Honestly, people don't like seeing us down towards the middle of this list, but (from a BYU perspective) it's a pretty solid showing.

I've come around over the past couple years as considering networks and timeslots as a function of how strong a TV draw a program is. It's easy to complain that we'd do better if we got better exposure...but the reason teams get that is because network execs know they'll bring in the ratings

On that note, BYU had absolutely fantastic networks and timeslots this year

Comparing only the Big 12 (different contracts make it harder to compare between conferences)

So, while I'm not directly saying that BYU is the biggest draw in the new Big 12....I will say that the TV networks seem to be treating us that way.

Which, as mentioned is great for BYU and speaks to our brand.  Not necessarily great for the conference though - it'd be nice to have schools (like Texas or Oklahoma) there that can pull us up, instead of BYU being the one to pull everyone else up

I'll also note that (in line with your discussion of ranked teams and CFP/CCG implications), when you played Colorado mattered a lot. They started with 7.3M viewers in Week 1 and got more every week until they lost to Oregon (where they topped out with 10M) and then began a steady slide downward. Eventually (thanks in part to the PAC Network) Colorado had less than 1M combined viewers over their last three weeks.

If Arizona, Utah, or even Washington St had played them earlier it would have likely made a sizeable difference for those schools.

Colorado is one of the stranger phenomenons I've seen when tracking viewership and I'm honestly curious how they do in ratings for next season. Nothing would surprise me at this point