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PROVO — As expected, BYU's first loss of the season cost the Cougars a few spots in the College Football Playoff rankings.
The Cougars dropped five spots in the rankings to No. 18 after a 22-17 loss at unbeaten Coastal Carolina, which rose to No. 13.
After a 5-point win that ended with stopping BYU on the 1-yard line, the Chanticleers (10-0) essentially switched spots with the Cougars (9-1).
"Each week is a new evaluation, and obviously this week Coastal — we had a data point, a game to watch, and I would just tell you that as a college football fan, watching that Coastal Carolina-BYU game was exciting. What a thrill," CFP selection committee chair Gary Barta said during a teleconference with reporters after releasing the rankings. "They were ranked lower than the team they beat in BYU, and they moved up several spots as a result of that victory. They were able to run the ball. They were able to contain — slow down — BYU's offense. Nobody can stop it. And they won the game.
"The committee put them at 13 based on that performance and the performance leading up to that, and I won't project further than that. We'll just wait and see next week what we have to evaluate."
Even with the dropoff and missed opportunity, BYU coach Kalani Sitake is glad his team took a chance on a top-20 matchup with Coastal Carolina — even if it didn't end up with its 10th win of the season.
"We didn't win, and there are a lot of things we're going to learn from this. But I was really happy with the way our guys played," Sitake said Monday. "They played hard, and they fought. We watched film as much as we can … but they came from the game with a chip on their shoulders. There was no disrespect from us; we knew we had a really good team to play. We were looking forward to the matchup, and they made one play more than us.
"It was exciting, down to the last second. We came a yard short — Super Bowls have ended the same way. And it was frustrating. But I saw a team that was excited to play football, coming off two weeks not playing."
The top six spots remain unchanged, led by Alabama, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Clemson. Cincinnati fell one spot behind Iowa State (8-2) to No. 8, the top-ranked Group of Five team that won't play until the American Athletic Conference title game on Dec. 19 after the league called off the regular-season meeting with No. 24 Tulsa, originally scheduled for Saturday.
Georgia (6-2) and Miami (8-1) round out the top 10.
Barta said that two-loss Iowa State jumping over the undefeated Bearcats was less about Cincinnati and more about the Cyclones, pointing specifically to wins over No. 11 Oklahoma and No. 20 Texas.
"The last two weeks especially, it's been building over the course of the year, but two weeks ago they beat No. 20 Texas and then this week really came out strong against West Virginia," Barta said. "Their defense held them to 6 points. They now have the nation's leading rusher in Breece Hall. Brock Purdy was 20-out-of-23. So when you take all those things, Iowa State ended up at No. 7.
"I just would tell you my take on it from the committee's standpoint," he added, "it was less about moving Cincinnati down and more about just the committee being impressed with what Iowa State has been doing."
The big question on the committee's mind this week was Ohio State, which beat Michigan State 52-12 on Saturday and had its annual rivalry game with Michigan canceled Tuesday as a result of rising infections for COVID-19 within the Wolverines' program.
That leaves the Buckeyes below the minimum standard of games required to compete in the Big Ten championship. A meeting of league athletic directors is scheduled for Wednesday, and will likely address the matter.
Barta, who is also the athletic director at Iowa, did not speculate on the contents of that meeting. But he did say everything Ohio State has done in its 5-0 start to the season, including against the Spartans, has impressed the committee as the No. 4 team in the country. He then declined to discussed future hypothetical situations that would involve the Buckeyes not competing for a conference title.
"I understand why you would ask the question. That's a fair question," Barta said. "But from the committee's vantage point, we just — we really resist — every week we talk about we resist looking ahead. We've seen Ohio State play five games. Based on that performance, we put them in the fourth spot, and we'll just wait and see. Next week is another ranking opportunity, and then we'll have that final ranking opportunity."
