Surprise, surprise: the Big 12 got disrespected by the College Football Playoff selection committee. 

Undefeated BYU is number nine in the initial rankings – behind five one-loss teams. The Cougars have as many wins against the committee’s top 25 as Ohio State, Texas, Penn State, Tennessee, and Indiana combined, yet they’re ranked behind all of them. 

Here are some other important data points:

• BYU has a better strength of record than #5 Ohio State

• BYU’s 63rd-ranked strength of schedule is 40 spots higher than Indiana

• #4 Miami, #5 Texas, and #6 Penn State all have zero wins against the committee’s top 25. BYU has two against the committee’s top 20. 

Selection committee chair Warde Manuel offered this explanation as to why Indiana is ahead of BYU. 

He also offered the “eye test” as the difference between Miami and BYU. My eye test tells me to roll my eyes at that one.  

 This will all be moot if the Cougars win out and take home a Big 12 title. But if they slip up, even if they bounce back to win the Big 12 championship game, they may not pass #12 Boise State. That would be a worst-case scenario for the conference. 

If Boise is ranked higher than the Big 12 champ, the Broncos would get the four seed and a first-round bye. It would leave a Big 12 team potentially playing a five seed on the road in the first round of the playoff instead of getting (likely) the five seed at a neutral field after a first-round bye. 

Not only would that make it much tougher to win, but it would also be a disaster for the league’s perception. Can you imagine how hard it would be to get respect after losing the four seed to a Group of Five team in year one of the expanded playoff? 

#17 Iowa State, #19 K-State, and #20 Colorado came in at similar spots to their AP rankings. Four two-loss SEC teams are ahead of the Cyclones. 

Are any of these Big 12 teams starting high enough to catch Boise if they win out? That seems very much up in the air. 

It’s frustrating but not surprising. The best thing for the league is to have BYU keep winning.

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Big 12 Power Rankings

Here are your week eleven Big 12 power rankings! Please note: these are rankings, not power ratings. That means they are primarily based on what a team has accomplished so far this year – not necessarily how good I think the team is. You’ll see their ranking from last week in parentheses.

1. BYU (LW: 1)

2. Iowa State (LW: 2)

3. Colorado (LW: 4)

4. K-State (LW: 3)

5. Texas Tech (LW: 8)

6. Cincinnati (LW: 5)

7. Arizona State (LW: 6)

8. Baylor (LW: 10)

9. Houston (LW: 11)

10. TCU (LW: 7)

11. West Virginia (LW: 9)

12. UCF (LW: 15)

13. Kansas (LW: 12)

14. Utah (LW: 14)

15. Arizona (LW: 13)

16. Oklahoma State (LW: 16)

• The top half of the league would be a little more dynamic if these were power ratings instead of rankings. I can’t move Texas Tech above K-State based on merit, even though the Wildcats just took a brutal loss to Houston. The Red Raiders still have two blowout losses on their resume, including giving up 59 at home to Baylor. 

• The same could be said for any Colorado/Iowa State debate. That Nebraska loss keeps me from moving the Buffs up to the number two spot, even if they appear to be playing better football right now. The Cyclones won their Big Ten road game at Iowa.  

• I struggled to rank Texas Tech, Cincinnati, and Arizona State. Ultimately, I sided with Tech, which had arguably the best conference win of anybody and close home wins over both ASU and Cincy. But you can easily argue that giving up 59 to Baylor, 51 to Abilene Christian, and getting blown out at Washington State is enough to keep them at number seven. 

• West Virginia stays below Baylor and Houston because of the (lack of) quality of their wins. The Mountaineers are still technically alive in the Big 12 title race, but their only conference wins are against teams with a combined 2-15 Big 12 record.