BYU WIN OUT.
If BYU loses the Big XII champ, here’s what we need for home playoff:
KSU win out
Colorado win out
SMU win out
We need these three to look as good as possible. Colorado has the best chance to look good in the committee’s eyes IMO. If we lose, losing to them is a best case scenario. KSU has a big one against ISU, SMU has a clear path to Miami. Both of them winning out would make these top 10 and 15 wins.
Oregon win out
OSU beat IU, lose B10 champ
Texas, Tennessee win out
We want Oregon to clearly dominate the B10. This would push all other B10 teams down. We need OSU to beat Indiana, to knock them out of contention. And we need Texas and Tennessee to look like they are dominant against all other teams. The more teams that have 3 losses in the SEC, the better. This puts big pressure on Georgia vs Tennessee, to officially kill Georgia’s playoff hopes.
PSU, ND, Bama, Ole Miss slip up
These teams losing could be the difference between home or away in the first round. ND has the most opportunities to lose, with upcoming games against Virginia, ranked Army, and rival USC. One more loss could knock them out of the playoffs. PSU and Bama feel the most vulnerable, but each have very soft schedules. However, sneaky games against Minnesota and Auburn might be our opportunities. Finally, Ole Miss feels like a team that is just on the edge of being eliminated, but also have a soft schedule.
It would take a miracle, but my dream situation would be BYU getting a home playoff game. I don’t think there is a single team that can beat us at home, and we would probably get either 8:00 eastern time slot, whether on Friday or Saturday. Late game at LES (that I may or may not be attending), avoiding an extra week to get rusty/pseudo bye week, would be showing off the best environment in the nation on the biggest stage possible.
This team feels destined for greatness, and this could be the biggest miracle of the season if it works out this way.
Go Cougs!