BYU moves up to No. 8 after blowing out Boise State

PROVO, Utah — Coming off an impressive 51-17 victory over nationally ranked Boise State on Friday, BYU football has moved up to No. 8 in both The Associated Press Top 25 and Amway Coaches Poll released Sunday.

The Cougars (8-0) moved up one spot in both national polls. The No. 8 ranking is the program's highest placement in the respective polls since earning a No. 7 ranking in AP in 2009 and being rated No. 7 by the coaches in 2008.  BYU is off to an 8-0 start for the first time since 2001 and the fourth time overall in school history. The Cougars also won their first eight games in 1979 and 1984. 

Heisman Trophy and All-America candidate quarterback Zach Wilson threw for 360 yards and three touchdowns while adding another score with his legs on Saturday to lead the Cougars to their first road win over Boise State while handing the then No. 21 Broncos their largest margin of defeat since 2005 against Georgia and worst home defeat dating back to 1996. 

This season Wilson leads the nation in total points responsible for with 184 and is tied for No. 1 nationally in passing touchdowns (22) as well as rushing scores (8) among signal callers. Among his many top ratings, Wilson also ranks No. 2 in passing yards (2,512), No. 4 in completion percentage (.751) and No. 5 in pass efficiency (201.6). When considering efficiency ratings of players who have played in more than one game, Wilson is in elite company forming an efficiency top three with fellow Heisman hopefuls Justin Fields of Ohio State (222.4) and Mac Jones of Alabama (210.3). 

Following Notre Dame's 47-40 double overtime victory over previous No. 1 Clemson on Saturday, AP voters moved idle Alabama (6-0) into the top spot in this week's poll followed Notre Dame (7-0), Ohio State (3-0), Clemson (7-1). and Texas A&M (5-1). Florida (4-1) and Cincinnati (6-0) are ranked six and seven just ahead of BYU at No. 8 with Miami (6-1) and Indiana (3-0) rounding out the top 10.

The top 10 by the coaches was the same with the exception of Florida and Texas A&M switching spots with the Gators receiving the No. 5 ranking and the Aggies following at No. 6. Previous No. 5 Georgia (4-2) in both polls fell to No. 11 (coaches) and No. 12 (AP) after losing to Florida on Saturday.

BYU has been ranked in each of the nine regular-season polls released this year. The last time the Cougars were ranked in nine consecutive weeks during a season was in 2008 when BYU was ranked in all 17 polls of the season to bridge a string of 29 consecutive weeks ranked from Nov. 18, 2007 to Oct. 18, 2009. 

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. 

As a team, BYU also maintains top-10 rankings this season in many statistical categories, including total first downs (No. 1), pass efficiency (No. 5), rushing defense (No.6), total offense (No. 7), total defense (No. 8), scoring offense (No. 8), passing offense (No. 9) and scoring defense (No. 10).  

BYU has a bye this week before hosting North Alabama on Nov. 21 in LaVell Edwards Stadium in a 1 p.m. MST kickoff on BYUtv and ESPN3 and the ESPN App.