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PROVO — BYU keeps winning, moving to 3-0 Friday night after a 45-14 win over Louisiana Tech.
And by winning, the Cougars keep climbing.
BYU moved up to No. 15 in the Associated Press Top 25 and USA Today/Amway Coaches' Poll released Sunday, its best mark since 2009.
BYU moved up seven spots in both polls, benefitting from losses by Texas, which fell from No. 9 to No. 22 with an upset loss to TCU; Oklahoma, which fell from No. 16 to just outside of the Top 25 after a loss to Iowa State; and UCF, which dropped from No. 12 to No. 25 with a loss to Tulsa; among others.
The Cougars are surrounded by No. 13 Auburn (1-1), No. 14. Wisconsin (0-0), No. 16 LSU (1-1) and No. 17 Oregon (0-0) in the coaches' poll, and Auburn, Tennessee, Wisconsin and LSU in the AP Top 25.
Clemson (3-0), Alabama (2-0), Georgia (2-0), Florida (2-0) and Notre Dame (2-0) are the top-five in both polls. Utah received votes in both polls, coming in just eight spots outside the Top 25 by the AP after announcing its six-game Pac-12 schedule Saturday morning.
BYU quarterback Zach Wilson was honored by the Davey O’Brien award committee after throwing for 325 yards — his second-straight week over 300 passing yards — and two touchdowns, and running for three more scores in the Cougars’ win over the Bulldogs.
Totaling 5 TDs and well over 350+ yards of offense while completing better than 90 percent of your passes will get you a Davey O'Brien #OMyPerformance call out! @BYUfootball and @zachkapono continue to roll! #DaveyQBspic.twitter.com/k7rXyTP7lj
— Davey O'Brien (@daveyobrien) October 3, 2020
Through three games, Wilson is completing 84.5% of his passes for 949 yards and six touchdowns with just one interception. He’s even received a way-too-early Heisman Trophy nod from Sports Illustrated, and helped his team garner a vote for the College Football Playoff from ESPN’s Bill Connelly.
“The Cougars have put up 148 points during a 3-0 start and — now that they filled out a 10-game schedule — might have the resume by the end of the season to crack into the playoff picture,” ESPN wrote in a poll of 14 college football writers. “Notre Dame also receives a vote for the first time since Week 1.”
The Cougars rank first in the FBS in total offense with 585.7 yards per game, first in total defense with 214.3 yards per game, and first in pass efficiency (214.9), completion percentage (82.9%) and fewest penalties per game (2.7). The Cougars also rank second in scoring (49.3 points per game) and fourth in scoring defense at 8.0 points allowed per game.
It’s all a long shot, and the Cougars still have seven games left in their 2020 schedule that will see a December game in LaVell Edwards Stadium for the first time in school history when San Diego State visits Dec. 12.
But the Cougars are focused on Saturday’s game against UTSA (1:30 p.m. MT, ESPN2). It’s all they can do, head coach Kalani Sitake said after Friday’s win.
“We cannot look past anything except for the game that comes next,” Sitake said. “We’d like to praise some of the things they did well, and be critical about some of the mistakes they made.
“I’m just really happy with the whole overall performance of our team.”
