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PROVO — The Cougars have cracked the Top 10.
Shortly after some Utahns woke up to find snow fallen in some parts of the Wasatch Front on Sunday morning, BYU continued to rise to its highest mark in over a decade by inching up one spot to a No. 10 national ranking in the USA Today Coaches Poll following a late-night 52-14 win over Texas State. That win also inched the Cougars up one spot to No. 11 in the Associated Press Top 25.
The Cougars' magical season continued with its first 6-0 start since 2008 and matched their best ranking since 2009, when they climbed as high as No. 7 in the Associated Press Top 25.
BYU is surrounded by No. 9 Wisconsin (1-0), which opened the season along with the rest of the Big Ten over the weekend; No. 10 Florida (2-1); and No. 12 Miami (2-1) in the AP poll. The Cougars are one of nine teams nationally to still be undefeated after at least four games.
Among the others are top-ranked Clemson (6-0) and No. 2 Alabama (5-0). Ohio State (1-0), Notre Dame (5-0) and Georgia (3-1) round out the top five by AP voters. Cincinnati is the top team from the Group of Five at No. 7, Boise State debuted at No. 25 after opening the year with a 42-13 rout of Utah State, and Utah received 36 votes in the latest AP poll to move within eight spots of the top 25.
Behind an overpowering offense ranked No. 6 in the nation that averages 561.3 yards per game and 43.6 points per game, BYU put on a show against the Bobcats — even with quarterback Zach Wilson and most of the starters only playing for 2 1/2 quarters. Wilson, who threw for 287 yards and four touchdowns on an efficient 19-of-25 passing Saturday night, currently ranks second nationally with 1,928 passing yards.
He also ran for 15 yards, becoming just the sixth BYU quarterback to motor to 500 or more yards in season — alongside Taysom Hill, Virgil Carter, Steve Young, Riley Nelson and Brandon Doman. BYU also played in front of a home crowd for the first time, welcoming just over 6,000 fans and spectators to LaVell Edwards Stadium on Saturday night for the first time this season under new coronavirus transmission regulations approved by Gov. Gary Herbert, the state of Utah and Utah County.
The Cougars' spot in the coaches poll was aided by Penn State's season-opening overtime loss to Indiana, which dropped the Nittany Lions from No. 7 to No. 17; while Florida and Miami (Fla.) each dropped one spot to No. 9 and No. 12, respectively, to round out the top-15 portion where BYU finds itself. Penn State fell a similar 10 spots, from No. 8 to No. 18, in the AP Top 25 after its opening weekend loss.
Next up for BYU is a home date Halloween night with Western Kentucky.
