The Big 12 conference is well aware of how easily they can be unjustly left out of the biggest events of a college football postseason. The very first College Football Playoff left out a talented TCU Horned Frogs team and a great Baylor Bears team even though both teams were 11-1.
In 2016, the 2-loss Oklahoma Sooners were kept out even though they were a conference champion, while a non-conference champion Ohio State Buckeye team was let in. But this year? This year, if the results continue to roll in as they have, it will be a travesty if two Big 12 teams DON’T make the College Football Playoff.
We are halfway through the college football season, and the Big 12 has two undefeated teams. The No. 13 BYU Cougars and No. 9 Iowa State Cyclones are both 3-0 in Big 12 play and 6-0 overall. And, what makes this spicier, is that they won’t play each other until a hypothetical Big 12 Championship game in Arlington.
Is it a “Sure Thing?”
Both teams have games they might lose. BYU still has to play the Utah Utes in the “Holy War” rivalry game. While Utah still has questions to figure out, this is traditionally the epitome of the “throw out the record books.” Utah leads the all-time series 59-32-4, but BYU won their last matchup in 2021. This year? The vaunted BYU defense will likely get to feast on freshman quarterback Isaac Wilson. Yes, Isaac is the younger brother of BYU great and NFL quarterback Zach Wilson. Yes, that’s the “Holy War” for you.
Iowa State also has to play Utah, but they have to see the Texas Tech Red Raiders (5-1, 3-0 in Big 12 play) and No. 17 Kansas State Wildcats as well. That’s three tough games in the back half of the season… but they’re also all played in Ames, Iowa.
In a year where the Notre Dame Fighting Irish sit at No. 12 in the AP poll with a loss to the Northern Illinois Huskies, why can’t both BYU and ISU make it? No. 8 LSU Tigers team has a loss to the unranked USC Trojans. The No. 11 Tennessee Volunteers have a loss to an unranked Arkansas Razorbacks (who are 0-1 against Big 12 opponents this year).
If the Big 12 football continues to have football so nice, why can’t the CFP invite it twice?