The No. 11 BYU Cougars suffered a lopsided loss against the No. 4 Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Big 12 championship game, falling with a 34-7 final score at AT&T Stadium on Saturday.
This defeat marked the Cougars’ second loss of the 2025 season. The 11-2 program’s only other loss came in a 29-7 defeat against the same Texas Tech team on Nov. 8.
BYU was already on the College Football Playoff bubble heading into Saturday’s conference championship matchup. Now, the Cougars are likely to drop out of this year’s 12-team playoff field when the selection committee announces its final rankings on Selection Sunday.
Each year, there’s discussion regarding whether or not conference championship losses should be taken into account.
During Saturday evening’s SEC championship matchup between the No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs and No. 9 Alabama Crimson Tide, ESPN broadcaster Kirk Herbstreit weighed in with his thoughts on BYU’s College Football Playoff chances.
“I don’t think teams should ever be punished for playing in a conference championship game,” Herbstreit said. “But in this case…”
The official account of BYU Athletics called out Herbstreit on social media.
“… unless of course you’re BYU & the Big 12,” the school wrote on X.
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Alabama suffered a blowout loss in the SEC championship game, falling to Georgia with a 28-7 final score in Atlanta. But unlike BYU vs. Texas Tech, the Crimson Tide notched a head-to-head victory over the Bulldogs earlier this season.
That said, Kalen DeBoer’s team has three losses to BYU’s two.
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No. 12 Miami and No. 10 Notre Dame could benefit from both of these conference championship results as the selection committee considers them as College Football Playoff options. The Hurricanes and Fighting Irish are both 10-2, but Miami opened the 2025 season with a head-to-head win over Notre Dame.
Sunday’s selection show will begin at noon ET.
