# 8 - Best Case Scenario?

Coming into this weekend, BYU was ranked # 11 in the Coaches Poll. With having a bye week in front of them, most people expected the Cougars to drop a spot or two in the polls. A few small "miracles" had to happen but BYU has now moved into the top 10. They are ranked # 8 in the coaches Poll and # 7 in the USA Today Poll. Wow! Certainly unexpected. Let's take a look at what happened this weekend to allow BYU to jump 3 spots in the polls:

• #1 USC: On Thursday night USC was upset by Oregon State. Oregon State is an unranked team who simply outplayed the Trojan's. That loss took USC to #9 in the polls. (Utah plays Oregon State next week. It would be great for both BYU and the conference if Utah can beat these guys.)
  
• #3 Georgia: Georgia was upset by # 8 Alabama. The game wasn't even close which knocked them down to #11.
• #4 Florida: In the 4th quarter Florida was trailing Mississippi by one touchdown. Their offense made on final push at the end of the quarter and scored a touchdown to send it to overtime, assuming they made the extra point. They assumed to much. Mississippi pushed through the line and blocked the extra point to win the game 31-30. That loss dropped Florida to #12.
• #9 Wisconsin: Wisconsin went into the Big House (Michigan) favored to win for the first time ever! Well, Michigan proved that winning in the Big House is not an easy task for even a #9 ranked team. Michigan beat the Wisconsin Badgers dropping them to #18 in the polls. (This makes Utah's win in the Big House look even more impressive.)

Because of these upsets, BYU was launched in the #8 spot. Penn State who was ranked #12 has been playing great football. They beat up on #22 Illinois and leaped us to get into the #6 spot. So what does all of this mean? It means that on a bye week BYU basically had the best case scenario happen. It is rare that a team moves up in the polls on a bye week.

BYU has only been ranked higher than #8 in 1984, 1990, and 1996. And only two of those teams were ranked this high this early in the season (1984 and 1990). Any BYU fan will quickly recognize 1984 as the one and only year BYU has been crowned National Champions after coming from behind to beat Michigan 24-17. So, could this be the year for another shot at a National Championship? Who knows! The only thing we can be sure of at this point is that this was a best case scenario for week 5 of college football.