In July, BYU was picked to finish 13th in the new-look Big 12 Conference.
On Sunday, the Cougars rose to 13th in the Associated Press Top 25 after a 41-19 win over Arizona on Saturday upped their record to 6-0 overall and 3-0 in the conference.
As BYU readies for a conference game Friday night in Provo, Utah, against Oklahoma State, it might be understandable that some of its players are talking about more than merely qualifying for a bowl game. They want a spot in the newly expanded 12-team College Football Playoff.
“We are bowl-eligible,” cornerback Jakob Robinson said, “but that’s not really what I have been thinking of. I just want to get to the national championship.”
The present resume screams championship contender for sure. The Cougars have outscored their opponents 206-98 with a 38-9 win over 5-1 Kansas State, currently ranked No. 17, and an 18-15 win at 5-1 SMU, which is No. 21 and one of four remaining unbeatens in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff has thrown 14 touchdown passes and is completing 60.3 percent of his attempts. Chase Roberts and Darius Lassiter comprise a nice 1-2 punch at wide receiver, and the defense gets to the quarterback — eight different players have sacks — and forces turnovers.
Aside from a surprisingly low third-down conversion rate of 30.6 percent that ranks among the nation’s worst, there is not a major weakness on this BYU squad.
“I’m really excited for what we’re going to do the rest of the season,” Retzlaff said. “We just want to get better and better every week and these guys have the right mindset for it. We’re only (13th) in the country; we’re better than that.”
While the Cougars try to keep rolling, Oklahoma State (3-3, 0-3) aims for a second-half reset to a once-promising season that turned sour after losing its first three conference games by increasingly bigger margins. The Cowboys last played on Oct. 5, when they were blown out 38-14 by visiting West Virginia.
Oklahoma State’s offense hasn’t come close to being the two-dimensional machine most thought it would be. Running back Ollie Gordon II is on pace to rush for less than half of last year’s national-best 1,732 yards and is averaging less than 4 yards per carry, while quarterback Alan Bowman has tossed eight interceptions in six games.
Gordon’s performance is concerning enough to the point that coach Mike Gundy, who benched him twice in the past three games, couldn’t commit to starting him this week.
“We’re working all of our guys, getting them good quality work,” Gundy said Monday.
The defense has experienced its share of issues lately, too, particularly against the run. West Virginia gashed the Cowboys for a whopping 389 yards, and Kansas State rolled up 300 rushing yards in a 42-20 rout on Sept. 28.
“We need to be a better run-fit defense and minimize a few of the big plays,” Gundy said.
The Cowboys have won all three prior meetings with BYU, including a 40-34 double-overtime victory last year to close out the regular season.
