BYU ranks better than most of Big 12 in AP's all-time top 100 college football programs

The Associated Press came out with a ranking of all time college football programs and BYU came in at number 34. Predictably, this led to comparisons of other in-state schools, Big 12 schools and Big 12 expansion candidates. It’s fascinating to me how literally everything is now weighed on the Big 12 expansion scale.

Here is how they came up with the rankings:

To determine the all-time Top 25, the AP formula counted poll appearances (one point) to mark consistency, No. 1 rankings (two points) to acknowledge elite programs and gave a bonus for AP championships (10 points).

Utah fans will undoubtedly be upset to see their team 30 spots below the school that they consider to be “little brother” and BYU fans will be quick to remind them. Perhaps the angriest fan base is Alabama, who despite having double the amount of national titles as #1 Ohio State, they find themselves at #4.

Anyway, back to Big 12 comparisons because that’s all people seem to care about:

Here’s their comparison to the current Big 12 schools:

Here’s the deal, this means nothing as far as Big 12 expansion is concerned. However, this ranking is another arrow in the quiver for the “BYU is a P-5 caliber program” argument. I have believed for a long time that judging a school solely on the basis of what conference their in is really dumb.

Every time I see someone rank BYU’s schedule on how many P-5 teams are on it, they lose credibility for me when it comes to college football intelligence. A rational brain doesn’t rank Boise State lower than Vanderbilt because the Commodores are in the SEC.

Don’t take my word for it though:

Long story short, BYU is the best candidate when it comes to football. This is something everyone already knows, but unfortunately that might not be the end all be all in determining who the Big 12 invites.

Good move by the Associated Press to help everyone get through the off-season though, we all need it.