PROVO, Utah — BYU received a No. 17 ranking in the final College Football Playoff ratings, moving up one spot, while also being ranked No. 17 in both The Associated Press Top 25 and the AFCA's US LBM Coaches Poll published by USA TODAY Sports released on Sunday.
The Cougars maintained their same ranking from AP voters, while the CFP committee and the coaches moved BYU up one place to be ranked No. 17 in all three ratings announced heading into the postseason bowls and playoff.
Premier Bowl Invite
BYU, who concluded its regular season the previous week with a 10-2 record to achieve double-digit victories for the third time in the last five seasons, accepted Sunday an invitation to play No. 23 Colorado in the 2024 Valero Alamo Bowl at the Alamodome in San Antonio on Dec. 28. The game is widely regarded as the premier bowl matchup outside the CFP.
In their second season in the Big 12, the Cougars finished league play in a four-way tie for first place in the conference standings at 7-2 along with Colorado, Arizona State and Iowa State. With the Cougars and Buffaloes not advancing to the title game due to tiebreaker scenarios, the Sun Devils (11-2) claimed the 2024 Big 12 Championship on Saturday by defeating the Cylones (10-3) at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
BYU (10-2) and Colorado (9-3) did not meet in the regular season but uniquely will be matched up in the postseason with the Cougars being selected as the Big 12 team for the conference's premier bowl game, while the Buffaloes were picked to fulfil the existing Pac-12 bowl agreement with the Alamo Bowl as a former Pac-12 team.
Big 12 in the Rankings and Postseason
ASU recieved the No. 4 seed in the CFP as the Big 12 champion and a No. 12 final CFP ranking. Iowa State fell two places to No. 18 in the CFP following ASU's dominating 45-19 win in the Big 12 Championship, one spot behind BYU. Colorado maintained its No. 23 CFP slot as the fourth Big 12 team in the playoff rankings.
ASU received a No. 10 ranking from both AP and coaches, moving up two and three places, respectively. AP voters mimicked the CFP with Iowa State, droping two spots to No. 18 while the Cylcones fell three positions to No. 19 in the AFCA poll. The Buffs were ranked No. 20 by AP and No. 22 by the coaches.
In all, a record-tying nine Big 12 teams qualified for the postseason. In addition to ASU going to the CFP, BYU, Colorado and Iowa State were joined by Baylor, TCU, Texas Tech, Kansas State and West Virginia in receiving bowl invitations on Sunday.
CFP Seedings and Matchups
The CFP bracket featured Big Ten champion Oregon (13-0) as the No. 1-ranked and top-seeded team as the Ducks completed an undefeated campaign in their first season in the Big Ten. SEC champion Georgia (11-2) moved up two places to No. 2 in the rankings and received the second seed, while Mountain West champion Boise State (12-1) received the third seed and a No. 9 ranking to earn one of the four first-round byes along with Big 12 champion Arizona State as the fourth seed and No. 12-ranked team.
SEC runner-up Texas (11-2) moved down one spot to No. 3 in the CFP rankings after its loss to Georgia in the title game. Big Ten runner-up Penn State (11-2) also slid one position to No. 4 in the rankings after losing in the conference title game to Oregon.
The CFP first round will feature the Longhorns against the CFP No. 12-seed Clemson (10-3), who earned a berth in the playoff as the 16th-ranked CFP team after defeating SMU for the ACC title on a last-second field goal. No. 5-ranked Notre Dame (11-1) will be matched up in South Bend against No. 8 Indiana (11-1) as the seventh and 10th seeds. Meanwhile, Penn State, as the sixth seed, will host 11th-seed SMU (11-2) in the first round. The Big Ten's Ohio State (10-2) is the No. 8 seed and ranked No. 6 and will host Tennessee (10-2) of the SEC, who received the No. 9 seed and a No. 7 ranking.
Worth Noting
BYU faced two teams during the season that qualified for the inaugural 12-team CFP playoff, giving SMU its only regular-season blemish with an 18-15 win in Dallas and coming up two yards short of victory in a 28-23 setback at ASU.
This week's AP ranking marks BYU’s 291st overall appearances in the AP poll since its first national ranking in 1974. Since that season 50 years ago, BYU has ammassed 441 victories to rank No. 8 in total wins among all FBS programs in that timeframe.
The Cougars have been ranked in the last 12 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 leading BYU to a third season with 10 or more victories in the last five years, BYU head coach Kalani Sitake was named 2024 AFCA Region 4 Coach of the Year and finalist for AFCA National Coach of the Year.
During a 9-0 start to the season that saw the Cougars ranked as high as No. 6 in the CFP rankings, No. 7 by AP and No. 8 by coaches, BYU went 6-0 in Big 12 play before suffered its first loss of the season to Kansas after a quick-kick punt hit a BYU defender to set up a 3-yard KU go-ahead score in a 17-13 heartbreaking loss to the Jayhawks at home as part of KU becoming the first team in NCAA history with a losing record to defeat three straight nationally ranked opponents.
BYU's wins in Big 12 play included a dominating 38-9 triumph over then No. 13 K-State at LaVell Edwards Stadium, followed by a wire-to-wire 34-28 road win over favored Baylor, who has not lost since on its way to finishing 6-3 in the league standings. BYU also achieved a 41-19 victory over Arizona and a dramatic 38-35 win over Oklahoma State in back-to-back home games, before consecutive road wins leading start to finish in 37-24 victory over favored UCF and earning a 22-21 rivalry triumph over Utah in Salt Lake City. BYU followed up the back-to-back close setbacks against Kansas and Arizona State with a double-digit victory over Houston on senior night in LaVell Edwards Stadium.
The Cougars were ranked No. 9, No. 6, No. 14 and No. 19, No. 18 and No. 17 in the CFP rankings released this season.