Football on the Fringe

Holiday Week Bowl Update

lowercase — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:37:22 +0000

A quiet week on the fringe, especially since a lot of the non-BCS bowls have given way to the bigger leagues this week. We have had a few more surprises this week, which sets up a very interesting run through the rest of Bowl Season

Marshall 21, Ohio 17- this, to me, is a big surprise and is not the outcome that the MAC (or Ohio, of course) wanted- 6-6 Marshall came in and jumped out early, and while the offense faded in the second half, Ohio couldn’t muster quite enough points to catch the Herd. Still a good year for Ohio, but they’ll be looking to finish better in 2010.

We have no non-BCS bowl games today, but a couple good ones to look forward to this week:

Eaglebank- UCLA vs. Temple- These two teams have never met. In fact, Temple has only been to two other bowl games- one in 1939 and their last trip was in 1979, where they also played a team from out west- California. Meanwhile, UCLA is back in the postseason after a year away, but has lost their last two bowl games and hasn’t picked up a postseason win since 2005.

24 may be the magic number in this game- all of UCLA’s 6 losses came when they allowed 24 or more points, while they held beaten teams to 23 or less. UCLA’s offense only scored more than 23 three times this year, against San Diego State, Washington State, and in a loss to Cal (who scored 45). On the other side, Temple only went under 23 twice all season, both in losses. Temple’s defense is good but not great, so a 30-20 type game is their best recipe for success on Tuesday.

Humanitarian Bowl, Bowling Green vs. Idaho- Wednesday’s game will be the first meeting between these two teams as well. This is Idaho’s second bowl appearance all time and second in the Humanitarian, which they won in 1998. BGSU is 4-3 all time in bowl games, having most recently lost to Tulsa in the 2007 GMAC Bowl. This will be their 4th bowl game of the 2000s.

This one should come down to Idaho finding a way to improve it’s shaky pass defense, but this bowl season has gone nothing like we expected so far, so who knows. Bowling Green brings in the #8 passing offense while Idaho is #11 in the same category, so if the weather is good, this one should be a shootout. The difference is found in the passing defense- Idaho’s is in the bottom 10 nationally, while Bowling Green is a top 50 team. A glance at the weather shows about 29 degrees at kickoff with a chance of snow, so we’ll see how the cold temps affect the offenses in this one- dealing with conditions could be the deciding factor in this game.

Thursday too will feature a couple more non-BCS games, but we’ll try to cover those later this week. In the meantime, enjoy the football and hopefully a quiet week between holidays.

Fringe Hangover, Wednesday, December 23

lowercase — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:44:25 +0000

Last night, BYU continued the process of boosting the MWC’s status by kicking Oregon State all over the Las Vegas Bowl. In the face of howling winds, BYU led most of the way to a 44-20 victory.

Tonight, Utah will look to keep that going as they take on Cal in the Poinsettia Bowl. This is Utah’s 8th bowl in the 2000s, and a return to the Poinsettia where they beat Navy in 2007. Utah is riding an 8 bowl game win streak, and hasn’t lost in the postseason since 1996.

Meanwhile, this will be Cal’s 7th straight bowl appearance after going 7 seasons without a game, and their first trip to the Poinsettia Bowl. They’re also on a 4 game bowl win streak after beating Miami in the Emerald Bowl last year.

Utah & Cal have played six times, with Utah winning only two of those. The Utes did claim their last meeting in 2003, 31-24.

And now, your links!

Looks at the Las Vegas Bowl from Salt Lake City and Corvalis

A solid Poinsettia preview from Graham Watson at ESPN, and one from the New York Times for good measure.

Bobby Hauck is leaving 1-AA finalist Montana for UNLV, which may not be a great idea, says Doc Sat.

Fringe Hangover- With Links! Tuesday, December 22

lowercase — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:39:30 +0000

I haven’t really done the link-sharing post thus far in the short history of this site, mainly because I hadn’t come up with a way to sift through 54 teams worth of web writing. But for now, I’ll be giving it a try here during bowl season since the games are pretty concentrated.

Tonight, we have the Las Vegas Bowl, featuring BYU and Oregon State. This is BYU’s 5th straight LV Bowl, with a 2-2 record in the previous four. They lost to Arizona 31-21 last year. This is their 6th bowl of the decade, and their overall bowl record is 9-17-1.

