BYU stays at No. 14 in CFP rankings

PROVO, Utah — BYU (8-2) remained at No. 14 in the third release of the 2021 College Football Playoff rankings revealed Tuesday by the CFP selection committee. 

The top seven teams in the the CFP rankings stayed the same this week with No. 1 Georgia (10-0) being followed by Alabama (9-1), Oregon (9-1), Ohio State (9-1), Cincinnati (10-0), Michigan (9-1) and Michigan State (9-1). With last week's No. 8 Oklahoma losing for the first time in 2021, Notre Dame (9-1) and Oklahoma State each moved up one place to No. 8 and No. 9, respectively, while Wake Forest (9-1) moved up two spots from No. 12 to complete the top 10. 

Baylor (8-2) jumped two places to No. 11 after defeating the Sooners, who fell to No. 13 just in front of BYU. Ole Miss (8-2) moved from No. 15 to No. 12 on the strength of its win over Texas A&M, who dropped five places from 11th to No. 16 in this week's rankings. 

No. 15 Wisconsin (7-3) was joined by the Aggies, Iowa (8-2), Pittsburgh (8-2), San Diego State (9-1) and NC State (7-3) to fill out the top 20. Arkansas (7-3) is No. 21 with UTSA (10-0), Utah (7-3), Houston (9-1) and Mississippi State (6-4) rounding out the rankings.  

BYU also maintained its No. 14 ranking in The Associated Press Top 25 and No. 15 placement in the USA Today AFCA Coaches Poll released Sunday following a bye this past weekend. The Cougars return to action this week, traveling to face Georgia Southern on Saturday in Statesboro, Georgia. 

BYU has been ranked in one of the major national polls during nine of the last 10 weeks this year since first entering the national rankings in the second poll of the regular season following its win over Utah, who is also ranked No. 24 (AP) and No. 25 (AFCA), respectively, this week in the two major polls. 

At 8-2, the Cougars have a 5-1 record against Power 5 opponents this year with USC of the Pac-12 still on the schedule to finish the regular season on Nov. 27. To date, Cougars boast P5 wins over nationally ranked Utah and Arizona State as well as Virginia, Washington State and Arizona. BYU's P5 loss was against now No. 11 Baylor in Waco.