BYU falls to No. 14 in latest CFP rankings

The College Football Playoff rankings revealed Tuesday night that BYU (9-1) now checks in at No. 14 in the latest rankings.

BYU drops eight spots from 6th to 14th this week after a disappointing 17-13 home loss to Kansas Saturday. Prior to the game, the Cougars were 26-3 in their last 29 night games.

As always, each week's release of the updated standings engenders a lot of controversy from fans and analysts alike. College football analyst Mike Golic Jr. shared his thoughts about the Cougars' dramatic drop in the rankings.

Notably, the AP poll came out on Sunday afternoon and the Cougars dropped seven spots from 7th to 14th.

On the ESPN live show Tuesday night, the panelists discussed how all of the Cougars' close finishes finally caught up to them, but "[they are] still in the mix at 9-1."

Because BYU is the still the highest ranked Big 12 team and now the fifth highest-ranked projected conference champion, it is still projected to make the first round as a No. 12 seed in the bracket.

In last week's bracket, BYU was granted a first round bye as the No. 4 seed. This week, Boise State has taken that spot so the Cougars will have to do it the hard way.

The Cougars are slated to take on the No. 2 overall (No. 5 seed) Ohio State Buckeyes. If the Cougars were to pull off the upset, they would advance to play the No. 12 overall (4 seed) Boise State Broncos in the quarterfinals.

BYU's next opponent is Arizona State this weekend on the road. ASU also made an appearance in the College Football Playoff rankings at No. 21.

Other Big 12 teams in the rankings include No. 16 Colorado and No. 22 Iowa State. Prior to last week's loss against Kansas, there was growing speculation that the Big 12 conference championship game would almost certainly be between the BYU Cougars and the Colorado Buffaloes.

Now with two one-loss teams and a pair of two-loss teams in the Big 12, the conference is largely up for grabs, but the Cougars have the chance to essentially eliminate the Sun Devils from conference title contention this weekend if they win.

The Allstate playoff predictor gives BYU a 39% chance to make the College Football Playoff and ASU a 15% chance to make it.

Winning out is imperative now for the Cougars because things could get dicey if they don't.