If Army is ranked over Colorado (like they should be in real life, and I think they are if I remember your rankings from earlier this week), this sets up a very fun (to a neutral fan like me) scenario of the Big 12 having to pray for an undefeated BYU to get into the playoff at all if Army wins out. If we fast forward three weeks and Colorado has beaten BYU and Army has defeated Notre Dame, I consider that a more impressive win for Army. I don't think it's controversial to say Notre Dame is better than BYU. I don't know how you'd rank it, but I don't think the Buffaloes would pass Army at any point during this chain of events.
That would likely put Army in the bye (Army!), likely even above the ACC given the strength of wins, with a possible exception if the ACC championship has a blowout winner. Boise State, Indiana, Penn State, Ohio State, Oregon will have done nothing to drop out. Whoever wins the SEC will take a top two spot. The ACC is only getting one of SMU or Miami. Notre Dame will have left the bracket obviously, replaced by Army. Tennessee is touch and go with that Georgia game. Even if they lose it, they would only fall into the fight below.
This leaves one loss Big 12 champion Colorado in a straight fight with all the SEC teams (Miss, Alabama, Georgia if they win, Tennessee if they lose etc.) for an at large spot, a fight that I'm not sure they can win. Maybe a win over BYU would change your opinion over whether they win a straight fight with Boise, but I don't know why that would be the case. One single win over an indeterminately strong BYU team shouldn't swing things that much, at least not to me. Over Alabama it would, but not BYU. Maybe if Tennessee beats Georgia and SMU beats Miami (getting them both out of the way) there could be a path for a one loss Colorado in there to an at-large bid.
What do you think? With a ranking that puts Army over Colorado, I think the entire Big 12 is in a really tricky position right now, praying either that BYU will just keep winning, or that leaving a Big 12 champ out of the playoff is just so sacrilegious that the ranking body (in this case, yourself) just chooses to change their mind and put them in there over one of the SEC teams.
I know you said the teams are fighting for the Big 12 auto-bid, but using your rankings as a base, I'm not so sure the Big 12 has an auto-bid secured just yet. They've secured one if it's for BYU, but not for just anybody. This is all for fun of course, as the conference will secure one when Notre Dame in all likelihood defeats Army at home, but imagine if they don't. In this fictional world we're living in here, it'd turn the whole sport upside down if Colorado were to defeat BYU and take the whole conference out of the playoffs.
If Army is ranked over Colorado (like they should be in real life, and I think they are if I remember your rankings from earlier this week), this sets up a very fun (to a neutral fan like me) scenario of the Big 12 having to pray for an undefeated BYU to get into the playoff at all if Army wins out. If we fast forward three weeks and Colorado has beaten BYU and Army has defeated Notre Dame, I consider that a more impressive win for Army. I don't think it's controversial to say Notre Dame is better than BYU. I don't know how you'd rank it, but I don't think the Buffaloes would pass Army at any point during this chain of events.
That would likely put Army in the bye (Army!), likely even above the ACC given the strength of wins, with a possible exception if the ACC championship has a blowout winner. Boise State, Indiana, Penn State, Ohio State, Oregon will have done nothing to drop out. Whoever wins the SEC will take a top two spot. The ACC is only getting one of SMU or Miami. Notre Dame will have left the bracket obviously, replaced by Army. Tennessee is touch and go with that Georgia game. Even if they lose it, they would only fall into the fight below.
This leaves one loss Big 12 champion Colorado in a straight fight with all the SEC teams (Miss, Alabama, Georgia if they win, Tennessee if they lose etc.) for an at large spot, a fight that I'm not sure they can win. Maybe a win over BYU would change your opinion over whether they win a straight fight with Boise, but I don't know why that would be the case. One single win over an indeterminately strong BYU team shouldn't swing things that much, at least not to me. Over Alabama it would, but not BYU. Maybe if Tennessee beats Georgia and SMU beats Miami (getting them both out of the way) there could be a path for a one loss Colorado in there to an at-large bid.
What do you think? With a ranking that puts Army over Colorado, I think the entire Big 12 is in a really tricky position right now, praying either that BYU will just keep winning, or that leaving a Big 12 champ out of the playoff is just so sacrilegious that the ranking body (in this case, yourself) just chooses to change their mind and put them in there over one of the SEC teams.
I know you said the teams are fighting for the Big 12 auto-bid, but using your rankings as a base, I'm not so sure the Big 12 has an auto-bid secured just yet. They've secured one if it's for BYU, but not for just anybody. This is all for fun of course, as the conference will secure one when Notre Dame in all likelihood defeats Army at home, but imagine if they don't. In this fictional world we're living in here, it'd turn the whole sport upside down if Colorado were to defeat BYU and take the whole conference out of the playoffs.