BYU athletic department leads in final Directors’ Cup fall standings

BYU Athletics landed at No. 1 in the nation in the Division I Learfield Directors’ Cup fall standings published Thursday.

The Directors’ Cup is a ranking system for athletic programs that grant points based on each institution’s finish in NCAA Championships. BYU’s first-place finish is for the preliminary fall season standings, and additional winter standings along with final rankings will follow the spring season.

“It was an incredible fall season at BYU,” said BYU Director of Athletics Tom Holmoe. “A huge congratulations to our resilient, tough, committed, passionate, fun-loving student-athletes and coaches for all that they were able to accomplish. To be No. 1 in the nation in the standings at this point in time is something for all of Cougar Nation to be proud of.”

The ranking was helped by BYU’s “No Loss November,” during which the Cougars went 29-0 across five sports during the month of November.

BYU finished with 368 points in the standings, putting the Cougars ahead of Notre Dame and three Big Ten Programs: Michigan, Wisconsin and Penn State.

Women’s soccer and women’s cross country both earned the Cougars 90 points thanks to their national runner-up finishes in their respective NCAA Championships. Men’s cross country contributed 72 points and women’s volleyball notched 64 of their own after both finishing with Top-10 rankings and football’s Top-20 finish added another 52 points.

This is BYU’s best Directors’ Cup finish ever in a fall, winter or spring season.