The second set of College Football Playoff rankings for the 2024 season were released Tuesday night. The Oregon Ducks (10-0), maintain the No. 1 spot, while Ohio State (8-1) checks in at No. 2, and Texas (8-1) at No. 3.
The Big 12 Conference got some great news as BYU (9-0), Kansas State (7-2), and Colorado (7-2) each rose three spots in the rankings. The Cougars moved up to No. 6, Kansas State checked in at No. 16, and Colorado was right behind at No. 17.
Last week the Big 12 conference got the shaft as BYU was ranked No. 9 in the first College Football rankings despite having more wins over current CFP opponents than Indiana, Penn State, Tennessee, and Texas COMBINED. Yes, you read that right, combined. To add insult to injury, Iowa State — which had just lost by one point to Texas Tech — was behind a number of teams that had two losses. The conference then finished up with Kansas State (No. 19) and Colorado (No. 20) rounding out the Top 20.
No. 9 BYU ends Rice-Eccles losing streak with victory over Utah — Reactions & highlights
Regarding the Power 4 Conferences, the Big 12 tied the Big Ten Conference with the least amount of teams in the Top 25 (four each). The ACC had five teams, while the SEC had a league-high eight. While the Big 12 and Big Ten conferences had the same number of teams, the Big Ten had all four conference members ahead of every team in the Big 12.
The good news for the Big 12 is that there was nowhere to go but up. A lot can change in a week and that’s exactly what happened during the second set of rankings released by the CFP selection committee.
Great News For The Big 12 Conference
After Iowa State and Kansas State lost two weeks ago, the possibility of the Big 12 having two teams in the college football playoff seemed non-existent.
But as the great Lee Corso says, “Not so fast my friend.”
With unexpected upsets which helped all three Big 12 teams (BYU, Kansas State, Colorado) moving up three spots, there is a realistic chance that the Big 12 Conference can get two teams in now.
Here’s why and how.
With BYU moving up to No. 6 — which was partly a correction from the committee after all the heat they took for ranking the Cougars too low — this now gives the Cougars some margin for error.
No. 9 BYU ends Rice-Eccles losing streak with victory over Utah — Reactions & highlights
I expect Colorado and BYU to win out and face each other in the Big 12 title game. BYU would be 12-0 and likely ranked No. 4 or No. 5 in the CFP rankings when it’s all said and done. Indiana takes on Ohio State and one of them will lose which will push BYU up. Colorado would likely be around No. 11 or No. 12 if they win out and make it to the Big 12 title game. However, if the Buffs beat BYU, they will get an automatic playoff berth. With BYU at 12-1, I don’t see the Cougars dropping out since they will have played an extra game compared to most other teams who didn’t play in a conference championship game. If BYU loses in a close one, I can see them dropping 2-3 spots, but if they get blown out, the playoff committee would probably drop them 4-5 spots.
Boise State, which is currently No. 13, will get in because they will be the highest ranked G5 champion — assuming they win out. The Broncos don’t have any tough games remaining, so they will likely stay between 11-13.
Colorado will more than likely be right behind Boise State, however, if they win the Big 12 title game — getting a Top 5 win over BYU in the process — the Buffs would certainly pass the Broncos and claim the first round bye.
The same goes for Kansas State. If Colorado loses and the Wildcats play in the Big 12 title and win, they’ll likely be ahead of Boise State and will secure the first-round bye into the quarterfinals.
This scenario would give the Big 12 two playoff teams, which would help the conference to make some noise in the playoffs and help change the current narrative that only the Big Ten and SEC conferences have title contenders. However, that means BYU, Colorado or Kansas State must win or else a poor showing would do more harm than good.
The good news is that according to several sites and metrics, the Big 12 is No. 2 when it comes to conference rankings. The SEC sits on top, with the Big Ten and ACC finishing third and fourth.
Let’s hope the committee starts taking that into consideration. While the rankings on Tuesday were a great step in the right direction, the committee needs to do more and stop brand bias and rank teams on their resume, not their name or conference affiliation.
