Reggie Bush Felt BYU Should Have Been In College Football Playoff
Jan 17, 2025, 11:57 AM
Heisman Trophy winner and College Football Hall of Famer Reggie Bush believed that BYU football should have been in the 2024 CFB Playoff. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
PROVO, Utah – BYU football finished the 2024 season with an 11-2 record, yet they didn’t get much consideration for the College Football Playoff after they suffered a loss.
One college football legend felt that wasn’t right.
Former Heisman Trophy winner and USC great Reggie Bush hopped on Reign of Troy Radio, a USC podcast, and one of the topics during the interview was his thoughts on the first edition of the 12-team College Football Playoff.
Bush felt BYU deserved to be in the bracket.
Reggie Bush felt BYU football belonged in the CFB Playoff
“The only team I thought got left out that should have been in there was BYU,” Bush said on Reign of Troy Radio.
Bush continued, “I thought BYU was a team that could have really made a run deep into the playoffs. We saw what they looked like in that bowl game. They looked great; they looked physically dominant.”
BYU crushed nationally-ranked Colorado 36-14 in the Alamo Bowl to cap off its season with an 11-2 record.
The Cougars reached as high as No. 6 in the College Football Playoff rankings before falling to Kansas, 17-13, in Provo in November. One week later, in Tempe, they lost 28-23 to Arizona State, a College Football Playoff participant and Big 12 Champion.
Entering Selection Sunday in December, BYU didn’t receive much consideration for an at-large bid.
The Cougars finished ranked No. 17 in the final College Football Playoff ranking. However, four potential at-large teams were in front of them in the final poll.
Three of those four teams (Alabama, Miami, and South Carolina) lost their bowl games during the Bowl Season.
BYU had a regular season win over one of the teams in the 12-team field, SMU. But that wasn’t enough to earn the respect of the Playoff Committee.
“I don’t know what the fix is to that yet. But I would definitely love to see there be some focus and inclusion of teams there be some focus and inclusion of teams that are really strong that we know are strong. But maybe they don’t win the conference, or whatever it is,” said Bush. “We just wanna make sure that they’re always delivering a great product on TV because that’s what fans want to see. They want to see a great product at the end of the day. We want to see good games, which is what I thought we saw.”
College Football legend
Reggie Bush was a two-time National Champion during his three seasons at USC from 2003 to 2005. During his college career, he faced BYU football twice in 2003 and 2004.
Bush was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2023.
The 2024-25 College Football Playoff concludes on Monday night, with No. 8 Ohio State facing No. 7 Notre Dame in the National Championship.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X: @Mitch_Harper.
