But SMU looks a lot better today than they did at the start of the year—I'm not sure BYU wins that game if they played in Oct... and regardless, their loss to Kansas is 1) late and 2) bad enough that it takes a lot of the shine off the SMU win.
I just don't think there's a big margin for error in the Big XII, which will always lose an "all else equal" argument against the SEC and B1G. It will be a rare year when a team that finishes third (at best) in the Big XII makes the playoff.