But as a BYU fan most of us believe we could be in the top 5 in contention for that spot EVERY year if we were in the Go5...

That said - it is only 1 slot (the one guaranteed to the highest ranked Go5 champ) they have better access to...

BYU, in my opinion, has a better shot at the actual at-large opportunities for NY6 bowls. There just is not a lot of opportunity for most Go5 teams to create a schedule strong enough to really get the vote of the committee to raise them to that level in the rankings. BYU is just entering that mode of really having the kind of schedule every year to warrant the committees respect if they were to go undefeated through it...

If you took BYU & BSU's schedules this year and marked them both as undefeated (I know not actually possible because they play each other) BYU would be ranked higher at the end of the year based on SOS. This means they'd have the better opportunity to go as an at-large...BSU would be in as the Go5 guarantee.

But also consider it this way...say BSU beats BYU by 1 in an exciting game for BYU's only defeat. Then say BSU loses by 1 in an exciting conf championship game for their only loss. Who would more than likely (of those 2) have a better opportunity to play in a NY6 game (i.e. higher ranked)?

Throw out the aspect of it being a more recent loss - fact remains that BSU is not a conf champ so even if they are the highest ranked Go5 still they are not eligible for the guaranteed slot. They would have to fend for a possible at-large and my guess is that BYU having a much tougher schedule would still be ranked higher than BSU even with a loss to them....

Still doesn't mean that either one would be ranked high enough for the at-large spots. Particularly if it were a year when the Fiesta/Peach host the semi-finals and only one at-large may be available.

http://www.cougarboard.com/board/message.html?id=12345479