As an aside, Air [...]]]> San Diego State came within 5 points of ruining TCU’s perfect season, not to mention potentially removing about a million bucks from their own budget next year (although they might have done that anyway).  Also, Utah got embarrassed, New Mexico returned to its losing ways, and Wyoming is not very good at football.

As an aside, Air Force’s regular season ends this Thursday night.  Do the folks at the MWC office know that without a championship game, you’re allowed to keep playing football until December 4? Because CSU and Wyoming will both call it a year after Saturday too.

BYU 49, Colorado State 10- So much for the Rams putting up a fight and possibly sending BYU out with a loss.  The Cougars are now back to 5-5 and in nice position to find a bowl this year after all.  Next Week: New Mexico at BYU, Colorado State at Wyoming

Notre Dame 38, Utah 3- Utah looked bad beginning, middle, and end of this one.  Meanwhile, C-USA is giddy over there, considering unranked Tulsa took down the Irish a couple weeks ago.  The loss was enough to drop the Utes to the very edge of the major polls, and it doesn’t get any easier next week.  Next Week: Utah at San Diego State

TCU 40, San Diego State 35- SDSU jumped out early, faded through the middle, then staged a furious rally to get back into the game.  TCU escaped by recovering the final onside kick and running out the clock from there.  Next Week: Utah at San Diego State, TCU is idle.

Air Force 48, New Mexico 23- Air Force continues its winning ways with a one that was never in doubt.  Next Week: New Mexico at BYU, Air Force at UNLV (Thursday)

UNLV 42, Wyoming 16- Wyoming follows up its loss to struggling New Mexico with a blowout to struggling UNLV, and takes their place as the surprisingly worst team in the MWC.  Next Week: Air Force at UNLV (Thursday), Colorado State at Wyoming

Mountain West Standings

2010 Mountain West Champions

There are no more championship scenarios, as TCU has clinched the league crown for the second consecutive year, no small feat in a season where San Diego State and Air Force elevated their level of play to new heights, Utah was still dangerous, and even BYU, with a dismal start, has surged to the finish.  Congratulations to TCU, now one win away from their second undefeated regular season.

Mountain West Power Rankings

1. TCU
2. San Diego State
3. Utah
4. Air Force
5. BYU
6. Colorado State
7. UNLV
8. New Mexico
9. Wyoming

Southern Miss 31, UCF 21- USM came in and stunned UCF on their home field, rallying from an early 14-0 deficit to run [...]]]> In a week that offered the chance to finalize a few things in the league, the exact opposite happened, and now nothing will be set in stone until the final whistle on November 27.

Southern Miss 31, UCF 21- USM came in and stunned UCF on their home field, rallying from an early 14-0 deficit to run off 31 consecutive points with a smothering defense and a seemingly unstoppable offensive attack.  Having now seen both in person, I’m baffled as to how they lost to UAB.  Next Week: UCF at Tulane, Houston at Southern Miss

Marshall 28, Memphis 13- Another game that swung wildly, as Memphis lead 10-0 then accomplished nothing else until a 4th quarter field goal.  Marshall is now on a 3 game win streak, but a tough road trip might derail their bowl aspirations once and for all. Next Week: Marshall at SMU, Memphis at UAB.

Tulane 54, Rice 49- Another C-USA West shootout that ends with Tulane clinging to hopes of getting back to 6-6, dropping Rice to the bottom of the division.  Next Week: UCF at Tulane, East Carolina at Rice

Arkansas 58, UTEP 21- UTEP hung around for a while in the first half, but once Arkansas got things going, it was over for the Miners.  Next Week: UTEP at Tulsa

Tulsa 28, Houston 25- Tulsa keeps rolling, but in close fashion this time.  A late review reversed what could have been a devastating fumble for Tulsa, and the Golden Hurricane keep their conference hopes alive.  Next Week: UTEP at Tulsa, Houston at Southern Miss

Conference USA Standings

Conference Championship Scenarios

East

UCF (Tulane, Memphis) remains in charge of the east despite the loss, but the pressure is on now.

East Carolina (Rice, SMU) will win the division if they win out and UCF loses another game

Southern Miss’ (Houston, Tulsa) needs a lot of help. They need ECU to drop both remaining games and for UCF to lose at least once.

Three Way Tie at 6-2: If that happened, the first tiebreaker they come to is the record vs. divisional teams.  UCF stands at 3-1 right now, ECU is done at 4-1, while USM sits at 3-2. If UCF loses to Tulane and beats Memphis, they’re ok at 4-1. Southern Miss would be dropped off, and UCF would win the head-to-head tiebreaker with ECU.  But, if UCF should beat Tulane and lose to Memphis, they’ll finish 3-2 in the division and ECU wins that tiebreaker.  Southern Miss can’t win a 3 way tie.

