College Football Playoff: Here’s how Cincinnati or BYU can sneak in

The Cincinnati football team remains undefeated and may have the upper-hand on sneaking into the College Football Playoff over BYU.

Through the first 12 weeks of the 2020 college football season, the Cincinnati Bearcats and the BYU Cougars have yet to lose a game. They enter Week 13 as the No. 7 and the No. 8 teams in the nation, respectively. Cincinnati is 8-0 in The American, while BYU is 9-0 as a national independent. Winning out is the most important thing, but here is how either team can make the playoff field.

How much chaos is necessary for Cincinnati or BYU to get in?

The great news for both teams is they have enough wins under their belt to get serious attention from the College Football Playoff Selection Committee. Are they against good teams, though? In most years, that would make a huge difference, but this is 2020. To make it this far into a college football season without suffering a single loss is an impressive feat for any program.

Cincinnati has two more conference games (at the Temple Owls and at the Tulsa Golden Hurricane), as well as a conference championship game, possibly against Tulsa again. Getting to 11-0 as an undefeated American Athletic Conference champion could be good enough to get the No. 4 seed if two Power 5 champions are not worthy, nor any compelling one-loss, at-large team.

With two, and very likely three, more games left on Cincinnati’s schedule before Selection Sunday, the Bearcats could slip up once and not even get a New Year’s Six bowl bid. Frankly, Cincinnati will probably have done enough to earn that designated spot with a perfect 11-0 record at the very least. As for BYU, they only have one scheduled game left vs. the San Diego State Aztecs.

Because BYU does not play in a conference, the Cougars cannot claim a conference title on their resume. However, this was the only program in the Mountain Time Zone west that decided it was playing a college football season from the jump. One day, there will be a documentary about this unbelievable season the Cougars have navigated. For that reason alone, they may be considered.

If both teams won at least 10 games and were undefeated, if the Selection Committee had to pick one, Cincinnati may get the nod by virtue of winning a Group of 5 conference. Then again, if ESPN wants higher ratings, they may want to bring in a dominant West Coast program and one that has a national following because of the university’s LDS connection. Either way, it is splitting hairs.

So what needs to happen elsewhere for either Cincinnati or BYU to make the four-team field? Well, for all intents and purposes, the Big 12 is not getting a team in, so that helps. The Pac-12 champion may not play enough games this fall to qualify. If it is not the Oregon Ducks or the USC Trojans, a West Coast team may not get even, especially if they are a one-loss, Power 5 champion.

From there, the ACC, the Big Ten and the SEC cannot have a one-loss, non-champion available. That would be teams like Indiana, Miami, Texas A&M or Wisconsin who are not on track to get to their respective conference title bouts or undefeated teams like Alabama, Northwestern, Notre Dame or Ohio State who suffer their only losses in their conference championship games.

Ultimately, the best way for either Cincinnati or BYU to get a team in is to hope teams like Alabama, Northwestern, Notre Dame or Ohio State go undefeated. Undefeated ACC, Big Ten and SEC champions certainly make things easier. The more two-loss teams there are, the better shot either Group of 5 team shocks the world and gets in as the No. 4 seed. Do not count on it, but what if?

The best thing Cincinnati or BYU can do is win out and hope for a ton of Power 5 chaos.

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