In fact, the Hotline would respectfully offer the following: Short of sheer and utter chaos in other conferences — chaos that cannot be explained by football physics or comprehended by the human mind — BYU and Utah have no path into the CFP’s at-large field. For both, it’s the Big 12 title or bust.

Perhaps the best summation of No. 12 BYU’s first loss of the season came from one of the offensive players whose offense was downright offensive in a 29-7 loss at No. 8 Texas Tech on the weekend. Asked how he felt about the defeat,

There were a couple near upsets in the Big Ten that would've tossed College Football Playoff projections into a jumbled mess, but unbeaten Indiana and one-loss Oregon prevailed on their final possessions against Penn State and Iowa, respectively, away from home to keep pace behind top-ranked Ohio State.

The No. 10-ranked BYU Cougars are two-thirds into their season, but now the hard part really begins — November road games at Texas Tech and Cincinnati.

The trip to Lubbock, Texas, was not one to remember for BYU in a disappointing — although not entirely unexpected — weekend result. BYU’s offense struggled to get much of anything going against a stout Texas Tech defense — the team finished with a season low 255 total yards,