Where did Utah finish the college football season in the AP Top 25 poll?

Utes were among five Big 12 teams to place in the last top 25 poll of the 2025-26 campaign

Utah Utes head coach Morgan Scalley guided the team to its 11th win of the season, helping it earn a top-15 placement in the final AP Top 25 poll of the season. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The final Associated Press Top 25 poll of the college football season released Monday, roughly 12 hours after Indiana claimed its first national championship title in a historic victory over Miami.

The Hoosiers and Hurricanes checked in at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in a poll that looked hardly anything like the previous version released in early December. Twelve teams, in fact, moved up or down at least three spots from their previous position, while only two remained in the exact same spot they resided in prior to bowl season and the College Football Playoff.

Utah didn't see a dramatic shift in its position on the leaderboard following its dominant win over Nebraska in the Las Vegas Bowl, which felt like an entire season ago by the time the final poll dropped. That 44-22 victory over the Cornhuskers did, though, help the Utes move up and clinch their sixth top-15 finish in the poll since 1994.

Utah (11-2, 7-2 Big 12) came in at No. 14 in the final AP poll of the 2025-26 campaign. It was the highest the Utes had been ranked to end a season since 2022 (No. 10) and marked their 11th time since 1994 that they placed in the final poll of the season.

The Utes went 0-2 against teams ranked in the final AP poll, with both losses coming to Big 12 teams. Texas Tech, which handed Utah its first loss in a 34-10 final on Sept. 20, came in at No. 7; BYU, which was responsible for the Utes' second and most recent defeat, a 24-21 result on Oct. 18, was placed at No. 11 in the final poll.

No. 22 Houston and No. 25 TCU were among the three teams that managed to sneak into the poll before the season officially ended, giving the Big 12 a total of five top 25 squads to close out the campaign. The SEC led the way with seven representatives while the Big Ten had six. The American Athletic Conference put three teams in the final top 25, beating out the ACC's two.

Final AP Top 25 Poll of 2025-26 Season

1. Indiana (16-0, 9-0 Big Ten) [66 first-place votes]
2. Miami (13-3, 6-2 ACC)
3. Ole Miss (13-2, 7-1 SEC)
4. Oregon (13-2, 8-1 Big Ten)
5. Ohio State (12-2, 9-0 Big Ten)
6. Georgia (12-2, 8-1 SEC)
7. Texas Tech (12-2, 8-1 Big 12)
8. Texas A&M (11-2, 8-1 SEC)
9. Alabama (11-4, 7-1 SEC)
10. Notre Dame (10-2)
11. BYU (12-2, 8-1 Big 12)
12. Texas (10-3, 6-2 SEC)
13. Oklahoma (10-2, 6-2 SEC)
14. Utah (11-2, 7-2 Big 12)
15. Vanderbilt (10-3, 6-2 SEC)
16. Virginia (11-3, 7-1 ACC)
17. Iowa (9-4, 6-3 Big Ten)
18. Tulane (11-3, 7-1 AAC)
19. James Madison (12-2, 8-0 Sun Belt)
20. USC (9-4, 7-2 Big Ten)
21. Michigan (9-4, 7-2 Big Ten)
22. Houston (10-3, 6-3 Big 12)
23. Navy (11-2, 7-1 AAC)
24. North Texas (12-2, 7-1 AAC)
25. TCU (9-4, 5-4 Big 12)

Schools Dropped Out

Arizona (No. 21), Georgia Tech (No. 24), Missouri (No. 25)

New to the poll this week

No. 17 Iowa (beat Vanderbilt, 34-27, in ReliaQuest Bowl); No. 22 Houston (beat LSU, 38-35, in Texas Bowl); No. 25 TCU (beat USC, 30-27, in Alamo Bowl)

Others Receiving Votes

Illinois 123, Washington 76, SMU 69, Duke 58, Arizona 54, Georgia Tech 44, Tennessee 10, Missouri 8, Louisville 7, Old Dominion 3, Western Michigan 2, Wake Forest 2, Hawaii 1, Boise State 1.