Oregon State is in the bowl for the first time since 2003, but this is their 8th bowl of the 2000s, and they have won 5 bowls in a row, beating Pitt last year in a 3-0 Sun Bowl outing. Oregon State is 8-4 all time in bowl play.

BYU is 3-5 all time vs. Oregon State, but the two have not played since 1986.

Two nights ago, Middle Tennessee beat Southern Miss to claim the New Orleans Bowl. While USM fans are looking for good bridges, the reality is that MTSU is a really good team, and has just finished up the best season in their history at 10-3. The Sun Belt is making big strides toward claiming its place with the rest of the non-BCS conferences as a place where legitimately good college football can be found on a regular basis.

Now, a few links:

The Salt Lake Tribune looks at BYU’s impressive Senior class.

Folks in Corvalis think that Utah is not holding up their end of the Gubernatorial Wager.

BYU and Oregon State blogs preview the festivities.

Other bowl stuff:

UCF will make a small profit off the St. Pete Bowl trip.

A hometown look at Wyoming’s surprising win in the New Mexico Bowl (slightly sappy).

As noted, folks in Hattiesburg- even their journalists- refuse to accept MTSU as a program worthy of beating their own and the meltdown is on.

MTSU’s nearby newspaper comes in with notes and tidbits on the Blue Raiders’ historic night.

Fringe Hangover: St. Pete Bowl Wrapup & Tonight’s Game

lowercase — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:07:58 +0000

The St. Petersburg bowl was, from everybody’s perspective but UCF’s, a great success. A sellout crowd of over 29,000 gave the game the atmosphere you might expect from a more prestigious bowl, and the game was fairly interesting for a couple reasons as it evolved. The first half was fairly competitive until it wound down, with UCF keeping pace with Rutgers and even taking some of the momentum as they closed the score to 21-17. Unfortunately, a pick-six handed Rutgers what would wind up being the winning touchdown.

The second half was simply a coming out party for freshman QB and RB Tom Savage and Mohamed Sanu. If these guys are as good as UCF made them look, Rutgers is loaded to be a Big East powerhouse in the very near future.

Rutgers won the game by blowing up UCF’s strengths- defense and a power running game. Through the third quarter, UCF had 20 rushes for 2 yards. Things improved slightly in garbage time, but Rutgers was on cruise control by then.

The game in a nutshell was defined when UCF scored to close the gap to 14 with just under 3 minutes to play- the onside kick attempt took a funny hop, right into the arms of a Rutgers returner who had 40 yards of open turf in front of him, which ran the score out to the final of 45-24.

Overall, the St. Pete bowl was impeccably well organized- the city provided a shuttle that ran fast and often to move around town, traffic exiting the area seemed to be fine, although I did lag behind the masses a bit, and the stadium staff really welcomed the football crowd- maybe just happy to get a day’s work in during December, but every last one of them was pleasant and helpful.

As for the implications, it’s hard to say exactly- UCF might have just been extra flat. But if the game is an indication of how the conferences stack up, the Big East could be beastly this winter, while Conference USA teams might be in some trouble- UCF was the #2 team in the league this year.

Elsewhere, Wyoming obliterated confidence pools around the country with their double OT win over Fresno State, and showed remarkable grit to pull it off- they stopped Fresno State on four consecutive goal-line attempts in the first OT period, only needing a FG to win it there. Their kicker missed, but the team responded immediately with a quick touchdown in the 2nd go-round. The defense held again, and Wyoming is now on a two-bowl winning streak.

Tonight, Southern Mississippi squares off against Middle Tennessee State in the New Orleans bowl on ESPN. As is often the case with these games, this game could come down to preparation and motivation, in which case it seems like MTSU could have an edge- looking for a record 10th win while Southern Miss is playing in the bowl for the 4th time in 6 seasons, and can’t be thrilled with a 7-5 season mark.

Phoenix Pub & Football On The Fringe St. Pete/NFL Live Blog!

lowercase — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 00:00:05 +0000

If all goes according to plan, then I’ll be live the St. Petersburg Bowl tonight when UCF squares off against Rutgers, and if it really goes according to plan, then I’ll be here live-blogging the event. Meanwhile, the NFL has some game going on too, so we’re joining up with the Phoenix Pub crew for a big ol’ liveblog. We’ll see if it works!

