PROVO, Utah — BYU football landed at No. 8 in The Associated Press Top 25 and No. 9 in the US LBM Coaches Poll administered by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) on Sunday after falling from the unbeaten ranks on Saturday in a double-overtime loss at UCF.
Ranked No. 2 (AP) and No. 3 (AFCA) last week coming off its 28-24 victory over then No. 2 Notre Dame, the Cougars dropped six spots in both national polls this week after suffering its lone blemish of the season in a 39-31 double-overtime road setback at UCF.
Top 10
BYU (6-1, 3-1 Big 12) enters its sixth straight week ranked in the top 10 this season. After five of the top seven teams in the country lost the prior week, three of the seven teams in the top-10 teams with games this past week suffered defeat, with No. 2/3 BYU, No. 7 Ole Miss and No. 8/5 Texas Tech all losing in addition to No. 11 Tennessee. As a result, Kentucky and Alabama filled the void in the top 10 left when voters moved the Rebels and Red Raiders down this week to No. 12 and No.13 (AP)/14 (AFCA), respectively.
No. 1 Miami (7-0) solidified its hold on the top spot this week with Ohio State (6-1), Georgia (6-1) and Indiana (7-1) the consensus top four teams in both polls. Notre Dame (6-1) is No. 5 in AP while the AFCA favored unbeaten Utah (7-0) in the fifh spot, with the Irish and Utes flip-flopped at No. 6 in the other poll. Both rankings agreed upon UCLA (7-0) at No. 7 and Alabama (6-2) at No. 10 while AP put BYU (6-1) at No. 8 and the AFCA gave the nod to Kentucky (7-1), with each filling the No. 9 slot in other poll.
Big 12
The Big 12 has two teams in the top 10 of both polls this week and six teams overall making the AP Top 25. After Utah (No. 6/5) and BYU (No. 8/9) in the top 10, Texas Tech (No. 13/14), Houston (No. 18/19), Arizona (No. 22/21) and Oklahoma State (No. 24 AP) are all ranked this week. The Cowboys just missed being ranked in both polls, being listed 26th just outside the AFCA Poll. Cincinnati, coming off its upset over Texas Tech, received votes in both polls. Six teams are the most teams the Big 12 has had ranked in the AP Top 25 since 2012.
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. BYU jumped to No. 2 with its 28-24 victory over then No. 2 Notre Dame, before last week's 39-31 double-overtime road setback at UCF. dropped the team to No. 8/9 this week.
Historically, BYU has been ranked 313 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 22 AP polls released since entering last year's AP rankings at No. 25 with a 3-0 record. BYU boasts a 44-12 record historically when playing as an AP Top 25 team.