After their week off, the BYU Cougars remain ranked 8th in both the AP Top 25 and the Coaches Poll this week. There were no changes to the top eight in either ranking, Cincinnati currently sits just ahead of BYU at 7th.
The BYE week was good for BYU according to Colley Matrix, where BYU moved up into 1st place this week after ranking 2nd last week. Cincinnati held the top spot last week but fell to 5th after their win over ECU. BYU is followed by Alabama, Coastal Carolina and Northwestern. BYU’s strength of schedule also improved to 72nd in the nation according to Colley Matrix, up from 88th last week.
According to Football Outsiders’ FEI Ratings, BYU is ranked 5th, down from 4th previously. The Cougars have had one of the most efficient offenses according to Football Outsiders, but they also slipped one spot offensively and are now ranked 4th, behind only Alabama, Ohio State and Florida.
FEI Ratings updated through Week 11: https://t.co/AArwbzQscw
(preseason projection weights range from 5% to 100%, depending on games played) pic.twitter.com/mQ85ZY2yiZ
— Brian Fremeau (@bcfremeau) November 17, 2020
The Billingsley Report ranked BYU 6th again this week. Billingsley’s top ten didn’t see any movement from last week aside from Notre Dame, who moved from 2nd to 1st this week to swap places with Alabama.
The Cougars fell to 7th this week according to ESPN’s SP+ metric, down from 6th last week. BYU is still the highest-ranked non-Power 5 team with Cincinnati ranked 9th.
Jeff Sagarin’s College Football Rankings, one of the metrics highest on BYU this season, dropped the Cougars from 6th to 11th, the first time BYU has ranked outside of their top ten since Week 6. Sagarin ranks BYU’s strength of schedule 97th in the country, although it is still higher than Cincinnati who ranks 105th.
ESPN’s Football Power Index saw little change this week as well, with BYU ranked 12th again. FPI gives BYU a 22.6 percent to make the College Football Playoff, pretty much in line with their predictions last week.
BYU held firm at 15th according to Massey Ratings this week. The Cougars saw a significant jump after beating Boise State and they managed to hold their highest rank according to this metric all season. BYU and Cincinnati, who ranks 16th, are the only non-Power 5 teams to be ranked in Massey’s top 25 this week.
Written by Bridger Beal-Cvetko
Bridger is a student at Utah Valley University where he studies journalism and mass communication. He is the sports editor of the on-campus newspaper, The Review. Bridger is a life-long Cougar fan and college football enthusiast.
