Will BYU make the College Football Playoff? Here’s what national media are projecting for the Cougars

As the ninth-ranked BYU Cougars keep winning, the national talk about them making the 12-team College Football Playoff keeps getting louder.
Following the Cougars’ latest victory last Saturday — a 37-24 road win over UCF to move to 8-0 — numerous outlets are projecting them to make the playoff, either as the Big 12 champion or as one of the at-large teams.
Here’s a look at what some national pundits have written about BYU since last Saturday.
Like Schlabach wrote, not everyone is bullish on BYU despite its unblemished record. Here’s a sampling of national outlets that are not projecting the Cougars in the CFP field:
This season is the first since the CFP was expanded from four to 12 teams. As outlined by ESPN’s Heather Dinich in May, “The five highest-ranked conference champions and the next seven highest-ranked teams will earn a spot in the 12-team bracket.”
That said, “There is no limit to how many teams from one conference can qualify. The rules also don’t guarantee spots for certain conferences.”
Still, as Dinich noted, the Big 12, SEC, ACC and Big Ten champions will almost surely always qualify, as there is no minimum ranking requirement for the five highest-ranked conference champions.
As far as seeding goes, “The four highest-ranked conference champions will earn the top four seeds and receive a first-round bye,” while the other teams will play each other in the first round, with the higher seed hosting the game, either on its campus or another place nearby.
Even though seeds won’t necessarily be determined by ranking, the selection committee will still release a weekly ranking of its top 25, starting on Nov. 5.
The final ranking will come on Dec. 8, and the playoff will begin on Dec. 20.