On Saturday morning, 247Sports’ Brad Crawford broke down underrated and overrated teams in the way-too-early Top 25 college football teams list.
He chose to focus on the BYU Cougars, who are expected to debut at No. 16. Crawford believes the Cougars are overrated and should enter the 2025 season unranked.
“Ranked as high as No. 9 in one poll and unranked in several others, most organizations expect the law of averages to consume the Cougars,” Crawford said. “BYU brings back several key starters from an 11-win team, one-third of those victories coming by a single possession including triumphs over Utah and Oklahoma State essentially as time expired. The early frontrunner in the Big 12 looks like Utah or Arizona State judging by the collection of preseason rankings with BYU taking a step back from the top tier.”
BYU finished off the 2024 season as one of college football’s most underrated teams, sitting at 11-2 with multiple Top 25 wins. The group took down No. 13 Kansas State, No. 23 Colorado, and College Football Playoff participant SMU, who finished the season with just three losses.
They return the bulk of their production heading into 2025, including quarterback Jake Retzlaff, running back LJ Martin, wide receiver Chase Roberts, and a plethora of defensive stars. They will likely earn a top-five spot in the Big 12 Preseason Media Poll released this summer.
