3. The Most Overrated Thing Was …
Coastal Carolina beat BYU – and only because it didn’t have anything whatsoever to do with the College Football Playoff.
It was simply the best game of the college football season.
It was an amazing game, and it was an amazing moment for the Sun Belt, for Coastal Carolina football, and for Chanticleer head coach Jamey Chadwell when BYU came up one yard short in what might have been the best game of the college football season.
Coastal Carolina held on for the 22-17 win, and after the CFP No. 18 team beat the CFP No. 13 team, the other polls move it up just a little bit.
Look, right now, with Georgia finding its quarterback in JT Daniels, and remembering that the two losses were to Alabama and Florida, it’s nice to put the Chanticleers at 11 in the AP Top 25 ahead the No. 12 Bulldogs, but … nah.
Now, they really should be higher than No. 10 Iowa State – as should No. 17 Louisiana – but that’s another argument.
The Coaches Poll was less impressed, moving Coastal Carolina up just one spot from 14 to 13.
The win mattered in a few ways beyond just being awesome – from the teal-colored field, to the Mullets vs. Mormons thing, to the energy of the game itself – and that’s mostly for the bowl structure.
BYU was probably a lock for a New Year’s Six bowl game had it not played this game, but it took a chance that a win over a strongly-ranked unbeaten team on the road would make a push for the College Football Playoff. Instead, it just lost a (probable) New Year’s Six payout and all the revenue being kept for itself.
Coastal Carolina, though, now has a real shot at a New Year’s Six bowl after Marshall inexplicably plotzed against Rice, and if Cincinnati loses to Tulsa in either of the next two games they’ll play against each other.
That would be cool – it would probably be the Fiesta Bowl vs. Georgia – but the idea that both Cincinnati and BYU could be in the New Year’s Six is now gone.
That opens the door up for …
– Week 14 Winners & Losers
– Ohio State looked great: One Really Big Thing
– Texas A&M and Indiana wins: Most Underrated Thing
– It’s almost over?: What It All Means, Week 14
NEXT: The most underrated thing was …