BYU shot up to No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll after pulling off a huge 28-24 upset against then-No. 2 Notre Dame in Provo on Saturday night, but don’t let those good vibes fool you. While humans are finally buying into the Cougars, the computers? They’re still not impressed, and that’s a massive problem for BYU’s College Football Playoff hopes.
The “Eye Test” Is Finally Working… For Humans, Anyway
For years, BYU fans have had to cringe at the words “eye test.” The past two seasons, the Cougars went 11-2 both times, even winning the Pop-Tarts Bowl last year, but they still missed out on the CFP. The committee kept saying BYU didn’t pass that darn eye test, especially with all those close wins against mediocre teams and those two disasters against Texas Tech back in 2025. It felt like humans just didn’t like them as much as the computers did. But this year? Everything’s flipped! BYU is 6-0 and after beating Notre Dame, they jumped from No. 8 to No. 2 in the AP Poll. They even grabbed 20 first-place votes. They’re also No. 3 in the US LBM Coaches Poll, swapping spots with 6-1 Ohio State. Clearly, BYU is passing the eye test now, and the human voters are all in!
But The Computers Are Still Giving BYU The Cold Shoulder
Here’s where things get dicey, folks. While the humans are loving BYU, the computer-generated rankings, which usually rely on all the cold, hard stats, efficiency metrics, and predictive formulas, are still giving the Cougars the cold shoulder. ESPN’s Football Power Index, or FPI, is probably the most important computer poll out there, and the CFP committee definitely keeps an eye on it. Right now, ESPN’s FPI has BYU way down at No. 14. And get this: they were at No. 14 *before* beating Notre Dame, meaning the computers were barely impressed by that huge upset, if at all! Notre Dame, after losing by just four points, actually stayed put at No. 2 in the FPI. Even Utah, which is No. 10 in the AP poll, is ahead of BYU in the FPI, sitting at No. 13. Other computer rankings aren’t much better: Jeff Sagarin has BYU at No. 14, and Sports-Reference’s Simple Ratings System has them at No. 12. There’s one outlier, the Congrove Computer Rankings, which actually has BYU at No. 4, but get this, the 6-0 Texas Tech Red Raiders are even ahead of them at No. 3! It seems like the computers are telling a totally different story than the humans.
So, what’s next for BYU? They are playing at UCF this Saturday at 1:30 p.m. MDT on Fox, from Orlando’s Acrisure Bounce House. This whole human-vs-computer thing is a wild ride, and everyone will be holding their breath until November 3, when the first official CFP rankings drop. Will the committee side with the eye test or the cold, hard algorithms? We’re about to find out.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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