The top five teams remained unchanged in the newest College Football Playoff rankings, with undefeated Oregon at the highest, followed by Ohio State, Texas, Penn State and Indiana – 4 Big Ten teams and one SEC invader .
But there have been significant changes down below, with Brigham Young being the driving force.
The Cougars fell eight spots to No. 14 after suffering their first lack of the season, a four-point loss to unranked Kansas.
Notably, one-loss BYU is now one spot behind one-loss SMU, despite the fact that the Cougars won their head-to-head matchup in Dallas earlier within the season.
The development could have huge consequences for the Big 12 – and for Boise State.
The Broncos moved up one spot to No. 12, putting them in position to earn a bye within the opening round on the expense of the Big 12.
The top five ranked conference champions receive automatic bids to the 12-team CFP, with the highest 4 conference winners receiving byes into the opening round.
If their relative position within the conference championships holds, the Broncos would finish ahead of the Big 12's 4 ranked teams: No. 14 BYU, No. 16 Colorado, No. 21 Arizona State and No. 22 Iowa State.
That would force the winner of the Big 12 to play a road game within the opening round – an final result that not one of the Power Four conferences expected when the brand new CFP format was created.
The situation is incredibly uncertain with two weeks of normal season games and a championship weekend remaining. Until the CFP's big reveal on December eighth, nevertheless, it's value watching to see whether any of the Big 12 teams below Boise State will overtake the Broncos (assuming they keep winning and finish as Mountain West champions at 12-1).
The reason it could occur: The Big 12 winner will almost certainly face a ranked team within the conference championship and add a top quality win to their resume.
Meanwhile, Boise State is on course to face unranked Colorado State within the Mountain West title game. A win on this matchup won’t improve the Broncos' resume and leave them vulnerable to a Big 12 sweep.
However, not all Big 12 teams are created equal. We don't know if Iowa State (currently twenty second) would have the identical probability of overtaking Boise State as, say, Colorado (sixteenth).
The other threat to the Big 12 — and it's a low-level threat at this point — is Army.
The Black Knights are undefeated and in nineteenth place. A win over Notre Dame this weekend, followed by an American Conference championship, could position Army to complete the season ranked above the Big 12 champion, especially if Iowa State wins the conference.
However, it's value noting that Notre Dame has a two-touchdown advantage over the Black Knights.
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