West

SMU (Marshall, ECU) is in charge thanks to a tiebreaker against Tulsa- win out and the division is theirs.

Tulsa (UTEP, Southern Miss) needs to win out and get a SMU loss to advance.

Houston needs a lot of help too, particularly for Tulsa to lose twice and SMU at least once, as they do have the tiebreaker over SMU.

Three Way Tie at 5-3: Like the East, we’d have a 1-1 round robin result there, so it’s down to divisional results.  Tulsa is at 3-1, SMU 3-2, and Houston 3-2.  If Tulsa beats UTEP, they would win the division out of a 3 way tie.  If Tulsa lost to UTEP but beat USM to set up the tie, then they compare records against divisional opponents in order of finish.  First up would almost certainly be UTEP, who already beat SMU and now Tulsa, which would give the division over to Houston.

Championship Game Home Field

If UCF or ECU win out, the division winner will host the conference championship.  If both teams drop to 6-2, then the first tiebreaker would be head-to-head play.  UCF would host the game vs. Houston, ECU would host a game against Tulsa, the winner of ECU-SMU would host that rematch, etc.  If the teams have not played each other, home field goes to the team with a higher BCS ranking.  At the moment, I think Tulsa could be the favorite (assuming ECU & UCF lose along the way), then the East winner, then the rest of the west, but that’s just conjecture.

Week 11 Power Rankings

As usual, we have a group of teams at the top who are not terribly separate from each other, then a big drop to the mid-pack bunch, then a freefall to Memphis.

1. Tulsa
2. Southern Mississippi
3. UCF
4. ECU
5. Houston
6. SMU
7. UTEP
8. Marshall
9. UAB
10. Tulane
11. Rice
12. Memphis

Utah State 27, New Mexico State 22- The battle of the Aggies goes to the northern ones, as NMSU isn’t able to hold a 4th quarter lead to find it’s [...]]]> The big time matchup that we were supposed to have turned into another Boise rout, while the rest of the WAC is starting to sort itself out.

Utah State 27, New Mexico State 22- The battle of the Aggies goes to the northern ones, as NMSU isn’t able to hold a 4th quarter lead to find it’s second win in a row.  Next Week: Utah State at San Diego State, Louisiana Tech at New Mexico State

Boise State 42, Hawaii 7- The Bronco defense absolutely shut down the usually high flying Warrior offense, while the offense ran roughshod.  Nevada is the only team left on the schedule that could reasonably challenge Boise at this point. Next Week: Boise State at Idaho (Friday), Hawaii idle.

Fresno State 40, Louisiana Tech 34- Fresno opened up a back & forth game in the fourth quarter with three straight scores, then survived a rally from the other Bulldogs to become bowl eligible.  Next Week: Nevada at Fresno State, Louisiana Tech at New Mexico State

Nevada 63, Idaho 17- Idaho’s defensive struggles haunted them as Nevada racked up 844 yards of offense in the blowout.  Idaho will probably have to win out, including a date with Fresno State, to get bowl eligible after the Boise State game.  Next Week: Nevada at Fresno State, Boise State at Idaho (Friday)

WAC Standings

Conference Championship Picture

Forget, for a moment, that Boise State is straight up murdering everybody.  There.  In that case, the conference is still wide open, as Boise has two of the league’s best still to come.  However, only Boise State actually controls it’s own destiny at this point.  Fresno State and Nevada both need Hawaii to lose one more, even if either of them beats Boise State.  Hawaii needs Boise to lose twice to win the league outright.  If Fresno or Nevada do beat Boise State and win out, then Hawaii wins out, then we have a 3 way tie at 8-1.  The WAC would declare them all co-champions and be done with it.

Week 10 Power Rankings

These are pretty close to the standings, obviously.  Nevada gets back ahead of Hawaii, despite the head to head, based on Hawaii’s implosion on the blue turf.

1. Boise State
2. Nevada
3. Hawaii
4. Fresno State
5. Louisiana Tech
6. Idaho
7. Utah State
8. New Mexico State
9. San Jose State

Air Force 42, Army 22- Things started slow in West Point, with Army leading 6-0 [...]]]> Much like the matching game happening on the blue turf, the big showdown in the Mountain West became a dud when TCU blew the doors off of Utah.  Elsewhere, the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy returns to Colorado Springs, and New Mexico won a game.