St. Pete Bowl & Saturday NFL

Fringe Hangover: It’s Bowl Season!

lowercase — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 14:32:09 +0000

After all this time, we’ve made it through to the college football postseason, and we’ve got 3 weeks of interesting matchups in bowl games big and small. They start today with two that ought to be pretty good. I’ve previewed them already, but here’s a couple more bits of tid:

Wyoming: 5-6 All time bowl record. One other bowl appearance this decade, beating UCLA in the 2004 Las Vegas Bowl.

Fresno State: 10-8 All time bowl record, 9th bowl appearance this decade, only missing out in 2006. Played in the New Mexico Bowl last year also, losing to Colorado State 40-35.

Wyoming vs. Fresno State: 3-3, but have not played since 1997. Home team won each matchup in the six year series.

UCF: 0-2 All time bowl record. Third bowl appearance this decade, last appearing in the 2007 Liberty Bowl (played before New Year’s that year- there technically was no 2008 LB as it moved to January), lost to Mississippi State 10-7.

Rutgers: 3-2 All time bowl record. 5th consecutive bowl appearance and 5th of the 2000s. Beat NC State in the Papajohns.com bowl last year 29-23.

UCF and Rutgers have never played. Rutgers has not played a C-USA team since the 2005 realignment. UCF has never beaten a Big East team, 0-5 since 2005 and 0-13 all time.

Tonight, we’re hoping to have a big Phoenix Pub/Football on the Fringe Live Blog from Tropicana Field – we’ll see if it works. The New Mexico Bowl kicks off at 4:30, and the St. Pete Bowl at 8, both on ESPN. Have a great first day of Bowl Season, and if you aren’t signed up for the bowl pick’em game, now is the time! http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/bowl, group ID 36923, password: phoenix

Bowl Week #1 Previews At the Pub

lowercase — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:11:41 +0000

Yup, I’ve posted my first batch of bowl previews over at The Phoenix Pub. I had thought about generating more in-depth ones to post here, but between the matchup mentions going on in the season reviews and the Pub posts, they’re about covered. Feel free to add other thoughts or insight into the first bowls of 2009.
More Season Reviews coming soon!

2009 Regular Season Review: Mid-American Conference

lowercase — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:32:18 +0000

The season did not start out looking good for the MAC- in week 1, the league went 3-10 out of conference, including Temple’s loss to 1-AA Villanova and several beatings at the hands of mid-level BCS conference schools. But things turned around for the league- Central Michigan beat Michigan State and Toledo beat Colorado in week 2, and the league race turned out to be very compelling down the stretch.

It wasn’t all glory, of course, the league’s bottom four teams had abysmal years, several of them with a chance to go winless, and ultimately one of them did. Last year’s league finalist fell hard too, and new coaches found the going tough this season.

So here are, once again, the reversed power rankings with a look at the 2009 season.

13. Eastern Michigan

Record: 0-12 (0-8). 6^th in MAC West

Biggest Win: Sadly, there weren’t any. Their closest game to a big win came in week 2, when (Outback Bowl bound) Northwestern needed a last second field goal to beat the Eagles.

Turning Point: It might have been when the schedule came out. They kicked off with Army, but then had 5 games against two Big 10 teams and then three of the best the MAC had to offer (Temple, CMU, and Kent State). Since they didn’t get it done against Army, Eastern spiraled out to an 0-6 start which is pretty tough to recover from in any case. Losing to then 0-7 Ball State seemed to put another nail in the coffin too.

Something to Build On: Their QB this year, Alex Gillett, was a freshman with promise, and their lead RB returns for his senior season next year. The two combined for a mid-MAC rushing attack this year, and if they can make improvements, could be successful there in 2010.

12. Miami

Record: 1-11 (1-7) 7^th in MAC East

Biggest Win: Toledo, 31-24. Yes, it was the only win they had, but it was a respectable one- Toledo had looked like the team to beat early on, and played good games down the stretch at times.

Turning Point: The first 150 minutes of the year. In two and a half games, the Redhawks scored zero points. It was pretty clear that Miami was in some trouble then.

Something to Build On: Miami can look and find a lot of momentum coming down the end of the year- their win over Toledo, a two point loss to Temple, and a couple of other respectable games suggest that the worst should be behind them for now.

11. Akron

Record: 3-9 (2-6) 6^th in MAC East

Biggest Win: Kent State, 28-20. Their surprising win over Kent State derailed the Flashes path to the conference title game, and was their first win over a 1-A school this year.

Turning Point: I’ll put it as the loss to Buffalo- at that point, their losses were to a pair of Big 10 teams and the two future conference finalists. Buffalo, though, had struggled too, and was Akron’s last chance to get something going for a while, schedule-wise.

