Bowl projections for BYU and Utah shaken up after another chaotic Big 12 week

It’s a bye week for both BYU and Utah — a good time to look ahead and see what national pundits currently view as the postseason destination for both schools.

Last week’s zaniness in the Big 12 helped shape that picture — BYU won its first Big 12 road game at Baylor, Utah surprisingly lost at home to Arizona, Kansas State blasted Oklahoma State and Colorado blitzed UCF.

There’s A LOT of football left to be played — these are just projections made in the current climate of the college football scene.

Note: For the time being, Utah State is not showing up in any bowl projections, though if the Aggies do in the future, they will be included in future editions of these bowl projection roundups.

What are the latest bowl projections for Utah football?

• Kyle Bonagura, ESPN : Sun Bowl, vs. Boston College
• Mark Schlabach, ESPN : Alamo Bowl, vs. USC
• Jerry Palm, CBS Sports : Fiesta Bowl, CFP quarterfinals — No. 4 seed vs. TBD
• Brett McMurphy, Action Network : Holiday Bowl, vs. SMU
• Brad Crawford, 247 Sports : Alamo Bowl, vs. USC
• Erick Smith, USA Today : Holiday Bowl, vs. Duke
• Steve Lassan, Athlon Sports : Alamo Bowl, vs. USC

Two weeks ago, Utah was projected to make the College Football Playoff in the majority of national bowl projections . Now, the Utes have gone from five CFP projections back then to one in the seven predictions used for this article.

That’s largely because of the Utes’ 23-10 loss to Arizona at Rice-Eccles Stadium last Saturday.

CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm is the lone national writer who has consistently kept Utah as the Big 12 champion and CFP representative in his projections.

One other popular projection for Utah, after it fell to 4-1, is meeting up with former Pac-12 rival USC in the Alamo Bowl.

What are the latest bowl projections for BYU football?

• Kyle Bonagura, ESPN : Fiesta Bowl, CFP quarterfinals — No. 4 seed vs. No. 5 seed Alabama
• Mark Schlabach, ESPN : Texas Bowl, vs. Oklahoma
• Jerry Palm, CBS Sports : Texas Bowl, vs. LSU
• Brett McMurphy, Action Network : Pop-Tarts Bowl, vs. Notre Dame
• Brad Crawford, 247 Sports : Fiesta Bowl, CFP quarterfinals — No. 4 seed vs. No. 5 seed Texas
• Erick Smith, USA Today : Alamo Bowl, vs. USC
• Steve Lassan, Athlon Sports : Texas Bowl, vs. Oklahoma

What a wild time — a roundup of bowl projections going into the 2024 season only had one national writer who predicted BYU would play in the postseason , and less than two months later, things have changed greatly.

Now, there are a pair of national experts who are projecting BYU as the Big 12 champion and earning a first-round bye in the playoff.

While there’s still plenty of football to be played, that’s already a huge jump in expectations and respect for the Cougars.

Every single one of these projections has BYU facing a blueblood program in the postseason, quite the contrast to the Cougars’ bowl matchups during the independence era.

Which Big 12 schools are being projected for the College Football Playoff?

Here’s a look at which Big 12 teams are being projected this week to make the College Football Playoff in each of the seven projections used for this article:

• Kyle Bonagura, ESPN : Fiesta Bowl, CFP quarterfinals — No. 4 seed BYU vs. No. 5 seed Alabama
• Mark Schlabach, ESPN : Fiesta Bowl, CFP quarterfinals — No. 4 seed Kansas State vs. No. 5 seed Texas
• Jerry Palm, CBS Sports : Fiesta Bowl, CFP quarterfinals — No. 4 seed Utah vs. TBD; CFP first round — No. 8 seed Iowa State vs. No. 9 seed Penn State
• Brett McMurphy, Action Network : Fiesta Bowl, CFP quarterfinals — No. 4 seed Iowa State vs. No. 5 seed Georgia
• Brad Crawford, 247 Sports : Fiesta Bowl, CFP quarterfinals — No. 4 seed BYU vs. No. 5 seed Texas; CFP first round — No. 11 seed Iowa State at No. 6 seed Tennessee
• Erick Smith, USA Today : Fiesta Bowl, CFP quarterfinals — Kansas State vs. Texas (no seeds designated); CFP first round — Iowa State at Oregon (no seeds designated)
• Steve Lassan, Athlon Sports : Fiesta Bowl, CFP quarterfinals — No. 4 seed Kansas State vs. No. 5 seed Texas

Iowa State received the most votes as a CFP participant with four, though three of those came as an at-large who plays in the first round.

Kansas State received a league-high three projections to win the Big 12 and earn a first-round bye into the CFP quarterfinals.

BYU is the only other team with multiple projections to earn a first-round bye into the CFP quarterfinals with two, while Utah and Iowa State each had one projection of the same.