In honor of the holiday, and in hopes that most of us won’t have to be at the computer much tomorrow, we’re taking an early, abbreviated look around the non-BCS universe today.  First off, though, a tip of the cap to the folks in the retail, service, and phone desk job positions where you’ll spend Friday (and in some cases, Thursday), on the grind so the rest of us can fill up our tanks, get a meal or a beer, buy some worthless crap, or report our insurance claims during our four day weekend.  Much respect.

Now, on to the football.  We’re going to play Football Team Thanksgiving: what some of our non-BCS teams are, or hope to be, thankful for:

TCU: Thankful for being awesome, their shiny new MWC title, and that New Mexico got their one win out of the way against Colorado State last week.  Now they can roll over as expected, setting TCU up for their first BCS bowl bid.  Would be very thankful if Texas A&M beat Texas tomorrow to open the door, at least a little, to a shot at the national title.

Boise State: Thankful that Nevada has turned it around, currently riding an 8 game win streak that includes 5 games of 50 points or more, including 63, 70, 62, and 63 point games.  That might make this weekend’s game, which will decide the WAC champ, a little harder, but it also helps it count as a somewhat notable victory.  Would also be very thankful if Oklahoma would beat Oklahoma State this weekend to clear a path into the BCS.

Houston: Thankful that Marshall beat Southern Methodist last week, putting them back in control of their destiny and only needing to beat Rice to advance to the championship game.  Assuming they get there, they’ll play the winner of East Carolina vs. Southern Miss- ECU would be on the road, Southern Miss would be at home.

Troy: Thankful for the rest of the Sun Belt not being as good as they are, as they have clinched their 4th straight outright or shared conference title.  Troy is 25-3 in the Belt since 2006.

Central Michigan: Thankful for Ohio beating Northern Illinois, which clinches MAC West for CMU and takes the pressure off their game with the Huskies on Friday.  They’ll face the winner of Temple and Ohio.

This Week:

I mentioned most of them above, but here’s your timetable and the implications for the big non-BCS games this weekend:

8 PM Thursday: Texas at Texas A&M,  ESPN- Not a non-BCS game, but the last chance for someone to get out of the way for TCU or Cincinnati. And the only college game on.

11 AM Friday: Temple at Ohio, ESPNU- MAC East championship game.  Winner goes to Detroit, loser has to cross their fingers for a bowl bid.

2 PM Friday: Wyoming at Colorado State, Mtn.- Wyoming’s last chance to get to a bowl game, CSU’s only chance to save a disastrous season.  3-0 to start things off (beating Colorado and Nevada), 0-8 since then.  There is a bowl available for Wyoming if they get the job done Friday. (ok, it’s not that big, but I’m just throwing it out there in case the Iron Bowl is a dud.)

10 PM Friday: Nevada at Boise State, ESPN2- This should be a barnburner, and the winner is the WAC champion.  If Boise State survives, they might still need some help to get to a BCS game.  Right now, it looks like there are two spots available to split between BSU, Okie State, and either Penn State or Iowa.  If it comes down to money, BSU could be on the outside again.

12:30 PM Saturday: Southern Miss at East Carolina, CBS College- This one is for C-USA East.  If ECU wins, the conference title game will be on their turf.  If Southern Miss loses, it’s back to Houston for a rematch of their 50-43 shootout a few weeks ago.

5:00 PM Saturday: Utah at BYU, Mtn/CBSC- The “Holy War,” which will decide 2nd place in the MWC, although it won’t likely impact bowl distribution this year.

Non-BCS Top 25

		Record	This Wk	Last Wk
1	TCU	11-0	New Mexico	d. Wyoming
2	Boise State	11-0	Nevada	d. Utah State
3	Nevada	8-3	at Boise State	d. New Mexico State
4	BYU	9-2	Utah	d. Air Force
5	Temple	9-2	at Ohio	d. Kent State
6	Houston	9-2	Rice	d. Memphis
7	Navy	8-3	at Hawaii	bye
8	Utah	9-2	at BYU	d. San Diego State
9	Central Michigan	9-2	Northern Illinois	d. Ball State
10	East Carolina	7-4	Southern Miss	d. UAB
11	Fresno State	7-4	bye	d. Louisiana Tech
12	Idaho	7-4	Utah State	bye
13	Troy	8-3	at Louisiana Lafayette	d. Florida Atlantic
14	Ohio	8-3	Temple	d. Northern Illinois
15	Southern Miss	7-4	at East Carolina	d. Tulsa
16	UCF	7-4	at UAB	d. Tulane
17	Air Force	7-5	season finished	loss to BYU
18	Northern Illinois	7-4	at Central Michigan	loss to Ohio
19	Middle Tennessee State	8-3	at Louisiana Monroe	d. Arkansas State
20	Bowling Green	6-5	Toledo	d. Akron
21	Marshall	6-5	at UTEP	d. SMU
22	SMU	6-5	Tulane	loss to Marshall
23	Wyoming	5-6	at Colorado State	loss to TCU
24	Louisiana Lafayette	6-5	Troy	d. Louisiana Monroe
25	Louisiana Monroe	6-5	Middle Tennessee State	loss to La-Lafayette

Not a lot of movement last week as things are shaking out pretty evenly now, but we’ll keep watching and keep ranking.  That’s all for this week- have a great holiday, enjoy the food and the football, and next week we’ll take a look at some new conference and division champions, and preview the MAC & CUSA championship games.

Tags: bcs busters, Boise State, college football, Football on the Fringe, lowercase, TCU
Categories: Domestics

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