Something to Build On: Well, they are getting a new coach- Rob Ianello, a former Notre Dame assistant. He can look at the Kent State and Eastern Michigan wins as evidence that his squad can win games against motivated teams, and start the turnaround process on a 1 game winning streak.

10. Ball State

Record: 2-10 (2-6) 5^th in MAC West

Biggest Win: Western Michigan, 22-17. They denied Western’s chance to reach bowl eligibility (although it probably wouldn’t have gotten them anywhere) and avoided being a 1-win team.

Turning Point: Probably week 1, when the Cardinals lost to a bad North Texas team at home. It was a clear sign that this was not the 12-0 regular season they had last year.

Something to Build On: They probably aren’t as bad as their record shows- they had boatloads of close losses- 7, 7, 7, 5, 4, 3, 6- these are games that could have been different with better bounces- the bounces they had to get in 2008 for the year they had.

Here we have a pretty big gap, from the 0-3 win group up to a pack of 5 win teams, who had much more tolerable seasons, although some certainly failed to live up to their promise.

9. Western Michigan

Record: 5-7 (4-4) 3^rd in MAC West

Biggest Win: While they had a slightly better conference record than a team I put ahead of them, WMU had no signature wins, beating nobody out of conference save 1-AA Hofstra and beating no teams with a winning record. Beating Toledo when they were still somewhat hot is probably their best win.

Turning Point: Losing to Kent State when they were sitting at 4-4 with Eastern Michigan and Ball State still on the board- win that and they’re very much in the bowl hunt.

Something to Build On: This is a tough one- this was supposed to be WMU’s year, with Senior QB Tim Hiller getting some pre-season attention nationally, and a senior RB too. I don’t know enough about the depth chart up there to have any idea if they have talent to replace those guys, but they have a system that usually works, so maybe next year they can just reload and improve.

8. Kent State

Record: 5-7 (4-4) 4^th in MAC East

Biggest Win: Ohio, 20-11. For this week and one more, Kent State actually controlled its own destiny in the MAC and could have won its way to the championship game.

Turning Point: Losing to Akron two weeks after the Ohio win. From there, the season spiraled away with losses to Temple and Buffalo, knocking them out of any contention for the postseason.

Something to Build On: This year is still an improvement on the 3 and 4 win years in ’07 and ’08, and they did it with a Freshman QB and Sophomore RB, so there’s a lot to look forward to on offense there. Kent State should be in the MAC East mix again in 2010.

7. Toledo

Record: 5-7 (3-5) 4^th in MAC West

Biggest Win: Colorado, 54-38. The Rockets looked like world-beaters that night, dismantling CU with an offensive assault. Giving up the 38 should probably have been a warning sign, but on that night, it didn’t seem like anyone in the MAC could keep up.

Turning Point: Losing to Western Michigan 58-26. After losing to Ohio State, Toledo bounced back with two wins over non-BCS squads and looked to be rolling again, only to run into the otherwise-unimpressive Broncos. They only won two more games after that.

Something to Build On: They’re losing senior QB Aaron Opelt, but his leading receiver this year was a freshman. If they can keep the system in place, there’s no reason to think their passing attack should drop way off from this year. They’ll still need a defense, but the offense should keep them in games.

6. Buffalo

Record: 5-7 (3-5) 5^th in MAC East

Biggest Win: At UTEP, 23-17. The Bulls started their season across the country beating a UTEP team that had its share of pre-season expectations (and later beat Houston). It would up being a while before Buffalo picked up another win, but winning at UTEP is never easy.

Turning Point: Buffalo came to life after they beat 1-AA Gardner-Webb 40-3. From there, they picked up another win, did lose three more by a combined 7 points, then won their last two games- by far the strongest finish of any of the 5-7 bunch.

Something to Build On: The Bulls are going to have to hire a new coach after Turner Gill was named the head coach at Kansas this week. It will be interesting to see if they can bring someone of his caliber in to continue what he’s built, considering the school had spent years in the cellar before that. The talent is there, since Buffalo is keeping their key skill players another year.

Now we get into the upper third of the MAC this year- the winning teams, the ones all headed for bowls thanks to the ACC and Big 10 not filling up their slots.

5. Northern Illinois

Record: 7-5 (5-3) 2^nd in MAC West

Biggest Win: At Purdue, 28-21. Purdue didn’t have a great season, but they did knock off Ohio State later on, and division rival Toledo wasn’t able to beat them earlier in the year. The win set the Huskies on a 7 of 9 win run, setting them up for a shot at the league title.

