passed BYU. Top 25 rankings are certainly relevant (but not determinant) in showing if a program has passed another program, but the total number throughout history is meaningless. You would have to show them over certain periods. If School A finished in the top 25 every year from 1940-2005, but never since then, while School B never finished in the top 25 prior to 2005 but had finished in the top 25 every year since then, that would be pretty strong evidence that School B has padded up School A, even though School A has like 4 times as many total top 25 finishes.
This is the point with Yale; high historical counting facts have almost nothing to do with whether another school has passed that school.