Once again, this comes in a bit late, but it’s one of my favorite posts to write, so you get to read it anyway. There were also 2 MAC games last night, neither of which are terribly interesting, but Miami barely escaped winless Akron, while Toledo dispatched Bowling Green. Now, on with my rankings.
| School | W | L | Last Week | This Week | BCS Ranking | |
| 1 | Boise State | 9 | 0 | d. Idaho | Fresno State | 4 |
| Let’s be clear- I’ve had Boise ahead all season, not just because SDSU played TCU close. I’ve thought all along that if the two played, Boise would come out on top. Again. Hopefully we’ll have to wait until next year to find out. | ||||||
| 2 | TCU | 11 | 0 | d. San Diego State | idle | 3 |
| Oregon was hastily forgiven for nearly losing to Cal, so I have no problem in doing the same for TCU, especially because I think SDSU could beat Cal. | ||||||
| 3 | Nevada | 9 | 1 | d. Fresno State | New Mexico State | 18 |
| Nevada picked up from its loss to Hawaii and has kept on rolling, but got quite a fight from Fresno last week. The good news is that they’re climbing high enough, they could stay in the Top 25 even with a loss to Boise. | ||||||
| 4 | Northern Illinois | 8 | 2 | d. Toledo | at Ball State | 30 |
| NIU should now be set to coast to a 10-2 season and most likely a showdown with Ohio in the championship game. This has been a tremendous year for the Huskies, who have shown they can play with anyone, and blow out even good teams. | ||||||
| 5 | Hawaii | 7 | 3 | idle | San Jose State | 31 |
| Hawaii’s season is practically done, with just the bottom of the league (and UNLV) left before the year ends. | ||||||
| 6 | Southern Miss | 7 | 3 | d. UCF | Houston | 41 |
| USM is surging after a couple of shaky mid-season games. It will be interesting to see how they come out against Houston, after having 3 players shot at a nightclub after returning from Orlando last weekend. | ||||||
| 7 | Tulsa | 7 | 3 | d. Houston | UTEP | 43 |
| Like USM in the east, Tulsa is charging but maybe too late. Despite taking down Notre Dame and Houston, they still need help to get to the C-USA Championship game. | ||||||
| 8 | Ohio | 8 | 3 | d. Temple | idle | |
| Ohio has locked up MAC East, provided they can get past rival Kent State, who is struggling down the stretch again. The Bobcats just seem to have Temple’s number lately. | ||||||
| 9 | Utah | 8 | 2 | loss to Notre Dame | at San Diego State | 23 |
| When a team is collapsing as bad as Utah has, it’s hard to know where they fit, but the fact is they could still beat most of the teams on this list, probably including teams ahead of them. This weekend will help us figure them out better. | ||||||
| 10 | San Diego State | 7 | 3 | loss to TCU | Utah | 34 |
| I knew SDSU was good, but their performance against TCU surprised even me- they outscored the rest of the MWC combined against the Frogs. If they keep it up this week, they’ll claim the #2 spot in the league. | ||||||
| 11 | Temple | 8 | 3 | loss to Ohio | idle | 32 |
| 12 | Air Force | 7 | 4 | d. New Mexico | at UNLV (Thurs) | 42 |
| 13 | UCF | 7 | 3 | loss to Southern Miss | at Tulane | 40 |
| 14 | Navy | 7 | 3 | d. Central Michigan | Arkansas State | 38 |
| 15 | Fresno State | 6 | 4 | loss to Nevada | at Boise State (Fri) | 43 |
| Here’s the always tricky middle 5- some moving up, some down. Temple can still finish up a nice year, and UCF is still leading the charge for the C-USA championship but may have been exposed. Navy barely escaped a bad CMU team. | ||||||
| 16 | Toledo | 7 | 4 | d. Bowling Green | idle | |
| 17 | East Carolina | 6 | 4 | d. UAB | at Rice | |
| 18 | Miami | 7 | 4 | d. Akron | at Temple (Tues) | |
| 19 | Army | 6 | 4 | d. Kent State | Notre Dame | |
| 20 | Houston | 5 | 5 | loss to Tulsa | at Southern Miss | |
| Toledo falls a long way after just one league loss, but they got stomped badly. ECU still hasn’t been forgiven for the Navy debacle, while the other teams down here just haven’t been convincing one way or the other. | ||||||
| 21 | Troy | 5 | 4 | loss to FIU | at South Carolina | |
| 22 | BYU | 5 | 5 | d. Colorado State | New Mexico | |
| 23 | UTEP | 6 | 5 | loss to Arkansas | at Tulsa | |
| 24 | SMU | 5 | 5 | idle | Marshall | |
| 25 | FIU | 4 | 5 | d. Troy | at Louisiana | |
| BYU and FIU are the strongest of this bunch, and if their records supported it they could be higher. Meanwhile Troy, UTEP, and SMU have been inconsistent all year, just hovering around .500. | ||||||