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SALT LAKE CITY — In the final week of the regular season, BYU and Utah did what they were supposed to do: Win. And for that effort, the two programs moved up in this week's rankings.
Utah walked through a Friday afternoon game against Colorado to finish 9-3 on the season and to move to No. 14 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll ahead of a Friday night conference championship game against Oregon in Las Vegas. The Ducks, who needed a win over rival Oregon State to clinch a spot in the championship game, moved up one spot to No. 10.
BYU needed some last-minute heroics at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to defeat a reeling USC team that needed a win to stay in contention for bowl eligibility. Cougars running back Jackson McChesney gave Tyler Allgeier a breather and scored the game-winning touchdown over the Trojans to go 5-0 against the Pac-12 this season.
For BYU's win, the Cougars moved up one spot to No. 12 in the AP poll and will await next week's Selection Sunday to see if they've done enough to qualify for a New Year's Six bowl game.
Both teams also moved up in the USA Today Coaches Poll and the FWAA-NFF Super 16 poll. BYU finished at No. 14 in the Coaches Poll and No. 13 in the Super 16 poll, as the Utes moved up two spots to No. 17 and No. 15, respectively.
At the top of the AP Top 25 remains Georgia, the unanimous No. 1 pick of the 62 voters in the poll, who finished the season undefeated. Behind the Bulldogs at No. 2 is Michigan, who leap frogged the pool with a win over then-No. 2 Ohio State. Group of Five favorite Cincinnati, Alabama and Oklahoma State rounded out the top five in the poll.
Ohio State, which lost out on a Big Ten Championship game appearance, dropped to No. 7 as one of the biggest drops of the week. Texas A&M dropped from No. 14 to No. 24 after a last-second touchdown by LSU gave the Aggies their fourth loss on the season.
