PROVO, Utah — BYU dropped five spots in the two major national polls released on Sunday after suffering its second defeat of the season at nationally ranked ASU, receiving rankings of No. 19 and No. 20, respectively, in The Associated Press Top 25 and the AFCA's US LBM Coaches Poll published by USA TODAY Sports.
Coming off a 28-23 loss at No. 21 Arizona State, where reciever Chase Roberts hauled in 49-yard Hail Mary from Jake Retzlaff on the last play of the game but was stopped at the 2-yard line, BYU and ASU nearly swapped places in the rankings with the Sun Devils moving up to BYU's previous spots at No. 14 in AP and No. 15 in the AFCA.
Overall, this week four Big 12 teams are ranked by AP and three by the coaches. After Arizona State (9-2), Iowa State (9-2) is ranked No. 17 in both polls, while Colorado (8-3) follows BYU (9-2, No. 19/20) at No. 23 in AP after being the third straight ranked team to be defeated by surging Kansas. Colorado is recieving votes in the AFCA while Kansas State is just outside both rankings, listed 26th among teams receiving votes.
The top four teams in both polls remained the same with Oregon (11-0) followed by Ohio State (10-1), Texas (10-1), and Penn State (10-1). Meanwhile, Notre Dame (10-1) and Georgia (9-2) are up one and two places, respectively, to No. 5 and No. 6 in both polls. Previous No. 5 Indiana (10-1) dropped five spots to No. 10 in both rankings, while Tennessee (9-2), Miami 10-1) and SMU (10-1) are ranked from No. 7 to No. 9 by AP. The coaches slightly changed the order, placing Miami at No. 7 and Tennessee at No. 8 in the AFCA poll.
The fourth College Football Playoff rankings will be revealed on Tuesday evening at 5 p.m. on ESPN. The Cougars were ranked No. 9, No. 6 and No. 14 in the first three CFP rankings released this season.
This week's AP ranking marks BYU’s 289th overall appearances in the AP poll since its first national ranking in 1974. Since that season 50 years ago, BYU has ammassed 440 victories to rank No. 8 in total wins among all FBS programs in that timeframe.
The Cougars have been ranked in the last 10 national polls since entering the top 25 this season at No. 22 in week five of the polls to receive a top-25 ranking for the first time since week five of the 2022 season.
In their second season in the Big 12, the Cougars are currently in a four-way tie atop the league standings at 6-2 along with Arizona State, Iowa State and Colorado.
BYU concludes the regular season on Saturday hosting Houston at LaVell Edwards Stadium with kickoff set for 8:15 p.m. MT on ESPN.