The BYU Cougars football program is coming off of a bye week and prepares to take on TCU on Saturday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN).

With Kalani Sitake's team being off, some analysts have pushed them back in the rankings. It's understandable to a certain degree. Teams will be out of sight and essentially out of mind on any given college football Saturday. But USA TODAY Sports moved BYU back to No. 12 with Utah right above at No. 11 and Texas Tech at No. 9 in the 1-138 re-rank before Week 5.

Not taking away anything the Utes have done this season, but this one doesn't make much sense. Texas Tech in the top ten and over BYU is disrespectful. The Red Raiders struggled to pull out victories against Oregon State and Houston. Not to mention, Joey McGuire's team might be the most vulnerable out of the front-runners in the Big 12.

On the other hand, Utah has played exceptionally thus far. However, ranking ahead of BYU is a bit of a stretch. What Morgan Scalley has been able to do with his team this season is outstanding. Being able to post a 4-0 record as a first-year head coach is just as impressive. Kyle Whittingham left the program in good shape, but this has everything to do with how Scalley has been about to establish his own culture. This year's Holy War could be one of the best in recent memory.

BYU isn't focused on the polls right now. Sitake's goal is to play fundamentally sound football week-to-week. The Cougars have remained consistent in the polls going back to the end of last season.

Coming off a 12-2 season and Pop-Tarts Bowl title, BYU entered the season in the 2026 preseason polls ranked 15th by the coaches and tied for No. 14 with USC by AP voters, which marked the second-highest preseason AP ranking for BYU in program history (No. 10 in 1985), according to BYU Athletics.

After dropping back to No. 15 in the AP rankings following its 63-7 season-opening win over Utah Tech, BYU returned to the same slot in the AP poll where it finished last season at No. 11 following its 28-17 conference win over Arizona, while the coaches rated BYU at No. 13. Last week BYU moved up to No. 9 in both polls following its 41-23 road win at Colorado State of the Pac-12.

Historically, BYU has been ranked 309 times overall in the AP poll since the program's first national ranking in 1974. The Cougars have been ranked in each of the last 18 AP polls released since entering last year's AP rankings at No. 25 with a 3-0 record.

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Source: Yahoo Sports