Turning Point: Besides the Purdue win setting off good things, their loss to Ohio untracked their season a bit down the stretch. They then lost to Central Michigan in the finale to wind up 7-5. Luckily, there were bowl bids out there for them, but it wasn’t a sure thing until late in the day on Selection Sunday.

Bowl Matchup: The Huskies will take on South Florida in the International Bowl on January 2. South Florida comes in with an electric young QB that can annihilate anyone with the long ball, although the Bulls have been inconsistent since starting out hot and beating Florida State in the early season.

4. Bowling Green

Record: 7-5 (6-2) 3^rd in MAC East

Biggest Win: Troy, 31-14. The MAC lost every game to the Sun Belt last year, and BGSU went out and throttled their champion to kick off the season. Of course, they then lost four games in a row, but they recovered.

Turning Point: Beating Kent State 36-35 set off a 6-out-of-7 winning run to end the year, pushing them into the bowl mix.

Bowl Matchup: The Falcons travel west to face Idaho on the blue turf in the Humanitarian Bowl on December 30. Idaho mirrors Bowling Green a bit, with an effective passing game but sometimes suspect defense. If the weather is decent, this should be a high-flying affair, and if it’s not: snow game chaos.

3. Temple

Record: 9-3 (7-1) 2^nd in MAC East

Biggest Win: At Navy, 27-24. Temple rebounded from a bad start and steamrolled the bottom half of the MAC, but when they were able to beat Navy, people started noticing and Temple’s season gained some legitimacy.

Turning Point: Temple started out with that loss to Villanova (who’s in the 1-AA Final this weekend) and a sound beating by Penn State, but turned around to hammer Buffalo 37-13 and launch their 9 game winning streak.

Bowl Matchup: The Owls drew one of the more appealing MAC bowls this year by facing off against UCLA in the EagleBank bowl in Washington, DC on December 29. I won’t pretend to know much about UCLA, but they went 3-9 in the Pac-10, relying on wins over San Diego State, Tennessee, and Kansas State to get to bowl eligible this year. Temple’s first bowl game in ages is just down the road and in an open-air stadium, so this should be a very favorable environment for the Owls.

2. Ohio

Record: 9-4 (7-1) 1^st in MAC East

Biggest Win: Temple, 35-17, in the final game of the regular season. The win sent Ohio to the championship game and guaranteed them a bowl berth. Honorable mention goes to a 31-30 OT win over North Texas that got their season going in week 2.

Turning Point: Beating Bowling Green when they sat at 2-2 started off a 7 of 8 game run to finish the season with their 9 wins.

Bowl Matchup: Ohio will head back to Detroit to play 6-6 Marshall in the Little Caesar’s Bowl on December 26. Marshall comes in without their head coach, and having lost three of their last four down the stretch, falling out of the C-USA East race along the way. Their key strength is their ground attack, led by the appropriately named Darius Marshall. They have the talent to make this a good game, but Ohio should have the edge in this one.

1. Central Michigan

Record: 11-2 (8-0) 1^st Place MAC West

Biggest Win: Aside from winning the conference championship game, their dramatic 29-27 win over Michigan State is the MAC’s biggest win all year. It set the stage for a 7 game win streak, with only Boston College interrupting their run of victories through the end of the year.

Turning Point: Michigan State certainly counts, but beating Toledo handily after that loss to Boston College broke up their streak showed that CMU was still on track and on their way to the postseason.

Bowl Matchup: If TCU-Boise is the non-BCS world championship, then CMU-Troy is at least the non-BCS East finals. Troy recovered from their loss to Bowling Green and won 9 games, including all 8 in the Sun Belt, and look to give Central Michigan a fight in the GMAC bowl in Mobile, AL on January 6.

2009 Regular Season Review: Mountain West

lowercase — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:21:35 +0000

The 2008 Season was a difficult one to top for the Mountain West, but they are poised to do so as the bowl season arrives. TCU has climbed to never-before-seen heights for a non-BCS school in the modern era, while Utah and BYU have once again put together very good seasons. Wyoming and UNLV made modest turnarounds, and even teams that struggled can find a highlight or two from the season to try and build on.

So here, in reverse order of my final regular season power ranking, is a look at the 2009 Mountain West season.

