College Football Rankings’ Next 5: BCS Standings Could Be Cracked By More Mid-Majors
Assessing the pitfalls and fortunes of the top five teams in the “also receiving votes” category that serves as college football’s casting couch. This week: Nevada, Hawaii, and East Carolina threaten to join Boise State, Utah, and TCU in the lofty environs of the BCS standings.
Where They’re At: 6-1, and coming off a bye after a surprising loss at Hawaii. First team in the “Also Receiving Votes” category in both the AP and Coaches’ Polls. No. 24 in the BCS, thanks in no small part to that bye.
What Went Wrong: The aforementioned stumble in the islands, plus the usual voter overreaction that comes with weak-scheduled one-loss mid-major teams yet seems to never damage their weak-scheduling Big Six peers quite so badly.
What’s Next: Redemption, surely. Two can’t miss dates with Utah State and Idaho take the ‘Pack into November.
• Hawaii
Where They’re At: 6-2; second team waiting in both major polls and BCS.
What Went Wrong: One explicable loss to USC to open the season and one much less-explicable loss at Colorado put the Warriors in the voting cellar, but a five-game win streak, including a home win over then-No. 19 Nevada, has put them within striking distance of actual BCS standing.
What’s Next: What should be a pushover game with Idaho, and then the monster: The Warriors travel to Boise State on Nov. 6.
• Michigan
Where They're At: 5-2, which is only good for seventh place in this year's one-loss-happy Big Ten. Third team waiting in the AP Poll; No. 25 in the Coaches' Poll.
What Went Wrong: Two straight losses to ranked teams have taken the Wolverines down a peg or ten, but they remain in relatively good standing, thanks largely to them being Michigan and none of the Coaches' Poll voters watching all that much football that doesn't directly concern their teams.
What's Next: Three games the Wolverines are certainly capable of winning, particularly if Denard Robinson can get healthy and stay that way (at Penn State, Illinois, and at Purdue) before the season-closing gauntlet of Wisconsin and Ohio State.
• East Carolina
Where They’re At: 5-2, and leading C-USA East after eight weeks of play. Eighth in line behind ranked teams in the AP Poll, but fourth in the Coaches’ Poll waiting room with 20 votes.
What Went Wrong: The Purple Pirates have one of the fiercest schedules of any mid-major team, thanks to geographical rivalries with ACC schools, but they lost their first two games against Big Six competition (Virginia Tech and UNC), and neither was particularly close.
What’s Next: A win over NC State in Week 7 got ECU back on an upward trajectory, but their next two opponents (UCF and Navy) should put up quite a bit of fight. Tread warily.
• West Virginia
Where They’re At: 5-2 and experiencing a bit of a tumble after losing their Homecoming game to Syracuse. The Mountaineers garnered a scant 8 votes from AP voters and 18 from the coaches.
What Went Wrong: Losing to Syracuse shouldn’t carry quite the stigma that it did in years past (the Orange are 5-2 themselves), but with the rest of the Big East’s top teams still ahead on the ‘Eers’ schedule, they have to take their lumps.
What’s Next: Five straight conference games, but the first should be a gimme: A trip to 3-4 UConn is not to be feared in 2010.
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