BYU and Utah open inside top 10 of initial College Football Playoff rankings
by Josh Furlong ksl · KSL.comSALT LAKE CITY — The College Football Playoff selection committee valued wins over strength of schedule in the initial top 25 rankings of the season.
And as such, undefeated Utah found themselves in a prime spot in the first official rankings of the season.
The Utes, who have had one of the weaker strengths of schedule leading up to Saturday's rivalry tilt with BYU, opened up at No. 3 in the CFP rankings Tuesday night. Utah leads the Big 12 as the highest-ranked team in the conference and the second-highest ranked undefeated team.
The No. 3 ranking is the highest the Utes have been in the history of the College Football Playoff, beating its previous high at No. 5. Utah has been ranked 52 weeks in the playoff era, which is tied for seventh among all FBS programs.
"Our guys are very aware that nothing's given to you," Utah head coach Morgan Scalley said ahead of the rankings. "To say we're owed anything, owed a ranking, owed this, owed that, no one owes you anything. You go earn it every single day. ... Every game matters, and no one owes you anything. You go earn it every single day; and the minute you stop being hungry is the minute someone that's hungrier than you comes in and takes what you have.
"That's not something that we sit here and we pat ourselves on the back every day about what our ranking is; we don't. The only ranking that matters is at the end of the season, that's it, so control what we can control."
A few spots behind Utah is No. 9 BYU, who checks in a couple spots lower than their latest ranking in the Associated Press Top 25 rankings. Relatedly, Notre Dame, who BYU beat a few weeks ago, dropped outside the top 10 at No. 11 and would be the last at-large spot selected in the 12-team playoff.
Joining the two rivals from the state of Utah is No. 15 Texas Tech, No. 17 Houston and No. 22 Arizona, giving the Big 12 five ranked teams in the initial poll.
After Utah's meeting with BYU on Saturday, the Utes will travel to Arizona for another top-25 game of the season.
At the top of the rankings is No. 1 Miami, who is one of three remaining undefeated teams in the country, followed by a one-loss Georgia team, Utah, reigning national champion Indiana and Alabama at No. 5.
UCLA, the only other remaining undefeated team in the country, opened up at No. 8 in the rankings. Committee chairman Hunter Yurachek said the committee had "great discussion" about the differences between Utah and UCLA, with both seasons being nearly identical in terms of strength of schedule and a win against a ranked team.
"We really like what Utah shows us when we watch them play," Yurachek said. "They're very balanced offensively. They've got a dynamic quarterback in Dampier that runs that offense. He's a runner, he's a dynamic passer. They have a running game, they have receivers, and then they're really good on defense.
"So I think as we looked at those two teams and evaluated them while watching their games, felt like Utah was above UCLA and just a better team when we watch them play."