The Underdogs Poll is a weekly ranking of college football's top non-power FBS teams. Voters from SB Nation sites Bull Run, Down The Drive, Hustle Belt, Miner Rush, Mountain West Connection, The UConn Blog, Underdog Dynasty, Vanquish The Foe, and Voodoo Five.
2014 Underdogs Poll, Week 9: The Mountain West is really good
The top two teams remain the same, but multiple teams from the same division make their cases for the MWC.
Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
We’re back! After missing Week 8, the Underdogs Poll is back with quite possibly the biggest shakeup in the rankings since Week 1.
| RANK | TEAM | POINTS | PREVIOUS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | East Carolina (16) | 282 | 1 |
| 2 | Marshall (3) | 266 | 2 |
| 3 | Colorado State | 217 | 5 |
| 4 | Boise State | 206 | 6 |
| 5 | UCF | 151 | 11 |
| 6 | Georgia Southern | 144 | 12 |
| 7 | Northern Illinois | 142 | 4 |
| 8 | BYU | 126 | 3 |
| 9 | Memphis | 81 | 7 |
| 10 | Air Force | 80 | 8 |
| 11 | Utah State | 73 | 15 |
| T-12 | Temple | 68 | 10 |
| T-12 | Nevada | 68 | 9 |
| 14 | Arkansas State | 61 | 18 |
| 15 | Houston | 60 | 24 |
| Dropped Out: Cincinnati, Middle Tennessee | Others Receiving Votes: Middle Tennessee (56), Toledo (48), Louisiana Tech (35), Cincinnati (33), Bowling Green (20), San Diego State (20), Navy (17), Wyoming (6), WKU (5), UAB (4), Akron (4), SJSU (3), South Alabama (3), Fresno State (1) | |||
ECU and Marshall are still the top dogs in this race as they continue to dismantle opponents. The Herd, for all the knocks on their weak schedule, are doing exactly what they need to do to make up ground on ECU: obliterate teams. It helps when Rakeem Cato, who just broke the record for most consecutive games with a touchdown pass, is your field general.
But there’s a new team making its way up the poll and breathing down ECU and Marshall’s necks. The Colorado State Rams are No. 3 this week thanks to a win over a solid Utah State squad (No. 11 on our poll). They’re not flashy, but with a pair of wins over power-conference members Boston College and Colorado, plus a mostly favorable schedule remaining, this team could very well wind up going 11-1 on the season.
Who’s that one loss to? Boise State, No. 4, which beat the Rams 37-24 way back on Sept. 6. So yes, it’s entirely possible that Colorado State could wind up in the No. 1 spot on this poll, but not even get to play in the MWC title game.
We’re getting to the point where we’re unlikely to see teams shoot up the rankings into the top five, but with several weeks of conference play left, these lower ranked teams can still wreck it for the Boise State’s and ECU’s of this world.
So bring on the chaos.
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