in the top 25 is a good start for a "new conference". Now, the conference just needs to "Just Win". Whomever is our conference champ and most likely lone-rep in the CCP, if they make it to the semi-finals and put up a good fight, or make it to the finals, that creates conference clout. Then next year, the conference with so many returning starting QBs and good young players starts the year with 3-4 teams in the top 20; rather than 3-4 teams in the top 20 that end up being the bottom 2-3 in the conference like this year. Then those 3-4 teams continue to do well all season, culminating in lets say 2-3 viable at-large teams near the end of the season. Then the year after you see that repeat etc. That is how the conference gets clout and that all starts with "Just Win".