The Underdogs Poll is a weekly ranking of college football's top non-power FBS teams. Voters come from SB Nation sites Bull Run, Hustle Belt, Miner Rush, Mountain West Connection, Underdog Dynasty, Vanquish The Foe, and Voodoo Five.
Boise State representing the Underdogs Poll in the Fiesta Bowl
Happy bowl season!
The regular season is over. The Champions have been crowned. But we still have some work to do before we can crown a champion of the Underdogs.
| RANK | TEAM | POINTS | PREVIOUS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boise State (16) | 255 | 1 |
| 2 | Colorado State | 220 | 2 |
| 3 | Marshall (1) | 215 | 5 |
| 4 | Memphis | 190 | 3 |
| 5 | NIU | 188 | 4 |
| 6 | UCF | 133 | 9 |
| 7 | Air Force | 129 | 6 |
| 8 | Utah State | 118 | 7 |
| 9 | Cincinnati | 117 | 10 |
| 10 | BYU | 100 | 12 |
| 11 | ECU | 91 | 8 |
| 12 | Georgia Southern | 83 | 11 |
| 13 | Louisiana Tech | 74 | 14 |
| 14 | Toledo | 48 | 13 |
| 15 | WMU | 23 | 15 |
| Others receiving votes: Navy (15), Nevada (11), BGSU (10), App. State (3), SDSU (3), UL Lafayette (3), UTEP (2), UAB (1) Houston (1), Rice (1) | |||
Boise State beat Fresno State for the Mountain West title by a pair of scores, but actually lost a first-place vote this week -- to Marshall. The Thundering Herd tumbled dramatically a week ago after falling to Western Kentucky in OT, but apparently a narrow win over a solid Louisiana Tech squad for the C-USA title was enough to restore some faith. Northern Illinois, which pummeled Bowling Green in the MAC Championship, wasn’t as lucky.
Anyway, it all still worked out for the blue Broncos of Boise, as they get the one spot in a New Year’s Six bowl that was reserved for an Underdog squad. Their reward? A western showdown with Arizona in the Fiesta Bowl.
While it’s a shame we won’t have some sort of final playoff to crown the king of the Underdogs, we will have quite a few good matchups between ranked teams this bowl season. Here’s a look at every game featuring an Underdogs team that could shake up the final poll:
| Team | vs. Team | Bowl | Date | Time (ET) | Channel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 17 Nevada | No. 21 LA-Lafayette | New Orleans Bowl | 12/20/2014 | 11:00 a.m. | ESPN |
| No. 8 Utah State | No. 22 UTEP | New Mexico Bowl | 12/20/2014 | 2:20 p.m. | ESPN |
| Utah | No. 2 Colorado State | Las Vegas Bowl | 12/20/2014 | 3:30 p.m. | ABC |
| No. 15 WMU | No. 7 Air Force | Famous Idaho Potato Bowl | 12/20/2014 | 5:45 p.m. | ESPN |
| South Alabama | No. 18 BGSU | Camellia Bowl | 12/20/2014 | 9:15 p.m. | ESPN |
| No. 10 BYU | No. 4 Memphis | Miami Beach Bowl | 12/22/2014 | 2:00 p.m. | ESPN |
| No. 3 Marshall | No. 5 NIU | Boca Raton Bowl | 12/23/2014 | 6:00 p.m. | ESPN |
| No.16 Navy | No. 20 SDSU | Poinsettia Bowl | 12/23/2014 | 9:30 p.m. | ESPN |
| Illinois | No. 13 Louisiana Tech | Heart of Dallas Bowl | 12/26/2014 | 1:00 p.m. | ESPN |
| NC State | No. 6 UCF | Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl | 12/26/2014 | 8:00 p.m. | ESPN |
| No. 9 Cincinnati | Virginia Tech | Military Bowl | 12/27/2014 | 1 p.m. | ESPN |
| No. 1 Boise State | Arizona | Fiesta Bowl | 12/31/2014 | 4:00 p.m. | ESPN |
| No. 24 Houston | Pittsburgh | Armed Forces Bowl | 1/2/2015 | Noon | ESPN |
| No. 11 ECU | Florida | Birmingham Bowl | 1/3/2015 | Noon | ESPN |
| No. 14 Toledo | Arkansas State | GoDaddy Bowl | 1/4/2014 | 9:00 p.m. | ESPN |
Speaking of the final poll, like you, we’ll be glued to ESPN’s family of networks (monopoly on bowls, right?) for the next few weeks, so there will not be another edition -- the final edition of this season -- until after we all watch Toledo vs. Arkansas State in a game named after an internet company. God bless college football bowl season.
See you all in 2015.
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