Cougars ranked No. 9 in both national polls

PROVO, Utah — Following its 41-10 victory over Western Kentucky on Saturday, BYU football moved up in the national polls on Sunday to rank No. 9 in both the Amway Coaches Poll and The Associated Press Top 25. 

The Cougars are off to a 7-0 start for the first time since 2001 and the fourth time overall in school history. BYU also won its first seven games in 1979 and 1984. The Cougars were last ranked in the top 10 in both polls in 2009 after opening the season with wins over No. 3 Oklahoma and Tulane to be ranked No. 7 in AP and No. 9 by the coaches. 

BYU moved up two spots in the AP Top 25 and one place in the Coaches Poll this week. Both polls agreed on the same top nine teams with Clemson (7-0), Alabama (6-0), Ohio State (2-0), Notre Dame (6-0) and Georgia (4-1) maintaining their top-five rankings, followed by Cincinnati (5-0), Texas A&M (4-1), Florida (3-1) and BYU (7-0) in spots six through nine. Wisconsin (1-0) rounds out the top 10 in AP while Miami (5-1) is No. 10 by the coaches. 

Last week's No. 6 in both polls, Oklahoma State (4-1), fell to No. 12 (coaches) and No. 14 (AP) in this week's rankings after its 41-34 overtime home loss to Texas on Saturday.

BYU has been ranked in each of the eight regular-season polls released this year. The last time the Cougars were ranked in eight consecutive weeks was in 2009 when BYU held a spot in the Top 25 the first eight weeks of the season and was ranked all but one week throughout the year while finishing No. 12 in both polls. 

Prior to 2020, the last time BYU was ranked in the top 25 was during the 2018 season when the Cougars were ranked as high as No. 20 after starting the season 3-1 with a victories over Arizona on the road and No. 6 Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadium. 

Boise State, BYU's opponent this week, is ranked No. 21 by AP and entered the Coaches Poll on Sunday at No. 23 after its second-straight high-scoring victory of the season. The Broncos defeated Air Force 49-30 on the road on Saturday to follow up their season-opening 42-13 win over Utah State at home the week prior.

The matchup of nationally ranked BYU and Boise State takes place Friday at Albertsons Stadium in Boise in a 7:45 p.m. MST start televised nationally on FOX Sports 1.