PROVO, Utah — Coming off its victory over No. 2 Notre Dame on Saturday night, BYU replaced the Fighting Irish as the nation's second-ranked team on Sunday to achieve its highest ranking since winning the national championship in 1984.
Voters in both The Associated Press Top 25 and the US LBM Coaches Poll administered by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) advanced the undefeated Cougars (6-0, 3-0 Big 12) from No. 8 last week into the top three of both major polls for the first time since 1984. BYU received 20 first-place votes from AP voters and 10 first-place selections from the coaches to finish just behind Miami in AP, while trailing the Hurricanes and Ohio State in the AFCA rankings.
With its 28-24 victory over No. 2 Notre Dame, BYU improves to 6-0 for the fourth time under Kalani Sitake, and third season in a row—a first in BYU football history. Saturday's battle between the Cougars and Fighting Irish marked the first-ever matchup between top-10 teams in Provo.
The Top 3
No. 1 Miami (6-0) totaled 1,697 points in the AP rankings on the strength of 40 first-place votes, while No. 2 BYU tallied 1,675 points and 20 first-place nods. No. 3 Ohio State (6-1) received nine first-place votes in AP with 1,649 points. In the AFCA Poll, 50 voters put the Hurricanes on top of their ballots for 1,791 points, followed by the Buckeyes with 13 first-place votes and 1,725 points, and the Cougars with top-spot 10 votes and 1,698 points to rank No. 3.
Top 10 Shuffle
WIth five of the top seven teams losing on Saturday, the top 10 underwent a significant shuffle in both polls.
In AP, previous No. 1 Georgia fell to No. 5 after falling to unranked Auburn, while Notre Dame slid two places to No. 4 after tasting defeat for the first time this year against BYU. Miami, who had to go to two overtimes to stay unbeaten against unranked Florida State, moved up two places to No. 1, followed by BYU's six-spot leap from No. 8 to No. 2. Previous No. 4 Ohio State earned a close win over No. 5 Indiana, to move up one place while the Hoosiers fall back one ranking to No. 6. Previous No. 9 Ole MIss and No. 10 Texas Tech each moved up two places with wins to Nos. 7 and 8, just in front of new Nos. 9 and 10, UCLA and Utah, with the Bruins jumping three places and Utah advancing one spot to enter the top 10.
The AFCA similarly saw a lot of movement in its top 10 with the new rankings consisting of No. 1 Miami, followed by No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 BYU, No. 4 Georgia, No. 5 Texas Tech, No. 6 Indiana, No. 7 Ole Miss, No. 8 Notre Dame, No. 9 Utah and No. 10 UCLA. The biggest assessment differences the coaches offered compared to the media favored Texas Tech at No. 5, compared to 8 by AP, and dropped Notre Dame to No. 8, compared to No. 4 in AP.
Last week's Nos. 6 and 7 Texas and Alabama fell significantly after suffering a second loss on the year. The Longhorns dropped 12 spots in both polls to land at No. 18 in the AFCA and No. 19 in AP. Meanwhile, the Crimson Tide fell to No. 13 in both polls, a seven rankings descent in AP and six-placments drop by the AFCA.
Big 12
The Big 12 has three teams in the top 10 of both polls this week and five teams overall in the AP Top 25, with four teams landing inside the AFCA Poll. After No. 2/3 BYU, No. 8/5 Texas Tech and No. 10/9 Utah in the top 10, Houston is ranked No. 14 in AP and No. 16 in the AFCA while Arizona entered AP at No. 25. The Wildcats are listed 26th just outside the AFCA Poll, while Oklahoma State fell just outside the rankings to 26th in AP and landed at 27th with AFCA voters.
The last time three Big 12 teams earned top-10 rankings the same week was the final rankings of the 2021 season when Baylor (No. 5/6), Oklahoma State (No. 7) and Oklahoma (No. 10) recevied top-10 rankings.
BYU in the Polls
Last year, BYU was ranked as high as No. 8 in both the AP and AFCA polls after achieving an 8-0 start to the season. Coming off a 12-2 campaign and 2025 Pop-Tarts Bowl title, BYU entered the 2026 season in the preseason polls ranked 15th by the coaches and tied for No. 14 with USC by AP voters, which marked the second-highest preseason AP ranking for BYU in program history (No. 10 in 1985).
After dropping back to No. 15 in the AP rankings following its 63-7 season-opening win over Utah Tech, BYU returned to the same slot in the AP poll where it finished last season at No. 11 following its 28-17 conference win over Arizona while the coaches rated BYU at No. 13. BYU moved up to No. 9 in both polls following its 41-23 road win at Colorado State of the Pac-12, before dropping to No. 10 in AP during a bye week. The Cougars moved up to No. 8 in both polls after a hard-fought 17-10 road win through the rain and injuries at TCU and stayed at No. 8 following its 24-10 home win over Iowa State in a Friday night matchup to set up its top-10 battle with Notre Dame last week.
Historically, BYU has been ranked 312 times overall in the AP poll since the program's first national ranking in 1974. The Cougars have been ranked in each of the last 21 AP polls released since entering last year's AP rankings at No. 25 with a 3-0 record. BYU boasts a 44-11 record historically when playing as an AP Top 25 team.