PROVO, Utah — BYU moved up to No. 13 in the final Associated Press Top 25 and No. 14 in the final AFCA Coaches Poll released Tuesday following the conclusion of the college football postseason with Ohio State's 34-23 victory over Notre Dame Monday night in the CFP National Championship game.
After being picked 13th in the Big 12 preseason media poll, the Cougars ended up being No. 13 in the nation following an 11-2 season and 7-2 conference record to finish in a four-way tie atop the conference standings. AP voters advanced BYU four spots in their final rankings, while the coaches moved the Cougars three places in the AFCA's US LBM Coaches Poll published by USA TODAY Sports.
BYU's No. 13 final ranking is its highest since finishing No. 11 in 2020 after an 11-1 season, and marks the program's 12th top-15 final ranking in school history. Overall, the Cougars have finished in the top 25 during 21 seasons, including three of the last five years.
Strong Performance on National Stage
After entering the postseason ranked No. 17 in both national polls and the CFP rankings, the Cougars moved up in the final rankings after a strong performance in the 2024 Valero Alamo Bowl. In the widely regarded top-bowl matchup outside of the College Football Playoff, BYU dominated then No. 23 Colorado from start to finish for a 36-14 victory at the Alamodome in San Antionio, Texas, including holding the high-powered Buff's offense led by top NFL prospect quarterback Shedeur Sanders and Heisman Trophy winning receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter scoreless in the opening half for only the second time all season.
BYU's complementary football in all three phases was on display in the most viewed Valero Alamo Bowl in history as 8 million people watched the live broadcast on ABC. The game was not only the most-viewed bowl game outside the playoffs but also was played in front of a capacity crowd of 64,261—the highest attendance outside the CFP and second-largest crowd ever for a Valero Alamo Bowl between two non-Texas teams.
With the bowl win, the Cougars achieved their 13th all-time 11-win campaign in their 100th football season while Kalani Sitake improved to 5-2 in bowl games as BYU's head coach.
Big 12 in the Rankings
Big 12 champion Arizona State (11-3) moved up three spots in both the final polls after a double-overtime defeat to Texas in the playoff quarterfinals, receiving a No. 7 final ranking from both AP and the AFCA. BYU (11-2) received the next highest ranking among Big 12 progams at Nos. 13/14, followed by Iowa State (11-3) at No. 15 and Colorado (9-4) at No. 25 in both rankings. Kansas State (9-4) and TCU (9-4) received votes in both final polls.
Final Rankings
Ohio State (14-2) was the consensus No. 1 after defeating Notre Dame (14-2) in the CFP Championship game on Monday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The Irish received the No. 2 ranking in both the AP and AFCA final polls after navigating the playoff to the title game. Previous No. 1 Oregon (13-1), the Big Ten champion, received the No. 3 ranking from AP and No. 4 slot from the coaches after suffering its only loss of the year in the playoffs to eventual national champion Ohio State. CFP semifinalists Texas (13-3) and Penn State (13-3) round out the top five at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively, in AP, while the Longhorns got the nod at No. 3 over Oregon from the coaches.
AP and AFCA voters placed SEC champion Georgia (11-3) at No. 6 after its playoff loss to national runner-up Notre Dame. The rest of the top 10 consists of CFP qualifiers Arizona State (11-3), the Big 12 champion at No. 7 in both polls, followed by Mountain West champion Boise State (12-2) at No. 8 in AP while Tennessee (10-3) was No. 8 according to the coaches. The Volunteers were rated at No. 9 by AP, while the Broncos filled that slot in the AFCA, and Indiana (11-2) claimed No. 10 in both polls.
Ole Miss (10-3) moved up five spots to No. 11 in AP, followed by CFP qualilfier SMU (11-3) at No. 12, just ahead of the Cougars at No. 13. The coaches favored SMU at No. 11 in a tie with ACC champion Clemson (10-4), with the Rebels at No. 13 and BYU at No. 14.
Take Note
BYU earned victories over two teams in the final top-25 rankings, achieving an 18-15 road win in Dallas over No. 11/12 SMU and dominating No. 25 Colorado in the premier bowl matchup outside of the playoffs at the Valero Alamo Bowl. The Cougars achieved two wins over final top-25 teams for the fourth time in school history, something past BYU programs previously accomplished in 2021, 1996 and 1983.
During the season, BYU faced two teams that qualified for the inaugural 12-team CFP playoff, giving SMU its only regular-season blemish and coming up two yards short of victory in a 28-23 setback at ASU.
The final AP ranking marks BYU’s 292nd 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 were ranked in the last 13 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 double-digit victory season in the last five years, BYU head coach Kalani Sitake was named 2024 AFCA Region 4 Coach of the Year, finalist for AFCA National Coach of the Year and a seminfinalist for the George Munger Award for the nation's top coach.
In their second season in the Big 12 in 2024, the Cougars finished league play in a four-way tie for first place in the conference standings at 7-2 along with Arizona State, Iowa State and Colorado. 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 by defeating the Cylones (10-3) at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and recieved the No. 4 seed in the CFP as the Big 12 champion.
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.