SALT LAKE CITY — The hopes of a Big 12 title game appearance got even closer to reality for BYU on Saturday.
Coming off the team’s first loss of the season to conference-leading Texas Tech a week prior, the Cougars bounced back in big fashion and defeated a visiting TCU Horned Frogs team looking to complicate BYU’s title game path.
The Horned Frogs never stood a chance.
The 44-13 win at LaVell Edwards Stadium was a big step forward to the Cougars securing a ticket to rematch the Red Raiders in Arlington, Texas. A tough road test against Cincinnati is still on the docket, but BYU is securely in the driver’s seat.
With the win, BYU continued to inch up in a loaded top half of the latest Associated Press Top 25 rankings. The Cougars moved up one spot to No. 11, jumping a Texas team who suffered its third loss of the season.
The Cougars remain the second-highest ranked team from the Big 12, with Texas Tech moving up to No. 6 — a two spot jump and a tie with Oregon after a blowout win over UCF.
Utah got another jump in the rankings, too, after a blowout win on the road against a pass-heavy Baylor team who threatened to make it a close game in the first half before Byrd Ficklin exploded on the scene to lift the Utes to another dominant win.
It wasn’t the cleanest game for the Utah defense, but a couple interceptions — including a pick six by Scooby Davis — and a 380-yard team rushing effort was enough to secure another win and move the Utes to No. 13 as the third-highest ranked team.
Utah holds an outside shot to have an opportunity at a Big 12 title game appearance but needs rival BYU (and a few other results) to lose a game for that possibility to be on the table.
Sneaking in to the end of the rankings at No. 25 is Houston, who was on a bye week, as the only other remaining Big 12 team ranked after Cincinnati dropped a game over the weekend. Arizona and Arizona State both received votes this week.
The top three teams stayed the same for another week, with Ohio State at the top with 57 first-place votes, followed by Indiana (8) and Texas A&M (1). Behind the three undefeated teams is No. 4 Georgia, followed by No. 5 Ole Miss.
Alabama, which was previously ranked No. 4, fell all the way to No. 10 after a loss to Oklahoma. Fellow SEC team Texas dropped seven spots to No. 17 after a loss to Georgia.
The third installment of the College Football Playoff rankings will be released Tuesday night, where BYU and Utah are both inside the top 15 and likely to inch up after weekend wins.
For the full rankings see below, or click here.