AP, AFCA voters move up Cougars in national polls

PROVO, Utah — After improving to 8-2 on Saturday, BYU has moved up to No. 14 in The Associated Press Top 25 and No. 15 in the USA Today AFCA Coaches Poll released Sunday.  

AP voters advanced the Cougars three spots from No. 17 last week, while the coaches gave Kalani Sitake's team a five-place improvement from a No. 20 ranking in their previous poll. BYU debuted at No. 15 in the first College Football Playoff rankings released last week and will learn on Tuesday where the CFP selection committee places the Cougars coming off its its 59-14 victory over Idaho State at LaVell Edwards Stadium. 

BYU has been ranked in one of the major national polls during eight of the last nine weeks this year since first entering the national rankings in the second poll of the regular season following its win over Utah. At 8-2, BYU boasts 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 joins top-ranked Georgia and Alabama, ranked No. 2 by the coaches and No. 3 by AP, as the only teams with at least five wins over FBS opponents with winning records this season.

This week Georgia is again the consensus No. 1 team after improving to 9-0 on the season with a 43-6 win over Missouri. Cincinnati (9-0) is again No. 2 according to AP with Alabama (8-1) at No. 3, but the coaches gave the second spot to the Crimson Tide this week while moving the Bearcats back to No. 3.

Oklahoma (9-0) is No. 4 in both polls. AP voters then ranking Oregon (8-1) No. 5 and Ohio State (8-1) No. 6, while the coaches rated those two teams in reverse order giving the higher ranking to the Ducks who defeated the Buckeyes in Columbus this year in their head-to-head matchup.  

BYU has a bye this week before returning to action against Georgia Southern on Saturday, Nov. 20 in Statesboro, Georgia.