ESPN College Gameday Discusses BYU's Path to the College Football Playoff

ESPN's College Gameday staff took an entire segment to discuss BYU's path to the playoff on Saturday morning.

What if I told you in 2017 that College Gameday would be discussing BYU's path to the College Football Playoff in November 2020? (If you didn't read that in your best 30 for 30 voice then start over and try again) Well that's exactly what happened on Saturday morning. After no. 9 BYU dominated no. 21 Boise State on Friday night, ESPN's College Gameday staff took an entire segment to discuss BYU's path to the playoff. According to the ESPN college football power index, BYU now has a 25.6% chance to make the College Football Playoff. Here is a summary of what was said about BYU on College Gameday:

Kirk Herbstreit, who has been in BYU's corner since covering BYU's dominant victory over Navy on Labor Day, raved about BYU's balanced attack. When asked about the difference between 2020 BYU and 2017 UCF, Herbstreit said, "I think the line of scrimmage on both sides...they are more complete as a team."

Update: Greg Wrubell tweeted out notes as well, I will add those in this article.

Kirk Herbstreit on College Gameday today, re: evaluation of BYU as a potential CFP candidate: "They're winning games by an average of 45-13. What else can you ask them to do? I don't care what the schedule says. It's about what you're doing on the field, and they do everything."

— Greg Wrubell (@gregwrubell) November 7, 2020

Rece Davis, in talking about BYU's victory over Boise State, said, "Team's just don't do this to them [Boise State]." 

College Gameday's Rece Davis, on Boise State getting dismantled 51-17 by BYU: "I know they had some quarterback injury issues, but teams just don't do this to them."

— Greg Wrubell (@gregwrubell) November 7, 2020

The general consensus among the Gameday crew was the evaluating teams with very different resumes (strength of schedule, number of games played, no non-conference games) will be very difficult. Herbstreit posed the following question about BYU: "What they're doing on the field...what else can you ask them to do? They do everything. ..Don't sleep on their defense. As teams keep losing, do not forget about BYU." 

Herbstreit on the Cougs: "Just a tough team all-around...and as teams keep losing, do not forget about BYU. They're legit."

— Greg Wrubell (@gregwrubell) November 7, 2020

Desmond Howard joined the conversation and added that BYU doesn't have "any glaring weaknesses." Lee Corso agreed, but he said that Cincinnati "is the most complete group of five team."

Chris Fallica, also known as "Bear", asked an interesting question to the crew. He asked, outside of the top three teams (Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State) "Would you pick anyone to 100% beat BYU besides the top three?" Most of the crew agreed that it would be hard to pick against BYU. Herbstreit added, "They deserve to be recognized." 

ESPN's @chrisfallica ("Bear") on College Gameday: "Other than Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State, if BYU were to play anybody in the country, would you absolutely 100% pick any other team in the country to beat BYU? Look, I give BYU a chance against anyone else in the country."

— Greg Wrubell (@gregwrubell) November 7, 2020

Dave Pollack chimed in adding that he would take BYU over the PAC-12 due to limited number of games that the PAC-12 will play. Pollack said, "If we're going to compare USC vs BYU, I would favor BYU over the PAC-12." 

Update: BYU put the entire segment on Twitter. You can watch it here:

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