BYU’s Dominant Win Over Navy Leads CFB Writer Predicting Cougars To Rose Bowl

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – BYU thrust itself squarely into the national conversation with a dominant 55-3 win over Navy.

Being the spotlight game on a holiday evening that garners some of the biggest television audiences college football has to offer, influential voices were talking about BYU’s win. Including Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde who had a bold prediction after the Cougars rout in Annapolis.

Pat Forde has #BYU in his College Football Playoff projection (Rose Bowl) following tonight’s win 👀 https://t.co/POHNcT9T4Q

— WestCoastCFB.com (@WestCoastCFB) September 8, 2020

Forde penned his latest “Forde Yard Dash” for Sports Illustrated and predicted BYU in the 2020 Rose Bowl.

Say, what?

Yes, Forde has BYU playing SMU in the Granddaddy of them all this January, a bowl that’s a Playoff Semifinal this season.

Now keep in mind, Forde notes in his article that his Playoff predictions are based solely on teams that have played through the first week. So no Clemson, no Alabama, no Power 5 team for that matter. Luckily for BYU, the Cougars get tabbed in a Playoff prediction after the sport’s strange opening week amidst COVID-19.

FINAL: @BYUfootball 55, @NavyFB 3#BYU starting out the 2020 season with a bang.#BYUvsNAVY #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/o6LQoyrvMb

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) September 8, 2020

Forde has BYU playing SMU in the Rose Bowl with Army taking on Memphis in the Sugar Bowl. Oh, by the way, BYU is the number one seed in this hypothetical scenario. The perks of crushing it on a nationally-televised stage.

Who knows what ends up happening with the bowl season this year. But the bowl projections have been fun to see since a handful of FBS conferences bowed out on this season. CBS Sports tabbed to play in the Las Vegas Bowl against Ole Miss. Others have tossed around the Los Angeles Bowl.

Win and play as they did on Monday night and I’m sure ESPN will find an attractive bowl destination for the Cougars this season.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.