It wasn’t likely that BYU would do enough to make the College Football Playoff in 2020 but you can certainly cross it off even as a remote possibility after what transpired Sunday evening.
BYU, who sits at 9-0 overall and is ranked in the top 10 nationally, had their bluff called on Sunday and will now have nobody to blame but themselves when they ultimately don’t make the College Football Playoff this winter.
For context, we actually have to go back a few days to set the stage, as the Pac-12 announced Wednesday that they would allow each conference member to schedule one out of conference game, adding some wiggle-room to only a six-game regular-season schedule for those who don’t make the conference championship game.
When that was announced there was hope an interest that a few intriguing games would be added to the 2020 college football slate, but one that was proposed since the announcement won’t be played and not doing so is making BYU look foolish.
According to reports from several in the college football community, The University of Washington reached out to BYU on Saturday about scheduling a game later this year.
The Huskies are 2-0 on the year with only two games being played to date and only two games currently scheduled for the rest of the year. Although not viewed as a College Football Playoff contender themselves, they’d certainly offer a chance for BYU to have another name win on their resume that they hope is good enough to earn them a trip to the CFP.
According to Bruce Feldman, BYU essentially said “thanks but no thanks” to Washington’s offer because they’d like to first know where they sit in the first College Football Playoff Rankings that are due out Tuesday evening.
SOURCES: #BYU turned down the opportunity to play #Washington this coming weekend. UDub had reached out yesterday but was told BYU wanted to wait until after the CFP rankings Tuesday to gauge their place. "It's off the table."
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) November 23, 2020
Here’s a hint for everyone in and around Provo, Utah:
You’ll probably be eighth just like you are in both the AP and Amway Coaches Polls and you’ll be behind another Group of Five team in Cincinnati, just like you are in the AP and Coaches.
Even with Heisman contender, Zach Wilson, BYU needs a good amount of help building their resume if they think they have any shot at crashing the CFP party, and not taking Washington up on their offer does them no favors in that regard.
Even if they were to schedule Washington and win they’d still have an uphill battle but passing on an opponent of even that caliber will kill whatever chances BYU had of making the dance.
Ralph Russo of the AP reports that BYU has concerns over potentially being dropped by Washington if another Pac-12 game was to be made available to them on the same date.
Spoke to couple of sources about BYU/Washington situation.
Discussion started Saturday with UW reaching out.
BYU has concerns about committing to play and then getting dropped later in the week because a Pac-12 opponent comes open for UW to play.
— Ralph D. Russo (@ralphDrussoAP) November 23, 2020
Let me just ask, though: what if there wasn’t a Pac-12 team that suddenly became available to play for Washington?
It makes BYU look laughable as they tweeted a picture of Wilson on November 20 wearing a bandana that read: “any team, any time, any place”
Any team, any time, any place. pic.twitter.com/Rs9ihEGfA8
— BYU FOOTBALL (@BYUfootball) November 21, 2020
Except for if they’re a Power Five team who has a history of winning.
Then they’re not for that.
Remember this if and when BYU finishes the season undefeated yet you hear moans that they didn’t get a fair shake about playing in the College Football Playoff.
They’ve got nobody to blame but themselves for looking this foolish.
