Clint Lamb
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BYU decision-makers need to coordinate with their social media team better. It became increasingly obvious on Sunday evening that there is some disconnect between the two parties, and social media had fun with it.
The official Twitter account for the Cougars tweeted simply: “any team, any time, any place.” BYU is currently 8-0 and checks in as the No. 8 team in the country, according to the Coaches Poll and AP Poll. They also have one of the nation’s best quarterbacks in junior Zach Wilson.
Any team, any time, any place. pic.twitter.com/Rs9ihEGfA8
— BYU FOOTBALL (@BYUfootball) November 21, 2020
In other words, there are plenty of reasons to be confident. There are no issues with the original tweet, as long as the Cougars are willing to back it up. Unfortunately, they are not fully committed to doing so.
Bruce Feldman with The Athletic made a tweet of his own on Sunday night. Check it out.
SOURCES: #BYU turned down the opportunity to play #Washington this coming weekend. UDub had reached out yesterday but was told BYU wanted to wait until after the CFP rankings Tuesday to gauge their place. "It's off the table."
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) November 23, 2020
Those tweets were made almost 27 hours apart.
Washington is looking for an opponent after Washington State was forced to cancel the Apple Cup scheduled for next Saturday. The reason for the cancelation? Issues with COVID-19, of course. But that is not the point.
BYU should be the focus here.
How are you going to tweet out that you’re ready to play, and then purposefully avoid a quality opponent a day later? It becomes increasingly difficult to sell that you’re a College Football Playoff-worthy team when you’re worried about losing to the Huskies.
The non-Power Five programs are depending on the Cougars, and it’s going to take more than playing the University of North Alabama, Troy and the University of Texas-San Antonio to make the case. Playing an undefeated Pac-12 squad could do wonders in the eyes of the committee.
Figure out a way to make it happen, guys.
Update: To be fair, more context was later given on the situation. Is it a cover after the fact? Hard to tell, but we should certainly hope the tweet from Yahoo’s Pete Thamel is correct. Otherwise, it’s a bad look for BYU.
Source: Some context on the potential BYU-Washington game. BYU is interested in playing, but only if they can lock in a contract immediately. They are concerned that Pac-12 will make UW play Utah on Sunday if ASU can't play. "If we can get a game locked in, we want to play."
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 23, 2020
Follow Clint Lamb on Twitter @ClintRLamb.
This is all about last minute lawyer crap trying to get contracts and all that ironed out at the last minute. BYU would jump into the playoff mix with a win against a team like Washington. I’m sure it’s not simple to throw a game together for two huge programs on a few days notice. Just getting the travel booked for 200 personnel in 3-4 days would be a nightmare. I’ve watched BYU play a few times this year…they’d be just fine holding their own against the Huskies. They ran over a pretty good Boise State program like they were Idaho State.
And now BYU is proven right not to agree to a game that the PAC12 would have cancelled. They would have looked foolish as soon as the rug was pulled out from under them with the Utah and Washington matchup.