Ed Orgeron Gives BYU Football Respect Among Pollsters In Final Coaches Poll
Dec 21, 2020, 9:45 PM
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA - OCTOBER 24: Head coach Ed Orgeron of the LSU Tigers reacts before a game against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Tiger Stadium on October 24, 2020 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
BOCA RATON, Florida – LSU head coach Ed Orgeron had a lot of respect for the work BYU football put in during the 2020 season. The coach that everyone loves to impersonate ranked BYU the highest in the final Coaches Poll of the regular season.
Coaches Poll Top 25 ballots are kept private until the final poll of the season. That’s where we saw Orgeron and everyone else’s ballots for where they ranked BYU.
The Cougars finished the regular season ranked No. 15 in the final Amway Coaches Poll top 25 of the wild and crazy 2020 college football season.
LSU’s Ed Orgeron respects BYU in 2020
Ed Orgeron had BYU six spots higher than the final ranking. LSU’s head ball coach put BYU at No. 9. That type of ranking would leave a lot of BYU fans to say, “Geaux Cougahs!”
All Week 16 Coaches Poll ballots. This is the only Coaches Poll of the year in which the individual ballots are released. pic.twitter.com/WvuVdh2RDh
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) December 21, 2020
Orgeron has connections to the BYU staff in offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes. Grimes was Orgeron’s offensive line coach for the Bayou Bengals before taking as the BYU play-caller in 2018. BYU offensive line coach Eric Mateos also worked for Orgeron and Grimes at LSU.
Regardless of the connections to BYU’s staff, Orgeron clearly respects what BYU accomplished in 2020 going 10-1 amidst the novel Coronavirus pandemic.
Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham has a ballot in the Coaches Top 25. The former BYU linebacker ranked his alma mater at No. 18 in his final poll. He was also the only coach to vote for Utah in the Top 25. Whittingham had the Utes at No. 24.
Here are some other notable college football coaches and where they ranked BYU in their final Coaches Poll ballot.
Dabo Swinney, Clemson: No. 13
Manny Diaz, Miami: No. 17
Brian Kelly, Notre Dame, No. 17
Gary Patterson, TCU: No. 16
Tom Herman, Texas: No. 16
Matt Wells, Texas Tech: No. 16
Nick Saban, Alabama: No. 17
Ken Niumatalolo, Navy: No. 10
Bryan Harsin, Boise State: No. 13
Jamey Chadwell, Coastal Carolina: No. 13
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m., KSL Newsradio). Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper and the KSL Sports app.
