BYU moves up to No. 17 and No. 20 in national rankings

PROVO, Utah — After its 66-49 win over previously 6-2 Virginia on Saturday, BYU has moved up to No. 17 in The Associated Press Top 25 and re-entered the USA Today AFCA Coaches Poll at No. 20 this week. 

The Cougars jumped eight spots from No. 25 to receive the biggest bump by AP voters this week, while the coaches advanced BYU six places from being listed just outside the poll at 26th last week for the second-largest move made by a team in the AFCA rankings. 

Kalani Sitake's team is coming off its fifth win over a Power 5 conference opponent this year with its historic shootout victory over the Bronco Mendenhall-led Cavaliers, a top contender in the ACC this season. BYU has a 5-1 record against Power 5 opponents this year with USC of the Pac-12 still on the schedule. To date, Cougars boast P5 wins over then nationally ranked Utah and Arizona State as well as Virginia, Washington State and Arizona. 

BYU has been ranked during seven of the last eight weeks this year since first entering the national rankings in the second poll of the regular season following its win over Utah. The Cougars reached No. 10 in both polls at 5-0 before falling to No. 19 in AP and No. 20 by the coaches after a setback to Boise State. BYU dropped out of the polls for one week following a loss in Waco to Big 12-contender Baylor, who is now ranked No. 13 and No. 14 by the AFCA and AP, respectively, with a 7-1 record after beating Texas on Saturday. 

This week's rankings feature the same four teams atop the polls with Georgia (8-0), Cincinnati (8-0), Alabama (7-1) and Oklahoma (9-0) being the consensus No. 1 through No. 4 teams. Michigan State (8-0) is ranked No. 5 according to AP voters while fellow Big Ten power Ohio State (7-1) got the nod at No. 5 by the coaches.  The first College Football Playoff rankings for the 2021 season will be released on Tuesday this week.

The Cougars will host Idaho State on Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium in a 1:30 p.m. MT kick on BYUtv and ESPN3.