Preseason Coaches Poll Rankings place BYU football right where they want to be

The first round of college football rankings went down about how BYU football expected them to.

Upon release of the preseason Coaches Poll, Kalani Sitake and the Big 12 Conference runner-up BYU Cougars find themselves smack-dab in the middle of the pack, standing with the 15th ranking.

BYU sits cozy in the 2026 Preseason Coaches Poll Rankings

1. Ohio State
2. Oregon
3. Georgia
4. Texas
5. Notre Dame
6. Indiana
7. Miami (FL)
8. Texas A&M
9. Oklahoma
10. Ole Miss
11. Alabama
12. Texas Tech
13. LSU
14. USC
15. BYU
16. Michigan
17. Penn State
18. Tennessee
19. Washington
20. SMU
21. Utah
22. Iowa
23. Clemson
24. Houston
25. Missouri

Note: Big 12 Conference members in bold

Of course, preseason rankings are nonsense. Purely set in place to line teams up by expectations and inevitably prove to be ridiculous after 12 regular-season games are actually played. Teams listed in the top 10 will fall to the bottom of the rankings (e.g., Texas 2025), or even out of bowl contention entirely (e.g., Penn State, 2025). Teams not even included in these rankings will break out for an incredible season -- two teams reached the College Football Playoffs last season despite beginning outside the top 25 entirely (yet another e.g., Tulane, James Madison).

BYU has never been one to trust these rankings, either, as they were named the single most underrated program in the history of the AP Poll by Brett McMurphy (USC was the most overrated, for those taking notes).

BYU is poised to climb up these rankings (assuming the AP Poll looks similar to this list) should they take care of business against Arizona and Colorado State in the early season, and will need to win nearly all of their games to stay in contention for an at-large bid.

But it's still an interesting talking point in the weeks leading up to the regular season, so I want to make a few observations while there's still time to make myself look like a fool.

3 biggest surprises from the 2026 Preseason Coaches Poll

The Big 12 continues to be disrespected

I still cannot comprehend why the Big 12 is seen as a one-bid league by most talking heads and analysts these days. They have the third-highest number of teams among all other conferences, but the SEC-Big Ten echo chamber will continue to reaffirm its own biases as the top 10 includes just two teams not from those two leagues -- Notre Dame and Miami.

To make matters worse, Texas Tech, the reigning Big 12 champion and a week-one bye in the College Football Playoff last season, is ranked 12th overall, leading all Big 12 teams.

Not a great look for a conference with an auto-bid.

I blame SEC and Big Ten bias -- a constant in college football, unfortunately -- but if the Big 12's top teams can win with consistency, this shouldn't be a problem down the stretch.

Utah shouldn't be included in the top 25

I say this as a massive fan of Morgan Scalley and as someone who hopes every season's Holy War is a top-25 matchup -- when Utah is good, the rivalry is good -- but it's too early to be banking on prestige and past success under a new regime.

Whittingham is gone, and both he and the NFL Draft gutted Utah's signature defense in the offseason. Is it possible that Scalley can overcome this behind returning QB Devon Dampier and a team that should easily finish in the top half of their league? Absolutely, and Scalley has been a major factor to the Utes' success in recent years anyway.

We need to see what Scalley can do as the head of the Utah program before declaring them a top team in the nation, though.

BYU is ahead of Kyle Whittingham and Michigan

This is delicious. With BYU standing as the 15th program in the nation, the man who led the Cougars' greatest rival for nearly two decades has finally moved on, and to one of football's blue bloods, no less.

It'll be fascinating to watch this dynamic between two programs who are tied by history, and a fun subplot for Beehive State fans. Heck, even the Utes can compare their ranking pretty favorably to that of their former coach.

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