Five Things BYU has to Play for in the Independence Bowl

If BYU doesn't come ready to play, know the following: UAB will.

To say that the last few weeks of the college football season didn’t pan out how BYU fans had hoped felt like a bit of an understatement. Even going into championship weekend, there was still a slim margin of hope that the Cougars would find themselves in a New Year’s Six Bowl.

Unfortunately, that outcome was based entirely on how other games went. Things didn’t fall BYU’s way, and now, the Cougars find themselves prepping to face UAB in the Independence Bowl — the bowl game they were contractually expected to play in all along.

While this is understandably a disappointment for many fans, BYU can’t afford to come out flat in the Independence Bowl. If the Cougars play disappointed or unmotivated, they could very easily lose more than just the game.

1. A Potential Top-10 Finish

The CFP rankings are done — but there’s still the final AP and Coaches’ polls to consider. Right now, BYU is ranked #12 in the AP poll and #14 in the Coaches poll. A rise in the rankings isn’t entirely dependent on the Cougars, but they obviously need to win to get into the Top 10.

But the thing is, an AP Top 10 finish is fairly likely given the games being played by the teams ranked ahead of BYU. 7th-ranked Ohio State will (hopefully) pummel #10 Utah. Baylor (#6) will be playing #8 Ole Miss, and #9 Oklahoma State will be facing #5 Notre Dame. The game between #11 Michigan State and #13 Pitt is also of interest, though Pitt would have a good chance of jumping BYU if they won.

Obviously, we have to wait to see how all these games shake out. But if the lower-ranked teams lose (especially in blowout fashion), it would likely be enough to get BYU into the final Top 10 for just the fourth time in school history.

2. Back-to-Back 11-Win Seasons

While BYU can’t control what happens in the games in front of them, the ability to pull off back to back 11-win seasons is nothing to sneeze at. That’s something the Cougars haven’t accomplished since 2006-2007, when the Cougars went 11-2 two years in a row.

Winning 11 or more games in subsequent seasons has only occurred a few other times in BYU’s history — LaVell Edwards pulled off back-to-back-to-back 11+ win seasons between 1979-1981 and again from 1983 to 1985.

While nothing can top the 1984 championship, the fact that BYU has the potential to get 11 wins for the second year in a row while playing 7 P5 opponents would make it one of the most impressive seasons in Cougar history.

3. Momentum Heading Into the 2022 Season

Sure, a bowl game doesn’t make or break how the next season will play out. But there’s no denying that a loss to finish off the 2021 season would leave a sour taste in a lot of fans’ mouths.

Right now, the mindset should be that a strong win in the bowl game helps to establish a great baseline for the team for when they open the 2022 season at South Florida.

Stumble against UAB, and suddenly everything seems in doubt. A loss ends the season on a negative note that could easily carry over into how the team perceives itself (and plays) going into 2022.

4. National Respect

The Independence Bowl may not be a New Year’s Six game, but it still gives BYU arguably some of the best exposure of any bowl game during the independence era. This is an ABC game on a Saturday, starting at 3:30 PM EST. That’s a far cry from when BYU played in the Miami Beach Bowl on a Monday afternoon before Christmas — AKA, when most people were still at work.

A Saturday afternoon ABC game is probably going to get more viewers tuning in to see the Cougars than a midweek game that starts after 10 PM EST — looking at you, Guaranteed Rate Bowl.

If the Cougars come out flat, nobody is going to think of them as being worthy of being one of the top-ranked teams in the nation. As one of the first bowl games of the year, BYU will likely be getting plenty of attention in the college football world, for better or worse. The Cougars don’t want an ending that leaves everyone thinking they were nothing more than a paper tiger.

5. Big 12 Swagger

Like it or not, with the Big 12 losing Oklahoma and Texas, there’s going to be a lot of talk in the coming years about whether the Big 12 is still a “true” P5. While BYU’s dominance against the Pac-12 this year should speak for itself, there is no denying that how current and future Big 12 members perform during bowl season is going to be used as a measuring stick by fans and media alike.

If BYU wants to bolster the perception of the Big 12 and continue to enjoy the swagger of pending P5 membership, the last thing the team can afford to do is faceplant against a Conference USA team — even if UAB currently has the 15th-ranked total defense in FBS.

BYU needs to come out with a win, and then root for the rest of the Big 12 to do the same.

Yes, missing out on a New Year’s Six Bowl hurts. But the Cougars have a chance to finish the 2021 season strong in a nationally televised game. The way the team comes out for the game is what sets the final tone for the year — and for 2022. Even if the opponent or destination aren’t as illustrious as we’d like, BYU still has plenty to play for.