PK: Big 12 Title Loss Ends BYU’s CFP Dream, But Should It Be That Way?

ARLINGTON, Texas – Never take second chances in life for granted, for another opportunity is not promised, but always desired.

Talk about your philosophical wisdom, right there. But considering the stakes, the BYU football team was required to dig deep.

Too deep, apparently. Longing for another shot at Texas Tech, which won the first go-around between the two teams last month, BYU wasted the rare second shot in the same season by losing 34-7 Saturday at the home of the Dallas Cowboys.

Not only did they lose, but the Cougars also got embarrassed – again, even worse than the 29-7 beating Texas Tech administered on Nov. 8. The offense, which went 90 yards for a touchdown on its first possession, had four turnovers in the second half alone.

Congratulations to @TexasTechFB on winning the Big 12 Championship.

Proud of this team and the rising standard we’ve established.

The foundation is sure. We’re just getting started. pic.twitter.com/asXCrHlckP

— BYU FOOTBALL (@BYUfootball) December 6, 2025

“It just so happened we had to play the best team in the country again,” said coach Kalani Sitake.

The loss dropped the Cougars to 11-2, outside the 12-team playoff bracket that will be released on Sunday. Fair or not, BYU could be headed for a second consecutive trip to the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio – this time to play Pac-12 wrecker USC (now of the Big 10).

As only the Cougars know, posting an 11-1 record in the regular season is not good enough for an invitation to the 12-team playoff. The College Playoff Committee deems such an accomplishment good enough for any other team in the game leading into championship Saturday – except for No. 11 BYU.

“No power 4 team with a 11-1 record has ever finished outside the top 10 in the CFP rankings going into championship week. BYU is undervalued,” Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said during his press conference before the conference’s title game between BYU and Texas Tech.

The widespread disrespect sends the message it doesn’t matter much that BYU beat two currently ranked teams (Utah and Arizona) and did the same against another three Big 12 teams that finished with winning records. Essentially, what counted the most was that BYU didn’t come close to beating the Red Raiders in Lubbock last month.

“It’s really the way they looked in the game against Texas Tech,” CFP committee chairman Hunter Yurachek said on the night the rankings were released on Nov. 18. “They were dominated on both sides of the ball.”

The Arkansas athletic director, who criticized the lack of BYU’s quality wins at the time (Arizona was not ranked then) was being overly polite. BYU’s special teams were lousy, too, against Texas Tech.

After watching Saturday’s game, the committee is liable to drop BYU all the way out of the rankings. The only chance to get the playoff berth was to beat the team Sitake insists the nation will soon find out – Texas Tech is a beast.

Yeah, yeah, the critics – of which there are few aligned with BYU – will point out No. 10 Notre Dame began the season 0-2 (Miami and Texas A&M by a total of four points) and beat only one currently ranked team (No. 16 USC). As an independent, Notre Dame got to sit at home and watch BYU lose a 13^th game.

“There is no comparison (between BYU and Notre Dame),” Yormark said.

Kalani Sitake, after the Big 12 Championship Game loss to Texas Tech: “I’ve said before that Texas Tech is the best team in the country. After today, they are the best team in the country.”

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) December 6, 2025

Yes, there is. But two things play a factor here – Notre Dame’s reputation and Texas Tech’s greatness. Throw in another one, too, if the Cougars could have been more competitive in the second game.

Just wait, the college football world will learn what Sitake called the No. 1 team in the country. Billionaire boosters doled out gobs of money to build a great Big 12 program capable of competing for a national championship.

Big 12 scheduling also doomed the Cougars, who had the misfortune of playing Texas Tech as one of their nine conference games. If BYU played another one of the other teams – for example, winless Oklahoma State – a 12-0 regular season could have been a reality.

Unfortunately, BYU’s only reality is a second consecutive excellent season that ends without a playoff appearance. Blame it on Kansas and Arizona State, which beat the 11-2 Cougars last season, and now twice to Texas Tech.

“Playing the best team in the country will give us good lessons to learn,” Sitake said.

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