BYU football drops big in polls after loss to Coastal Carolina

BYU head coach Kalani Sitake, center, walks on the field during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Coastal Carolina Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020, in Conway, S.C. (Richard Shiro, AP)

With the BYU Cougars’ dreams of a New Year’s Six bowl shattered after they lost 22-17 to the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers on Saturday, a question heading into Sunday was how far they would drop in polls.

The fall was big.

After being ranked No. 8 in both the Amway Coaches Poll and the AP Top 25 poll heading into the weekend, the Cougars moved down eight spots to No. 16 in the Coaches and six spots to No. 14 in the AP.

The College Football Playoff rankings, which BYU was ranked No. 13 in heading into the weekend, will be released on Tuesday evening.

The Chanticleers moved up one spot to No. 13 in the Coaches poll and three spots to No. 11 in the AP poll with the win. They are No. 18 in the most recent CFP rankings and are trying to become the highest-ranked Group of Five team to earn an automatic NY6 bowl berth.

The Cincinnati Bearcats currently hold that spot at No. 7 in the country.

The top seven in both the AP and Coaches polls remained the same Sunday from last week, with the exception that the Texas A&M Aggies and Florida Gators switched spots at Nos. 5 and 6 in the coaches poll.

The Alabama Crimson Tide are No. 1 in both polls released Sunday, as they are in the CFP rankings.

The USC Trojans are the highest-ranked Pac-12 team at No. 15 in the Coaches poll and No. 16 in the AP poll. The Colorado Buffaloes, who will play the Utah Utes on Friday in both teams’ regular-season finale, broke into the AP and Coaches polls Sunday after moving to 4-0 on the season. The Buffaloes are No. 21 in the AP poll and No. 22 in the Coaches poll.

Both the Oregon Ducks and Washington Huskies dropped out after losing on Saturday.

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