No. 20 BYU football team casts rankings aside in preparation for No. 11 Huskies

PROVO — Adam Pulsipher remembers where he was when he first heard that the BYU football team slid into the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since 2015.

He remembers the text thread, at least.

It was in his linebacker text group, and somebody sent a screenshot of the latest rankings — with an Oval-Y logo in the No. 25 spot after the Cougars’ 24-21 win over Wisconsin.

But Sunday, when the Cougars jumped up to No. 20 following a 30-3 win over FCS McNeese State, Pulsipher said he doesn’t remember the moment he found out about the rankings.

In his defense, he’s too busy getting ready for a top-20 matchup at No. 11 Washington this Saturday (6:30 p.m. MDT, Fox, KSL Newsradio).

“It was exciting. It was something we haven’t done in a while,” Pulsipher recalled of the first ranking. “But I don’t think we did anything this weekend — I’m sure some group did.”

BYU coach Kalani Sitake said the Cougars’ back-to-back weeks in the AP Top 25 have bene validating for his team, which turned around its 4-9 season in 2017 to the current 3-1 start.

But Sitake doesn’t put as much stock in “the number,” because he knows how fluid rankings can be in the first weeks of the season.

“Things are trending the right way, but we aren’t really focused on the rankings right now,” Sitake said during Monday’s media briefing. “We appreciate that people respect us and what we’ve done, but we don’t have time for that stuff.

“Nobody cares where you are ranked right now.”

What the rankings do is present a primetime television slot this weekend, which Fox will give to the Cougars when they travel to Husky Stadium in Seattle. The network’s broadcast unit of Joe Davis, Brady Quinn and Bruce Feldman will be on for that game, giving more credibility to the turnaround the Cougars have undergone in just four weeks of the 2018 season.

But there’s still a lot of time left — and the Huskies won’t care about the No. 20 next to BYU’s name when they kick off at 5:30 p.m. local time.

“It’s different being in the Top 25. It’s different being 3-1. But I’m just happy to be here,” said wide receiver Dylan Collie, a graduate transfer from Hawaii. “It’s not a big part of the conversation. Is it fun? Yeah. But it’s not what we define ourselves as. We define ourselves as a winning team and a culture since the coaching staff got here in January, and I’m just happy to be a part of it since I got here in June. We’ve built on that ever since, and that won’t stop.

“It’s a number in a big scheme, and what really matters is what we are doing to progress every single day.”

As far as the Cougars have come, Sitake still sees the mistakes and the progress they have yet to make.

There is the lack of a passing game, where the Cougars rank 113th nationally with 163.8 yards per game.

There’s the defense, which ranks 28th nationally in total defense after allowing 328.3 yards per game. But Sitake only sees the missed sacks his defensive linemen have left on the field every game.

“Every game, there will always be something we can complain about,” Sitake said. “The goal is to play a perfect game, where you guys (the media) have nothing to say. Hopefully, we can do that this Saturday, so you guys can give the slow clap leading to the roaring cheer.

“Until we get there, we’ll find something else to complain about.”

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