9. Colorado State

Record: 3-9 (0-8)

Fringe Preseason Power Rank: 5

Biggest Win: At Colorado, 23-17. Colorado turned out to be terrible through the first half of the season, but a rare road win against the Buffalos is worth celebrating, and celebrate they did, when the visiting Rams fans stormed the field. A 35-20 win over Nevada gets honorable mention.

Season Story: After a 3-0 start, CSU had the gauntlet of BYU, Idaho, Utah, and TCU in four weeks. They never recovered and wound up losing the rest of their games.

Turning Point: Losing to San Diego State when the Rams had a chance to get back to 4-4 and finish strong.

Something to Build On: Well, their rushing attack actually fared well, right in the middle both in the league and nationally, and both of their go-to backs are set to return for their senior seasons in 2010. It may still be a rebuilding year, with their QB and top receiver graduating, but at least they aren’t losing all of their skill players.

8. New Mexico

Record: 1-11 (1-7)

Fringe Preseason Power Rank: 8

Biggest Win: Colorado State, 29-27. A last minute field goal kept the Lobos from a winless season, because a win certainly wasn’t coming against TCU the next week (they lost 51-10).

Season Story: Brand new coach punches assistant, doesn’t get fired, team loses a lot of games. I think that about covers it.

Turning Point: After getting blown out by three good but not great teams to start the year, they lost 20-17 to New Mexico State. It was downhill from there, with only a couple more close losses and the win over CSU to make the end of the year bearable.

Something to Build On: These guys have a long way to go, but if coach Mike Locksley is retained, hopefully the drama of this summer is faded before 2010 rolls around. They held BYU to a 5 point win, then beat Colorado State, so they do have some positive results, despite the pounding they took by a motivated TCU team.

7. San Diego State

Record: 4-8 (2-6)

Fringe Preseason Power Rank: 9

Biggest Win: New Mexico, 23-20. SDSU didn’t really notch any wins over powerhouse schools, but the win over New Mexico got the Aztecs up to 4-4 and cleared a path to a bowl game. Unfortunately, it was their last win of the season, and postseason play never materialized.

Turning Point: After reaching that 4-4 mark, a loss to TCU was expected, but the season hinged on a game against also 4-5 Wyoming, with the loser having almost no chance to get bowl eligible. San Diego State gave away a 27-6 4^th quarter lead and lost the game 30-27. It happened again in the final game, too, watching a 24-7 lead evaporate in another loss.

Something to Build On: Sophomore QB Ryan Lindley is a rising star- he guided the Aztecs to the second best passing offense numbers in the MWC and 31^st nationally. If he keeps improving, there’s a lot to look forward to in his career.

6. UNLV

Record: 5-7 (3-5)

Fringe Preseason Power Rank: 6

Biggest Win: Hawaii, 34-33. Hawaii had just manhandled Washington State and looked to be one of the premier teams in the WAC, while UNLV was 1-1 after playing Oregon State close in week 2. After beating Hawaii, UNLV looked to be living up to the pre-season buzz.

Turning Point: Probably the 63-28 beating at the hands of Nevada. The Rebels had just lost a 3 point game to Wyoming and then had BYU, Utah, and TCU as 3 of the next 4- they needed this win, and they got blown out instead. They came through the worst of their schedule at 3-6, and didn’t have what they needed to win their way through to a bowl game.

Something to Build On: The whole season. UNLV had notched four consecutive two-win seasons, so while they had hoped to finish a couple spots higher in the league, this still stands as a noteworthy turnaround. They did dismiss coach Mike Sanford, and have not named a replacement yet, so it will be up to the new hire to build on the momentum of 2009.

5. Wyoming

Record: 6-6 (4-4)

Fringe Preseason Power Rank: 7

Biggest Win: Colorado State, 17-16. Yes, CSU collapsed down the stretch, but Wyoming needed to win this big rivalry game, on the road, to advance to bowl eligibility. It took a 3-lead-change fourth quarter to pull it off. A 30-28 cross country win at Florida Atlantic is an honorable mention.

Turning Point: Beating UNLV at home in week 4 tipped off a 3 game win streak that put the Cowboys at 4-2 before the worst of their schedule kicked in, allowing them to survive a string of losses to the better conference teams and still push on to bowl eligibility.

Bowl Preview: New Mexico Bowl vs. Fresno State, December 19. Fresno is coming in off a 9-4 season, capped by a wild win over Illinois in the last week. Fresno is rightfully set as pretty big favorites, but Wyoming has proven that they can stay in games with more loaded teams. If they play a near-perfect game, they’ll have a chance (full preview of the game coming this week).

