If there was any doubt about how good BYU football is this year, their 51-17 drubbing of the Broncos last week in Boise seems to have clarified that for most people. The Cougars have been highly ranked despite their relatively weak strength of schedule, and they moved up to 8th this week in the AP Top 25 and the Coaches Poll.
This week, we will be looking at two additional metrics, the Colley Matrix and the Billingsley Report. Both metrics were included in the original BCS formula previously used to determine the college football national champions.
BYU is ranked 2nd in the nation according to the Colley Matrix, by far the highest ranking we have seen so far. They moved up from 4th last week. Colley grades BYU’s strength of schedule as 88th in the country.
This is what @ESPN_BillC's SP+ would project BYU to look like vs the Cougars original schedule: pic.twitter.com/E2mdidhKFE
— Garrett McClintock (@GJMcClintock) November 11, 2020
Colley has Cincinnati ranked 1st, followed by BYU, Alabama, Coastal Carolina and Marshall. Cincinnati gets the slight edge over BYU with one top 25 win and three top 50 wins. The Cougars have one top 50 win against Boise State — who is ranked 32nd.
The Cougars rank 4th according to Football Outsiders’ FEI Ratings, following Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson. BYU has the 3rd highest rated offense and the 15th highest rated defense. Cincinnati ranks 15th overall and Boise State ranks 34th.
Jeff Sagarin’s College Football Ratings had BYU at 6th overall for the third week in a row. BYU’s strength of schedule dropped slightly to 91st in the country, with Boise State (ranked 29th) as their best opponent.
The Billingsley Report also had BYU ranked 6th this week, just behind Cincinnati at 5th. Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson and Ohio State make up their top four. BYU improved from being ranked 8th last week, passing Georgia and Marshall.
ESPN’s SP+ metric was the third to have the Cougars ranked 6th this week, up from 12th last week. BYU is the highest ranked non-Power 5 team, with Cincinnati at 10th and UCF at 21st. BYU boasts the 7th ranked offense and 21st ranked defense and the 6th ranked special teams. Boise State ranks 41st overall.
🎉🔥 NEW SP+ RANKINGS 🕺🥳
* Unbeaten Ohio State NO LONGER No. 1
* Your top B1G West team not named Wisconsin: Iowa, of course!
* Welcome to the party, Buffs, Cougs, Bulls, Rockets and Broncs
* Good lord, Tennessee
* WHY DOES SP+ HATE NOTRE DAME???https://t.co/3pDLqCkVyD— Bill Connelly (@ESPN_BillC) November 8, 2020
BYU got a big jump from ESPN’s Football Power Index as well this week, moving from 17th to 12th. FPI’s rankings have Alabama 1st, followed by Ohio State and Clemson. According to FPI, BYU has an 88.7 percent of going undefeated and a 22.8 percent chance of making the College Football Playoff. These probabilities are up from last week’s numbers of 41.8 and 14 percent, respectively.
Continually the lowest on BYU, Massey Ratings did move the Cougars up six spots to 15th this week. They have BYU as only the 23rd most efficient offense and 28th most efficient defense, and rank BYU’s strength of schedule 103rd overall.
Written by Bridger Beal-Cvetko
Bridger is a student at Utah Valley University where he studies journalism and mass communication. He is the sports editor of the on-campus newspaper, The Review. Bridger is a life-long Cougar fan and college football enthusiast.