Air Force 42, Army 22- Things started slow in West Point, with Army leading 6-0 after a quarter.  Air Force turned things around quickly, and dominated the remaining 45 minutes to claim military academy supremacy for the first time in eight years. Next Week: Army at Kent State, New Mexico at Air Force

BYU 55, UNLV 7- BYU suddenly has a very good chance to become bowl eligible, with CSU and New Mexico ahead.  Meanwhile, UNLV can only hope for a better season next year.  Next Week: BYU at Colorado State, Wyoming at UNLV

TCU 47, Utah 7- There isn’t much to say about this game that hasn’t been said, but TCU made an emphatic statement about their place in the national picture, and now become the biggest Alabama fans in the country.  Next Week: San Diego State at TCU, Utah at Notre Dame

New Mexico 34, Wyoming 31- The Lobos broke the losing streak (leaving Akron alone with the longest) with a final-seconds field goal, which may leave Wyoming as this year’s trivia answer.  Next Week: Wyoming at UNLV, New Mexico at Air Force

San Diego State 24, Colorado State 19- No winning streak for the Rams, as San Diego State wins their fourth in a row.  The fun stops there for the Aztecs, staring down consecutive games with TCU and Utah.  Next Week: BYU at Colorado State, SDSU at TCU

Mountain West Standings

Conference Championship Picture

Football on the Fringe is boldly projecting TCU to be your 2010 Conference Champions.  San Diego State could actually say something about all that, but we don’t see that as being very likely.  A win this weekend seals the deal for TCU, while Utah still has a chance if both SDSU and New Mexico were to stop the Frogs. All other teams are mathematically eliminated.

Mountain West Power Rankings

Utah may have been beaten badly Saturday, but there’s little to suggest that any of the other 7 deserve the #2 spot yet.  SDSU will get their shot in a couple weeks, but unless the Utes get annihilated by Notre Dame, they’re the second best team in the league.

1. TCU
2. Utah
3. San Diego State
4. Air Force
5. BYU
6. Colorado State
7. UNLV
8. New Mexico
9. Wyoming

UCF 40, Houston 33- UCF survived a shootout with the Cougars, [...]]]> C-USA had a busy week, with 7 games going on and only 1 of the league’s ‘Big 4′ getting through unscathed.  UCF, meanwhile, has earned its first Top 25 rankings in school history, sitting 23rd in the coaches and 25th in the AP and Harris polls.

UCF 40, Houston 33- UCF survived a shootout with the Cougars, in the second straight game where UCF has given up over 30 but scored over 40.  Luckily for Houston, they got some help on Saturday to keep control of the West, which means this game is very likely a conference championship preview.  Next Week: Tulsa at Houston, Southern Miss at UCF

Tulsa 64, Rice 27- Tulsa is storming through the second half of their schedule, setting up a very big game with Tulsa this weekend, as Rice fades into the background.  Next Week: Tulsa at Houston, Rice at Tulane

Navy 76, East Carolina 35- Three straight turnovers in their own territory turned into points for Navy, and turned a shootout into a disaster for the Pirates.  Next Week: East Carolina at UAB, Thursday night

Southern Miss 46, Tulane 30- Two touchdowns and a safety broke a 30-30 tie in the 4th quarter for Southern Miss as they keep their conference hopes alive, especially with ECU staggering and a big game with UCF this week.  Next Week: Rice at Tulane, Southern Miss at UCF

Marshall 31, UAB 17- A mildly surprising result from two teams that have been up and down all year, but UAB had shown signs of life lately.  Next Week: East Carolina at UAB, Thursday, Memphis at Marshall

Tennessee 50, Memphis 14- There’s nothing worse than getting a game against a BCS rival when you’re in a down year.  Next Week: Memphis at Marshall

UTEP 28, SMU 14- UTEP gets bowl eligible by knocking SMU off their perch atop the West, which lasted less than 24 hours after Houston handed it to them.  UTEP never trailed in this one.  Next Week: UTEP at Arkansas, SMU idle.

Conference USA Standings

Conference Championship Picture

East

UCF is in control, needing to win two of the last three games.  If ECU loses Thursday and UCF wins Saturday, UCF will clinch the East.

East Carolina must go unbeaten and needs two UCF losses to capture the division.  Southern Miss also must win out, including beating UCF Saturday, and have UCF lose one other game to win or create a three-way tie, depending on ECU’s results.

UCF can clinch home field advantage for the championship game by winning the next two games.

West

Houston currently controls its own destiny ahead of this week’s game with Tulsa.

SMU needs a Houston loss to take control of its own destiny.

Tulsa needs to beat Houston, win out, and have SMU find another loss to win the division.

Week 10 Power Rankings

Things are very fluid, both in the top half and the bottom half, with so many contenders taking a loss this weekend.

1. UCF
2. Tulsa
3. Houston
4. SMU
5. East Carolina
6. Southern Miss
7. UTEP
8. Marshall
9. UAB
10. Tulane
11. Rice
12. Memphis

Ohio 34, Buffalo 17- Thursday’s game held no great surprise, as Ohio keeps itself in the chase by handling Buffalo comfortably.  Next Game: Ball State at [...]]]> The MAC is into it’s completely insane November schedule, but since I didn’t write last week, I’ll cover the weeknight games we missed here as well as the games from Saturday.