4. Air Force

Record: 7-5 (5-3)

Fringe Preseason Power Rank: 4

Biggest Win: Wyoming, 10-0. In a way, this was the Falcons’ least impressive game through the middle portion of the year- filled with mistakes and penalties, and scoreless at halftime, but they pushed through to pick up an important win. They pushed Utah to overtime the next week, then rattled off three straight wins to total their seven for the year.

Turning Point: The turning point for Air Force may have actually been a loss. In a 20-17 defeat, AFA was the only team all year to give TCU a legitimate scare, and it set the Falcons up for a 4 out of 5 win run, including that game against Wyoming.

Bowl Preview: Air Force is returning to the Armed Forces Bowl (December 31) yet again, and will face off with Houston this year. Houston brings in the top rated offense in the country, and will present a big challenge for the Air Force defense. The good news is that the Cougar defense is terrible, so if the Falcons can keep the ball moving, they’ll be in the game almost no matter what.

3. Utah

Record: 9-3 (6-2), #23 in Coaches & AP Polls

Fringe Preseason Power Rank: 3

Biggest Win: Louisville, 30-14. Utah did lose to the three top-25 teams it played this year, but did beat their second BCS conference opponent when the Cardinals came to town.

Turning Point: Utah, BYU, and TCU certainly measure their seasons differently than the other teams in the league do- any of the others would be ecstatic with a 6-2 league record, but finishing third among the big three is a disappointment for Utah. With that in mind, Utah’s turning point would have to be the blowout at the hands of TCU. Utah came in on a six game win streak of their own and expected to compete, but TCU controlled the game from the word go.

Bowl Preview: Utah is back in the Poinsettia bowl this year, facing off against Cal (December 23). As of this writing, no word yet on whether Cal’s star tailback, Jahvid Best, will be in the game- still recovering from a frightening injury earlier in the season. Either way, the game will be a chance at redemption for Utah, who hasn’t beaten a powerhouse team yet in 2009.

2. BYU

Record: 10-2 (7-1), 14/15 in Polls.

Fringe Preseason Power Rank: 2

Biggest Win: Oklahoma, 14-13. The Sooners had a down year, but it can be easily argued that BYU had a hand in that, and they did push Texas to the limit when most of their team was healthy. BYU had to go into hostile territory and came away with a big win, setting up the MWC for an outstanding season.

Turning Point: The turning point for BYU’s season was the still-head-scratching FSU loss. If BYU hadn’t fallen apart there, their game against TCU would have been an October clash of undefeateds and BYU could have wound up potentially 11-1 and in the top ten again, even if the TCU game played out the same.

Bowl Preview: It’s yet another trip to the Las Vegas Bowl for the Cougars, where they’ll take on #18 Oregon State. It’s only the fourth bowl game of the season (December 22), but features two well-balanced teams in a nice primetime matchup.

1. TCU

Record: 12-0 (8-0), #3 in both polls.

Fringe Preseason Power Rank: 1

Biggest Win: Both Utah and BYU were big wins, but I’m going to say that the Clemson win was just as important in taking their place on the national stage. With that win, TCU can point out that they knocked off the eventual ACC runner-up, on the road and in foul weather.

Turning Point: The BYU blowout established TCU as an elite team regardless of conference, setting the table for a frantic run to the finish where 55-28 was the closest game the Horned Frogs saw again from that point.

Bowl Preview: I’m not thrilled that TCU got paired with Boise State, for reasons that are well documented by lots of great writers, but it should at least be a good game. TCU will have to rein in Boise’s Kellen Moore, who will be looking to prove that Boise can play with anyone, despite having a softer schedule than the rest of the undefeateds.

Fringe Hangover: All Quiet on the Fringy Front

lowercase — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:12:59 +0000

Just a quick note to mention that the rest of the week will remain pretty quiet out here. Enjoy your week away, or check out Army-Navy on Saturday if you need a fix to get you through to Bowl Season. Personal matters are pulling me away from the desk through the end of the week or so, but my Pub column should run at its normal time tomorrow and I’ll be back next week to recap the regular season conference by conference, and then we’ll start previewing bowl games on Friday or Saturday. As always, the twitter and RSS feeds will let you know when stuff starts popping up. Enjoy the rest of your week, and thanks for stopping in.