College Football

CFB Top 50, #25: 2025 BYU Cougars

by
Bracket Yard
July 29, 2025

Finally into our preseason ranked teams for this season, the 2025 BYU Cougars are 25th in the CFB Top 50 countdown.

The Cougars are coming off of a great 2024-25 season, both in football and basketball. BYU won 11 football games last season, culminating in a bowl win. Things were looking good until recently, as some unexpected quarterback changes hit the team’s roster.

Still, this is a good team. Our question is how good they can be, and if they can soar again towards the top of the Big 12. If their defense plays anywhere near the way it did last season, you can’t rule that out, now can you?

2025 BYU Cougars Basic Facts

Head Coach: Kalani Sitake (10th season)

2025 Conference: Big 12 Conference

2024 Record: 11-2 (7-2), 3rd in Big 12

Final Resolution of Last Season: Won Alamo Bowl, ranked 13th (AP)

2024 Scoring Offensive Rank: 40th (31.2)

2024 Scoring Defensive Rank: 18th (19.6)

BYU Key Additions and Subtractions

IN – Carsen Ryan, tight end. Transferred from Utah.

IN – Tyler Payne, linebacker. Three-star recruit from Utah.

OUT – Jake Retzlaff, quarterback. Transferred to Tulane.

OUT – Tyler Batty, linebacker. Signed by Minnesota as an undrafted free agent.

OUT – Jakob Robinson, cornerback. Signed by San Francisco as an undrafted free agent.

OUT – Harrison Taggart, linebacker. Transferred to California.

Best Game on the Schedule in 2025

October 18 vs. Utah. Boston College and Notre Dame have their Holy War, and so do the big Utah schools. The Utes could be decent as well, which makes a game like this all the more meaningful. It was a close game in 2024, so we’ll see if they can top that this season.

2025 BYU Cougars: Outlook

Let’s get this out of the way first: Starting quarterback Jake Retzlaff is now playing for Tulane. In June 2025, it was determined that he had violated the school’s honor code. There are numerous allegations floating around as to what happened, but staying out of civil and legal affairs, BYU was likely to suspend him for a majority of the season, seven games. Rather than sit out most of his senior year, Retzlaff decided to transfer. This means BYU is turning to someone else, but as of late July, it’s still not clear who that will be. McCae Hillstead and Treyson Bourguet are the two current favorites.

Aside from the unexpected loss of their starting quarterback, BYU lost a few people to the pros via graduation. Several of them were on defense, which was a top-20 unit in FBS last season. While that is problematic, not all hope might be lost. The team returns its top tackler from last year, Isaiah Glasker (70). However, they lost several others who were near the top of that list, like Tyler Batty, Harrison Taggart, and Jakob Robinson.

Does that mean BYU is headed for a drop-off this year? Well, put it this way: considering that they are coming off of an 11-2 season, there’s not a lot of room to go up, but there’s definitely some runway to go down. With that said, BYU is most likely going to be good again this season. They should be 3-0 going into their Colorado matchup, and if they’re not, that is not a great sign.