After Loss to Kansas, BYU Maintains Control of its Destiny to the Big 12 Championship

Casey Lundquist | 3 Hours Ago

Nov 16, 2024; Provo, Utah, USA; Brigham Young Cougars running back Hinckley Ropati (7) catches a pass and runs for a touchdown against the Kansas Jayhawks during the second quarter at LaVell Edwards Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images / Rob Gray-Imagn Images

On Saturday night, a game filled with missed opportunities ended BYU's perfect season. With the loss, BYU drops to 9-1 on the season. Essentially, the loss to Kansas erased BYU's margin for error. One more loss and BYU will lose control of its own destiny to the Big 12 championship.

On the bright side? BYU still controls its own destiny to the Big 12 championship and, in turn, the College Football Playoff.

At 6-1 in conference play, BYU is tied with Colorado for first place in the Big 12 standings. If BYU wins its next two games, it will be in the Big 12 championship game against either Iowa State or Colorado. There is no scenario where BYU goes 2-0 over the next two games and doesn't get into the Big 12 championship game.

If BYU loses to Arizona State, while their conference title hopes wouldn't be completely erased, the Cougars would need multiple dominoes to fall to be playing in Arlington.

If BYU loses to Arizona State, a few things would need to happen:

1. Arizona State would need to lose to Arizona to close out the regular season.

2. Either Iowa State would need to lose to Kansas State in the regular season finale or Colorado would need to lose one of its last two games.

If both of those things happened, BYU could go to the Big 12 championship game with a 10-2 overall record.

For Kalani Sitake and BYU, they will travel to Tempe in perhaps the most critical game for the program since at least 1996, and you could argue the most important since 1984.