BYU Playoff Chances: Will Cougars Make the CFP Bracket?

It's championship Saturday for college football, and the Big 12 Championship Game between the No. 11 BYU Cougars and No. 4 Texas Tech Red Raiders will kick things off at noon ET.

The teams come into the game with identical 11-1 records and are trying to make the College Football Playoff. The winner will receive an automatic berth into the CFP as the Big 12 champion.

According to The Athletic's projections, BYU has a 32% chance of making the CFP, but the school may need to win Saturday's game to snag a spot. A loss would drop the program to 11-2, allowing teams like the Miami Hurricanes, Texas Longhorns and Vanderbilt Commodores to leapfrog them in the rankings. BYU also only has a 29% chance of beating Texas Tech, per the projections.

BYU comes into Saturday's game ahead of Miami (No. 12), Texas (No. 13) and Vanderbilt (No. 14) in the CFP rankings. Those teams need all the help they can get if to make the playoff field because they are not playing in a conference title game.

Heck, even the Virginia Cavaliers, who are ranked No. 17, would leapfrog BYU, if it falls Saturday, by earning an automatic berth with a win in Saturday's ACC Championship Game.