BYU will learn its latest College Football Playoff ranking around 9:00pm ET Tuesday night, a reveal that comes after the team slipped to No. 3 Utah in a 28-20 loss in Salt Lake City. The update could show how far the committee is willing to move BYU after another close defeat.
The timing is simple enough. The College Football Playoff rankings come out every Tuesday in November and December, and this week’s release will answer the question many fans are asking: when do CFP rankings come out, and where does BYU land after the loss? BYU entered the game ranked No. 9, but the committee has not often given the team the benefit of the doubt when a tough result has landed on the schedule.
There is at least one recent clue. Last season, BYU went into its first meeting with Texas Tech ranked No. 7 while Texas Tech was No. 8, then lost 29-7 in Lubbock and fell to No. 12 in the next rankings. BYU later won its final three regular season games before losing in the Big 12 title game to Texas Tech, and it finished no higher than 11th in the final rankings. That history hangs over this week because a one-score loss to a top-three opponent has not always been enough to protect the Cougars from a sharp drop.
The rest of the board matters too. Notre Dame beat No. 1 Miami, Boise State remains the only Group of 6 team currently ranked, and several teams around BYU took hits: No. 10 Ole Miss lost to No. 2 Georgia, 42-7; No. 12 Ohio State lost by multiple scores to Oregon at home; No. 13 Tennessee beat No. 8 Kentucky; and No. 14 LSU lost to No. 5 Alabama. That kind of movement can shape the lower edge of the top 12, where BYU is trying to stay put.
So Tuesday night is less about whether BYU is still in the conversation than how much room the committee has left after another close loss. If the pattern from last season holds, the Cougars could be vulnerable again when the rankings are unveiled around 9:00pm ET.
