BYU Finishes in the Top 15 of Final Football Poll
With Ohio State emerging victorious over Notre Dame last night in the college football championship, the 2024 college football season has officially come to a close.
Stadiums are empty, Broadcasts are replays, sports talk shows have moved on fully to NFL coverage/ extended Lakers talk and the fans sit and wait for late August to arrive to revel in the beauty that is college football once again.
Yet, as it always does, the world of college football leaves us with one final tidbit, a small appetizer intended to hold us over for 7 months of football free days.
That of course is the Associated Press Top 25 final results.
As the list to end all lists for 2024 college football related topics, it lays out in definitive order who they view as the top 25 teams in all of college football’s highest ranks.
Of course the newly minted champion, 9 times counting, the Ohio State Buckeyes clock in at #1.
The runner up, Notre Dame, will properly fill in the 2nd slot.
Most of the teams that fell short in the new 12 team playoff format will take the majority of slots afterwards from Oregon at #3 to Indiana at #10.
But then things get interesting. 12 teams made the playoffs, but only ten will finish within the top 12 of the AP top 25.
SMU, who was blasted in the first round playoff game against #5 Penn State, found themselves at #12, a spot behind Ole Miss at #11, who was not invited to the college football playoff but did win their bowl game over Duke.
Clemson, the lowest playoff team on the list, would finish at #14 after falling to Texas (#4) in their only playoff game of the year.
Sandwiched in between SMU and Clemson as the only non playoff team in the top 14 next to Ole Miss is the Brigham Young University Cougars.
That’s right. The team projected to finish 13th in their own conference during Big 12 preseason media polls, finished 13th in the nation.
With an 11-2 record BYU ended their year with an exclamation point by dismantling the Colorado Buffaloes and stars in the Alamo Bowl during a ranked match up.
Colorado would finish the year in the top 25 despite the loss, filling out the last spot reminding people again that this BYU team was worthy of the ranking.
Despite failing to make the Big 12 championship game due to a slip up against Kansas, BYU would finish in the polls as the 2nd best Big 12 team, ahead of actual Big 12 conference runner up, Iowa State who was tabbed at #15.
The Big 12 champion and playoff representative, Arizona State, would lead the conference with the #7 spot.
BYU finished the year over teams like Alabama (#17) and Miami (#18), both of whom were considered on the bubble of the playoff picture at the very end before disappointing in their bowl game performances.
Although BYU fans may have hoped for more, especially after the 9-0 start, finishing in the top 15 is no easy feat.
2024 will mark the 10th time the Cougars have finished within the top 15 of the AP post season poll and the first since 2020 (COVID year).
If you are skeptical of any COVID related results, 2009 would be the next closest time in which BYU finished up around that high.
What it means for next season is to be fully seen, but Cougar nation can likely expect their team to be ranked in the Top 25 come this next September when the preseason AP top 25 poll releases.
Waiting is never easy, but waiting as a top 15 team In the college football scene will make it a bit easier for BYU faithful.
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