This week marks the death of the AP Poll's reign of terror over the kingdom of college football, and that's a bittersweet feeling for BYU football fans. The Cougars have been regularly overlooked and underrated through their 8-0 start to the 2025 campaign, especially in the eyes of AP voters. It took BYU, a team that began the year ranked 26th, three whole weeks to crack the top 25, and up until the week 11 edition of the rankings to finally breach the top 10.
But as the ceremonial torch of power is handed from AP to CFP, the first official College Football Playoff rankings remain a mystery. With no obligation to consistency, nor any mind to the AP rankings (at least in theory), the College Football Playoff committee can shape the landscape of the sport however they deem necessary.
For a BYU football team that rarely passes the superficial "eye test", getting the benefit of the doubt from the CFP selectors isn't a promising proposition. And as much as fans like to joke, BYU's lack of "quality losses" due to an apparently stronger SEC or Big 10 strength of schedule (awesome wins over Wisconsin, Purdue, UCLA, Northwestern, Rutgers, Florida, Auburn, and Arkansas, you guys!) may play a factor in the Cougars' final ranking. All this in spite of their unblemished record and recent wins over Utah and Iowa State.
All the same, the question must be posed of how the committee reviews the files of the top three in this week's AP Poll. Indiana and Texas A&M arguably have more impressive resumes than Ohio State in the top spot (thanks to a less-than-ideal slate of Big 10 bottom-feeders, so not the fault of the Buckeyes). Best wins and body of work could force some shakeup in the current order.
With that said, here's how we expect the top 25 could look on Tuesday.
Week 11 College Football Playoff Rankings Prediction
1. Indiana
2. Ohio State
3. Texas A&M
4. Alabama
5. Oregon
6. Georgia
7. Ole Miss
8. BYU
9. Texas Tech
10. Oklahoma
11. Notre Dame
12. Louisville
13. Virginia
14. Texas
15. Georgia Tech
16. Utah
17. Vanderbilt
18. Miami
19. USC
20. Missouri
21. Memphis
22. Michigan
23. Washington
24. Cincinnati
25. Iowa
Feel free to mercilessly drag me through the mud as these are proven severely wrong on Tuesday.