The reason, if voters think it through, is that CCU beat BYU last season, even though the elements combined to hedge up BYU's way that game and we fell one yard short of victory. Most people and voters think highly of that BYU team, especially with Zach Wilson as the no. 2 draft pick to the NFL and BYU having a total of 7 players leaving for the NFL. I think most people and poll voters presume BYU is not as good this year as they were last year, and rightly so, due to the talent they lost and by breaking in a new and previously unproven QB with little experience.

That said, this 'lesser' BYU team (when comparing this years team to last year's team) has had a great start and is garnering tons of attention and is shooting up in the polls. On the other hand, CCU has nearly their entire team back, and primarily their best players. This team of CCU beat BYU's better team of last year (ugh, I am barfing a little bit in my mouth saying that). CCU is no different talent wise this year. So I think they may be getting a lot of respect not just from a good record but basically from that win over BYU last year. Unfortunately, they play no one of any difficulty on their schedule this year, so they will likely run the table until their bowl game. They wont have anything to brag about this year except a spotless record against Bo Diddleys. Therefore, their next logical argument is to say this is the same team that beat an excellent BYU team last year, so they deserve a good ranking.