BYU is suddenly a hot pick to beef up your strength of schedule, in part because Baylor played Buffalo. Sort of. And not just because the Big 12 could invite BYU and someone else in order to add a résumé-padding 13th game for its conference champ.

When 11-1 Baylor was shut out of the inaugural bracket, athletic directors nationwide agreed the committee rewarded schools for aggressive out-of-conference schedules.

Florida State vs. Oklahoma State and Florida. Alabama vs. West Virginia. Oregon vs. Michigan State. Ohio State vs. Virginia Tech and Cincinnati. And then Baylor vs. 1-11 SMU, FCS Northwestern State and 5-6 Buffalo.

In years past, LSU might have felt comfortable locking up a schedule with Syracuse plus three cupcakes. But when ESPN contacted Ausberry about playing BYU in front of LSU’s largest out-of-state alumni base, it made sense.

"The message right now is, to get to the Playoff, you should have to play P5 teams," Ausberry said. "I know one thing: we consider BYU to be one of the top programs in the country. I’m not the one who determines if they should or shouldn’t be [power opponents]."

How much has the Playoff changed perception? An SEC athletic director in late November, before the bracket:

"The league's decision [not to count BYU] didn't make a lot of sense to some of us. When you consider how difficult it's becoming to find quality home-and-home series as other conferences go to a nine-game schedule, I would've thought BYU would be a great partner. As it stands, it's hard to see a team with an eight-game SEC schedule and a requirement to play one other Power 5 team also put a tough game against the Cougars on."

And that same AD in February:

"I think we'd consider it now, if we could make the dates work for getting our minimum home games in and handle the Power 5 issue. Still a very tough road game, but impressive if you win."