BYU football tumbles in AP Poll following gut-wrenching loss to UCF

I watched second-ranked BYU football fumble their undefeated season against UCF from the Hanoi Airport in Vietnam at 5:00 AM local time. I was returning home from an eight-day vacation that spanned both the greatest win in program history and the biggest disappointment.

When the Cougars vanquished the second-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish in a top-10 clash, I swung my head from left to right in awe-struck excitement in the chaotic streets of Ho Chi Minh City, baffled that I seem to be the only one aware of what had just taken place.

Sleep deprived and furious, I then witnessed BYU football successfully accomplish what they've done every season like clockwork: promise the world only to tear it away from me. I fall for this charade every year, and still I doubled over in anguish when Walker Lyons dropped a fourth-down pass in the endzone, confirming what had been one of the most painful and frustrating football games I had ever had the displeasure of witnessing.

If only for a moment, my spirit linked with Bear Bachmeier's as we uttered the same three syllables.

I had to bite my tongue in a highly public space in real-time as BYU tore out my heart and stomped it flat. Now back at my keyboard in my home office, my tonge is loosed.

For BYU's crime of losing to a .500 UCF team in Orlando, the Cougars dropped from their seat at the second overall ranking back to where they sat the week before. Back to number eight with you.

It was a tough scheduling spot for BYU to have to face a team like Notre Dame, only to travel nearly 2,000 miles and across two time zones to face a UCF team on the road with a bye week to prepare.

That's a game many would describe as a "schedule loss", but if BYU wants to stand among giants and wear the number-two ranking with resolve, they can't be losing to teams like UCF. Just like that, BYU falls back beneath the same Notre Dame team they beat a week ago in the AP Poll, reaffirming the truth that the Cougars are given a much shorter leash than the one-loss teams ahead of them.

Georgia lost to Auburn. Ohio State lost to Texas. BYU loses to UCF, and the response is predictable.

But what stings the most is that the Cougars could have easily escaped Orlando with a victory despite the infortunate scheduling. Poor execution plagued BYU football a week after they played lights-out against the best team in the nation. Dropped passes, miscommunication, careless personal foul penalties at inopportune moments were frustrating, but the BYU defense allowing a season-high 39 points is practically unthinkable.

Before this game, no team had scored more than 24 points on Kelly Poppinga's unit. Missed assignments and horrific effort made BYU's defense unrecognizable in Orlando. What happened to the team that beat Notre Dame 7 days earlier?

They allowed a touchdown on UCF's first overtime play -- a 25-yard touchdown throw that sailed undisturbed between three BYU defenders. Then, holding the Knights to a field goal try in the second overtime, the Cougars were flagged for a roughing the kicker penalty. Questionable call or not, BYU allowed themselves to get into that position, and consequently suffered an unfavorable ending.

BYU lost this football game. And they deserved to, whether the game was well-officiated at the end or not.

This is why few have bought into BYU's CFP candidacy over the years. When the Cougars climbed to the 6th spot in the 2024 CFP rankings, they dropped a home game against a Kansas team with a losing record. When they breached the top 10 in 2025, they were demolished at the hands of Texas Tech. Twice.

The season is far from over, however, so don't let my doom-and-gloom attitude dim your outlook. Take Texas Tech from a season ago, for example. They lost a game against a mediocre Arizona State team but otherwise steamrolled the Big 12 Conference on their way to a four-seed in the 12-team CFP.

If BYU can go 11-1, they'll be in the College Football Playoffs with their win against Notre Dame.

But the margin for error is razor-thin now, and just one more loss could sink the Cougars' postseason dreams, even if it comes against the current 6th-ranked Utes in Salt Lake City.

Bad games happen to good teams and bad teams alike. Great teams take these opportunities as wake-up calls, and move forward with renewed motivation to treat every game with the significance of a championship. Thanks to BYU's loss to UCF, that may now be what's at stake.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow