BYU coach Kalani Sitake isn't giving his players coachspeak about the 12-team College Football Playoff and the door it has opened for the once-independent program.
"These kids aren't dumb," said Sitake, whose Cougars are in their second year in the Big 12 but are in the first of the expanded playoff era.
It has been too difficult for too long as an independent to get a real shot at competing for the national title, he said, something the new 12-team format guarantees for the five highest-ranked conference champions.
"In order to get to the playoff in the past, you'd have to play perfect, literally perfect, and style points and all that stuff," he said. "And even then, it's not a guarantee that you're in. I mean, ask Florida State and others, right?"
Undefeated BYU is trending in the right direction, while Ole Miss took a significant step back with its home loss to Kentucky. Both teams are on the bubble this week.
Below is a snapshot of what the College Football Playoff selection committee might do today through five weeks of data. This is not a ranking. This is what the seeding and bracket would look like based on the committee's projected top 12 for this week -- plus a look at eight more teams currently on the bubble and a ranking of the five best schools from the Group of 5.
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Group of 5
