BYU #9 in AP poll, #12 in coaches poll, ahead of Oklahoma in both

To my mild surprise, both the AP sportswriters and the USA Today coaches’ poll voters have, in a rare display of good judgment, moved BYU, formerly #20 and #24 in their respective polls, ahead of Oklahoma, formerly #3 in both, as a result of the Cougars’ victory over the Sooners on Saturday. Here’s the AP poll, which isn’t part of the BCS formula; here’s the coaches’ poll, which is.

I had thought the Bradford injury would give at least the coaches, if not the AP voters, the perfect excuse to keep 0-1 Oklahoma ahead of the 1-0 BYU team that beat it. But instead, BYU is now #9 and #12 in the polls, respectively, whereas Oklahoma has fallen to #13 and #14, respectively.

This is significant because it suggests that, if BYU and OU both win out, there is at least a chance that the Cougars will stay ahead of the Sooners in the polls (and thus most likely the BCS). I say “at least a chance” because it’s equally possible that, in such a scenario, OU would leapfrog BYU after one of its big wins — over Texas, say** — with the Bradford injury (and schedule strength) being used to justify such a move despite BYU’s neutral-field win over OU (and its perfect record).

One intriguing possibility, in light of BYU’s higher ranking (and greater distance from OU) in the AP poll as compared to the coaches’ poll: if both teams win out, what if undefeated BYU finishes #2 in the AP poll, but #3 in the coaches’ poll and the BCS, behind one-loss Oklahoma? Then let’s say Oklahoma beats previously undefeated #1 Florida/USC/whomever in the championship game, while BYU wins its BCS bowl (against, let’s say, #4 Texas in the Fiesta Bowl). Do the Cougars win the AP championship, Trojan-style?

Of course, it’s entirely absurd to be talking this way about a 1-0 team, so ridiculously early in the season. If BYU gets past Florida State, they will probably lose a game in the tough Mountain West conference, and this will all be moot. But if they don’t, the possibilities are fascinating.

**Upon further review, the Red River Rivalry game is probably too early (October 17) for this. More likely candidates for a “leapfrog game” would be Oklahoma State (November 28) or the Big 12 championship game (December 5).

P.S. Boise State, by the way, jumped from to #14/16 to #12/11 with its win over now-unranked Oregon. So the Broncos are ahead of the Cougars in the coaches poll, but behind them in the AP poll.

Oh, and USC is #3 in both polls. And Notre Dame is #18 in the AP poll, #20 in the coaches’ poll. If the Irish can win their next four games against unranked* teams — a very big if — the October 17 game against USC will almost certainly be a matchup of Top 10 teams, and will be almost as heavily hyped as the October 15, 2005 “Bush Push” game. Wake up the echoes! Shake down the thunder! And then of course USC will win anyway. 🙂

Meanwhile, the SEC has its typical early-season stranglehold on the rankings, occupying 3 of the top 6 spots in the AP poll, and 4 of the top 9 spots in the coaches’ poll. It’s a WAR, people, a WAR!!

*Michigan State is on the cusp of the rankings — first in the coaches’ poll’s “others receiving votes” category, second in that category on the AP side — and will very likely be ranked by the time they arrive at Notre Dame Stadium in two weeks, assuming they beat Central Michigan on Saturday, since somebody in the bottom half of the Top 25 will presumably lose next week.

P.P.S. Back to BYU for a moment. Thinking ahead… assuming they beat Tulane on Saturday, they’ll move ahead of the USC-OSU loser in both polls next week, and if they beat Florida State in two weeks, they should leapfrog at least Boise State in the coaches poll. So they should be in the Top 10 in both polls, two weeks hence, if they win their next two games.

Then they just try to keep winning, and meanwhile watch and wait as the big boys beat each other up. All the teams ahead of them are from the Pac-10, SEC, Big 12 or Big Ten — not an ACC or Big East team in sight. So, at worst, an undefeated BYU should rise by attrition to #5, and probably higher, since it’s unlikely those conferences will all have unbeaten teams still standing at, say, the beginning of November. It’s quite likely the Cougars would make it to at least #3 by attrition by then, if they keep winning.

Then the question becomes whether they get leapfrogged in November or December by a big-conference team with one early loss, the obvious candidates being USC (if they lose to Ohio State, then win out), Ohio State (if they lose to USC, then win out), or Oklahoma (creating the BCS debate to end all BCS debates). My guess: if it’s USC, they get leapfrogged. If it’s Ohio State, they don’t. If it’s Oklahoma, the world explodes. (And if it’s USC, and BYU gets leapfrogged, the world survives but my head explodes.)

BYU’s remaining big games, by the way, are all at home — on September 19 (vs. Florida State), October 24 (vs. TCU) and November 28 (vs. Utah). Though if the Mountain West Conference had any sense, they would move the BYU-Utah game to December 5, and find a way to get it on the ESPN Family of Networks, with all the attendant hype from the ESPN Hype Machine that such a move would entail. I realize the conference wants to promote its ridiculous “The Mtn.” network, but for chrissakes, if the 2009 edition of the Holy War is a battle between two undefeated Top 5 teams contending for a national championship berth, and yet it’s in TV exile on a channel that nobody gets, with zero hype from ESPN, the week before all the cool kids are playing title games, they’re asking to get jobbed by the powers-that-be.