Cougars Complete Third Straight 10-win Regular Season
PROVO -- BYU (10-2) fell four spots to No. 18 in this week’s Bowl Championship Series standings after its road loss at then No. 7 Utah on Saturday.
The Cougars are also No. 18 in the Harris Interactive Poll, while being ranked No. 19 in the USA Today Coaches Poll and No. 20 in The Associated Press Top 25. Last week the Cougars were No. 14 in the BCS, USA Today and Harris rankings and No. 16 in AP.
The BCS standings again feature three Mountain West Conference teams in the top 20. With its win over the Cougars, Utah finished the season with a perfect 12-0 record and moved up to No. 6 in the BCS standings. TCU finished 10-2 with its win over Air Force and advanced two spots to No. 14. BYU’s two defeats on the season were road setbacks at TCU and Utah.
Alabama stayed at No. 1 in the BCS standings while Texas moved up one spot to replace Texas Tech at No. 2 after Oklahoma’s victory on Saturday over the Red Raiders. The Sooners, Florida and USC round out the top five with Utah, Texas Tech, Penn State, Boise State and Ohio State completing the top 10.
The highest-ranked team representing each Football Bowl Subdivision conference in the BCS standings are No. 1 Alabama (SEC), No. 2 Texas (Big 12), No. 5 USC (Pac-10), No. 6 Utah (MWC), No. 8 Penn State (Big Ten), No. 9 Boise State (WAC), No. 15 Ball State (MAC), No. 16 Cincinnati (Big East) and No. 20 Florida State (ACC). No teams from Conference USA or the Sun Belt Conference are currently ranked in the BCS top-25 standings.
BYU has won 20 of its last 22 games and been ranked each week since cracking the polls on Nov. 18, 2007. BYU opened the 2008 season ranked No. 17 in the USA Today Coaches Poll and No. 16 in The Associated Press Top 25.
The Cougars finished the regular season with a 10-2 record, including a 6-2 mark in the MWC. BYU awaits an invitation to a bowl game after posting a 10-win season for the third straight year, something only achieved twice before in program history (1979-81, 1983-85).