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BYU head coach Kalani Sitake has long said that he doesn’t care about rankings.

He didn’t care when the Cougars were just breaking into the AP Top 25, and he didn’t care when the voters deemed them a top-10 team.

Has his tune changed now that BYU is the No. 2 team in the nation?

“No, never cared about it before, so why would I start now?” Sitake said. “You guys like it, so I’ll let you guys handle that stuff. So just keep the rat poison away from the boys.”

That “rat poison” is coming in droves this week after BYU beat Notre Dame in one of the biggest games in program history. The Cougars received 20 first-place votes and are within shouting distance of the No. 1 spot.

“This is no disrespect to the voters and to everyone that puts it together — appreciate it,” Sitake said. “But we’re talking about being humble and hungry. Talking about rankings isn’t going to get us there.”

But Sitake may have a point. After all, the No. 1 team has lost in each of the last two weeks.

“Right now, it’s a week-to-week type of deal, and don’t really have time for that stuff, to be honest with you.”

We get it, coach.

But it just so happens we’ve got plenty of time for it. And BYU’s No. 2 ranking is pretty historic.

This marks just the fourth season the Cougars have cracked the top five — at any point. The previous three? 1984, 1990 and 1996.

In 1996, QB Steve Sarkisian led the Cougars to a 14-1 record (only to be snubbed by the Bowl Alliance) and a No. 5 national ranking.

In 1990, the Cougars climbed as high as No. 4 on the heels of beating No. 1 Miami in the second week of the season. But a blowout loss to Hawaii in the regular-season finale sent the Cougars tumbling down the polls.

In 1984 … well, you know.

While Sitake might not care much, what about his players?

“It’s crazy!” freshman receiver Legend Glasker said. “I was just saying, ‘We’re the No. 2 team in the whole country!’”

But even the star freshman had a mature perspective on the high ranking.

“We’re blessed to be there, and I mean we’re all happy about it, but you know our team knows that we got way more work to do and new things to accomplish, and that’s not really the only thing we’re chasing,” Glasker said.

Clock controversy

We’re sure you’ve heard about it by now: One second was still on the clock when Notre Dame QB CJ Carr’s pass hit the turf.

The Big 12 even issued a statement saying the play was “incorrectly cleared” by the replay crew.

BYU’s reaction?

Shrug.

“It’s four seconds on the clock, and the play was a sprint-out play,” Sitake said. “So I don’t know exactly the details of the game clock according to the real clock and the clock that was on in the stadium. I have no idea, but, from what I saw, that looked like the play was over four seconds. I think everybody assumed that that was going to be the final play of the game.”

As for the Big 12’s statement?

“I moved on already,” he said. “I started watching film on UCF already around the time that the release came out.”

Steve Young’s perfect day

Former BYU QB Steve Young had quite the Saturday.

As the guest picker for “College GameDay,” Young went a perfect 10-0 — he was one of two panelists who picked the Cougars to win — and he appeared to be the first one to rush the field after Carr’s incomplete pass, too.

And just look how happy he was:

Meet The Tribune’s sports writers

On Oct. 27, The Tribune will host a sports night.

Come meet sports editor Ryan Miller, new Jazz reporter Shreyas Laddha, college sports reporter Jason Batacao and columnist Gordon Monson.

The team will take your questions on all things Utah sports and discuss how the college football season is going and preview what the Jazz season may hold.

You can RSVP here.