BYU opens the season at No. 14 in the Associated Press poll, the first time since 2022 that the Cougars have made an appearance in the preseason poll.
Despite finishing in the year-end AP poll in four of the last six years, Kalani Sitake’s team hasn’t received a lot of respect from voters at the year’s beginning.
On3’s Brett McMurphy recently analyzed preseason and postseason Associated Press polls since 2014 and found that the Cougars were the nation’s No. 1 underrated preseason team in that time span.
The Cougars didn’t enter the AP poll in 2020 until Week 2, but finished that season at No. 11 in the nation with an 11-1 record. The next season, BYU wasn’t ranked until Week 3, but finished the season at No. 19 after a 10-3 mark.
In 2024, it took until Week 5 for BYU to be ranked, and the Cougars finished the season 11-2 and No. 13 in the final AP poll.
Despite that season, BYU once again was not ranked to start 2025, and it took until Week 5 once more for the Cougars to crack the rankings. BYU went 12-2 with a No. 11 final ranking.
This year, Associated Press voters are not making the same mistake, giving the Cougars their highest preseason ranking since 1985, when BYU began the season at No. 10 after winning the 1984 national championship.