Ohio 34, Buffalo 17- Thursday’s game held no great surprise, as Ohio keeps itself in the chase by handling Buffalo comfortably.  Next Game: Ball State at Buffalo, November 12; Ohio at Temple, November 16

Central Michigan 26, Western Michigan 22- Central Michigan rallied in the fourth quarter Friday night to win and sweep the Michigan MAC group, a nice highlight in a down year for the Chips.  Next Game: Central Michigan at Navy, Saturday; Eastern Michigan at Western Michigan, Saturday

Ball State 37, Akron 30- Ball State edges Akron to confirm that Akron is probably the worst team in the MAC.  Next Game: Ball State at Buffalo, November 12; Miami at Akron, November 17

Temple 28, Kent State 10- Temple extinguishes any hopes KSU might have had of hanging around for the conference championship and is now full steam ahead toward Ohio next week.  Next Game: Army at Kent State, Saturday; Ohio at Temple, November 16

MAC Standings

MAC Championship Picture

East

Nothing changed at the top- Ohio and Temple control their own destiny, and they’ll face off on November 16.  If Temple wins that one, and Miami keeps winning, then you get a division championship game between them on November 23.  If Ohio wins, only Kent State stands between them and another trip to Detroit.  Kent State, Buffalo, Bowling Green and of course Akron are all eliminated from the division race (Kent State cannot finish better than 5-3, while the winner of Ohio-Temple will have six wins).

West

The West is a two-team show, as everyone else has 3 losses already.  NIU and Toledo play tomorrow night in the MAC game of the week/month/year?  Neither team has a winning team left on the schedule after Tuesday, so the path to Detroit is pretty clear. Western Michigan, Ball State, Central and Eastern Michigan are all eliminated.

Week 10 Power Ranking

1. Northern Illinois
2. Toledo
3. Temple
4. Ohio
5. Miami
6. Kent State
7. Central Michigan
8. Western Michigan
9. Ball State
10. Buffalo
11. Bowling Green
12. Eastern Michigan
13. Akron

Arkansas [...]]]> Real Life wrecked the Fringe last week, many apologies if you were looking forward to my WAC wrapup of week 9 or my always mediocre picks for week 10.  But for now, we’ll pretend like everything is normal and get right on with our looks back at Week 10.  Bowl projections and maybe some commentary tomorrow.

Arkansas State 51, Middle Tennessee 24- A-State led most of the way in this one, then turned it into a blowout in the second quarter. Middle Tennessee’s season just gets darker and darker, while Arkansas State is still alive in the hunt for a bowl game. Next Week: Western Kentucky at Arkansas State, North Texas at Middle Tennessee

Florida Atlantic 17, Western Kentucky 16- FAU took the lead early in the 4th, and all WKU needed to do was find a field goal after that, but never got closer than the FAU 40, where an interception ended that drive.  Next Week: Western Kentucky at Arkansas State, Louisiana at Florida Atlantic

Mississippi 42, Louisiana 21- A 24-7 first quarter effectively ended this one, although the Rajin’ Cajuns did get the score as close as 27-21, but managed no points in the second half as Ole Miss pulled away.   Next Week: Louisiana at Florida Atlantic

Troy 41, North Texas 35- Troy bounces back from a loss with a narrow win over a North Texas team that has started to turn around after dismissing their coach.  Next Week: FIU at Troy, North Texas at Middle Tennessee

FIU 42, ULM 35- It took two overtimes, but FIU clings to its hopes of a conference title with a shootout win over the Warhawks.  Next Week: FIU at Troy, ULM at LSU

Sun Belt Standings

Conference Championship Race

Troy and FIU face off Saturday in Alabama for the lead in the conference, and are the only two teams left that control their own destinies.

Arkansas State needs Troy to lose all 3 of their remaining games to have a chance to win the league.

Middle Tennessee State needs Troy to lose all 3 remaining games, and have Arkansas State lose again.  Both MTSU and Arkansas State have opportunities to beat FIU later this season.  A Troy win Saturday eliminates both schools.

ULM could still come back into the picture, but would need Troy to lose twice and FIU to lose all of its remaining games.  An FIU win Saturday eliminates ULM.

Florida Atlantic could re-enter the scene if FIU loses at least two more, and Troy loses at least once before facing FAU.  However, if that happens, there is a distinct possibility of a multi-way tie at 5-3, which would be a huge mess.

Week 10 Power Rankings

Some of the head-to-head results from a couple weeks ago are fading away as the conference championship race sorts itself out.

1. Troy
2. Arkansas State
3. FIU
4. ULM
5. Middle Tennessee
6. FAU
7. Louisiana
8. North Texas
9. Western Kentucky