The BYU Cougars have been such a remarkably impressive team this season. I mean, we’re not talking about a perfect team, but we’re talking about a team that managed to beat just about everyone except the Texas Tech Red Raiders to get to this point. And I, for one, think it’s a good thing that they lost to the Red Raiders (twice, in fact), but we’re not here to talk about that.
We’re here to talk about how the team that Texas Tech beat twice has been really impressive all season long and how the Cougars are solidly favored in their upcoming Pop-Tarts Bowl matchup with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
At least that’s the story when you check in with the ESPN Analytics Matchup Predictor, which is giving the BYU Cougars a noteworthy chance to beat Georgia Tech in this game.
ESPN Analytics Matchup Predictor notably favors the BYU Cougars in the Pop-Tarts Bowl against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
With the Pop-Tarts Bowl, the ESPN Analytics Matchup Predictor is giving the BYU Cougars a 65.7 percent chance of winning. Which, you know, that’s really good! It’s certainly a good bit better than the 34.3 percent chance of victory that the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets have right now.
And those percentages really make a good bit of sense when you look at where each of these teams sit in ESPN’s Football Power Index. According to ESPN’s FPI, BYU is currently the No. 16 team in the country while the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are the No. 42 team in the country.
Now, that doesn’t guarantee that the Cougars will win or anything along those lines, but it does add a little bit of clarity to see that the ESPN analytics systems are a good bit more impressed with what BYU looks like over how the Yellow Jackets have looked and performed this season.