BYU inches up 1 spot to No. 18 in College Football Playoff rankings

by · KSL.com

Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes

PROVO — The Cougars will finish the 2024 regular season inside the top 20 in the most important national poll since the inception of the College Football Playoff.

BYU inched up one spot to No. 18 in the penultimate CFP rankings of 2024, the third-highest ranked team from the Big 12 in the committee's assessment released Tuesday.

Arizona State is the top team from the Big 12 at No. 15, just one spot ahead of Iowa State (10-2) — and just one spot ahead of Clemson, which will play for the ACC title Saturday against SMU. The Sun Devils (10-2) and Cyclones will contest the Big 12 championship Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas (10 a.m. MST, ABC).

That was a significant topic of conversation among the CFP selection committee, according to committee chair Warde Manuel.

"There was a lot of conversation between those teams and how we ranked them, a lot of back and forth and a lot of discussion," said Manuel, who is also the athletic director at Michigan, about Clemson. "Obviously, they're in the championship game, and should they win, they'll earn — should earn — an automatic berth into the playoffs.

"What I can't do is tell you where they'll be ranked if that happens and they beat SMU. I can't get into, sort of, evaluating what could happen. We just try to stay in the present and not look to the future as we evaluate what each team has done during the season, and we look forward to watching Clemson and SMU play on the field, and then we'll evaluate both teams once that game is done."

Colorado, which tied for the conference regular-season lead with a 9-3 record and a 7-2 mark in league play, climbed two spots to No. 23 in the Playoff rankings.

BYU is ranked No. 17 in the Associated Press Top 25 and No. 18 in the AFCA Coaches Poll after wrapping up the regular season with a 30-18 win over Houston.

Undefeated Oregon remained No. 1 in the selection committee's final rankings of the regular season, followed by Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame and Georgia.

Ohio State dropped four spots to No. 6 after the Buckeyes' second loss of the season to unranked Michigan. It's the second-largest drop of the week, behind Miami's six-spot drop to No. 12 after a 42-38 loss to Syracuse.

That leaves the Hurricanes (10-2) one spot behind 9-3 Alabama, which climbed two spots to No. 11 after a 28-14 win over Auburn in the Iron Bowl to give the Tide the inside track to the final at-large playoff berth.

Tennessee, SMU, Indiana and Boise State round out the top 10. The Broncos (11-1) play No. 20 UNLV (10-2) in Friday night's Mountain West championship.

College Football Playoff rankings

Week 15 — Dec. 3, 2024

  1. Oregon (12-0)
  2. Texas (11-1)
  3. Penn State (11-1)
  4. Notre Dame (11-1)
  5. Georgia (10-2)
  6. Ohio State (10-2)
  7. Tennessee (10-2)
  8. SMU (11-1)
  9. Indiana (11-1)
  10. Boise State (11-1)
  11. Alabama (9-3)
  12. Miami (10-2)
  13. Ole Miss (9-3)
  14. South Carolina (9-3)
  15. Arizona State (10-2)
  16. Iowa State (10-2)
  17. Clemson (9-3)
  18. BYU (10-2)
  19. Missouri (9-3)
  20. UNLV (10-2)
  21. Illinois (9-3)
  22. Syracuse (9-3)
  23. Colorado (9-3)
  24. Army (10-1)
  25. Memphis (10-2)

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Sean Walker

KSL.com BYU and college sports reporter