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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/usffan on 2025-07-30 09:25:37+00:00.
The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here.
If there is a better example of the dangers of ranking teams well before the season starts than BYU (high = 10, low = 42), who comes in at #24 in these aggregated rankings, I can’t imagine who it would be. The Cougars were riding insanely high at the end of 2024, having reached #6 in the CFP rankings while riding an insane string of close calls (go ahead FG with under 2 minutes left at SMU, game sealing INT in final minute at Baylor, 75 yard drive in final minute to come back and beat Oklahoma State and whatever you want to call the end of the Holy War that got Mark Harlan fined) before ultimately settling on an 11-2 season that included an ass whipping of Colorado in the Alamo Bowl and a #13 AP final ranking. Kalani Sitake had to be feeling great about heading into his 10th season in charge in Provo (how is that even possible). But then things took a turn…
Roster outlook
At the time that the returning production rankings came out, BYU ranked 45th overall, and #23 on offense. That was to be anchored by phenom QB Jake Retzlaff, who was looking to return along with starting RB LJ Martin and leading WR Chase Roberts. But when Retzlaff was sued by a woman for sexual assault, a claim he vehemently denied, he defended himself by saying that they engaged in consensual premarital sex, leading to the lawsuit being dropped. This wouldn’t be an issue at almost any other school, but at BYU it is in violation of their honor code and would have led to Retzlaff being suspended for a significant part of the season. In light of that, he withdrew from BYU and transferred to Tulane, leaving Sitake and the Cougars having to replace him very late in the game. While Sitake did bring in the 5th rated recruiting class in the Big XII, he went almost full Dabo with respect to the portal, accruing the worst transfer class in the conference. That does include Stanford WR Tiger Bachmeier, who might even get to catch passes from his brother Bear, though Ourlads currently projects former Utah State QB McCae Hillstead to get the nod after redshirting last season.
Schedule and outlook
Although the Cougars will be searching for a new QB, their schedule certainly shapes up to give them time for him to emerge and find his footing. After an FCS tuneup (Portland State) and the second lowest rated P4 team in these rankings (Stanford) followed by a road game at East Carolina, the Cougars open up Big XII play at Colorado, followed by hosting West Virginia and going to Arizona before hosting the Holy War. They should be favored in all of those games such that they should be 7-0 heading into Iowa State, which is followed by a bye and then a trip to Texas Tech (the highest rated Big XII school on the schedule). What remains is then TCU, at Cincinnati and closing out the season hosting UCF. On paper, this should be another double digit wins season for BYU. But then again, they don’t play the games on paper, and if they keep playing games down to the wire, some of those toss ups are likely to go the other way.