Rank
1 Mount Union (36) 8-0 996
2 Wisconsin-Whitewater (4) 8-0 963
3 Saint John's (Minn.) 9-0 916
4 Wesley 8-0 871
5 SUNY Cortland 8-0 791
6 Central (Iowa) 8-0 764
7 Occidental 7-0 660
8 Wilkes 8-0 653
9 Whitworth 8-0 624
10 Capital 7-1 603
11 Hardin-Simmons 6-1 556
12 Wisconsin-La Crosse 5-1 528
13 Ithaca 7-1 471
14 Mary Hardin-Baylor 6-2 466
15 Mount St. Joseph 8-0 463
16 Hobart 7-0 423
17 Trinity (Texas) 7-1 334
18 Concordia (Wis.) 9-0 301
19 St. John Fisher 8-1 266
20 Wheaton (Ill.) 7-1 234
21 Rowan 5-2 223
22 St. Norbert 9-0 212
23 Linfield 5-2 146
24 Springfield 7-1 130
25 Washington & Jefferson 7-1 95

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Carnegie-Mellon 85, Wartburg 57, Curry 44, Union (N.Y.) 34, Williams 24, Bethel (Minn.) 20, Baldwin-Wallace 15, Christopher Newport 14, North Central (Ill.) 7, Trinity (Conn.) 6, Dickinson 4, Franklin 1.
DROPPED OUT: Christopher Newport (20).



Rank
1 Grand Valley State (26) 9-0 697
2 Northwest Missouri State (1) 9-0 669
3 North Alabama (1) 8-0 649
4 North Carolina Central 9-0 590
5 Shepherd 8-0 553
6 Bloomsburg 8-1 551
7 Nebraska-Omaha 7-1 523
8 Pittsburg State 8-1 488
9 Chadron State 9-0 481
10 North Dakota 7-1 467
11 Newberry 9-0 410
12 West Texas A&M 8-1 392
13 Missouri Western 8-1 371
14 Northwood 7-1 305
15 Tiffin 9-0 288
16 Valdosta State 6-2 245
17 Delta State 7-2 236
18 Indiana (Pa.) 7-1 223
19 Abilene Christian 7-1 217
20 South Dakota 7-2 216
21 Elizabeth City State 8-1 140
22 Winona State 7-2 105
23 Midwestern State 7-2 91
24 Wingate 7-2 60
25 C.W. Post 7-2 43

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Bemidji St. 17, California (Pa.) 15, Lane 14, Arkansas Tech 10, Carson-Newman 10, Presbyterian 6, Harding 5, Bryant 4, Kentucky St. 4, St. Joseph's 3, Tarleton St. 2.
DROPPED OUT: Carson-Newman (21), Lane (22).


The Race for the Heisman seems to be in cruise control right now. No one making any big mistakes or big moves to make any dent in the race. But as we close in on the end of the year and some big conference games and title games, the race can take a twist with a huge national TV performance.

1. Troy Smith - Smith showed he can still make people miss with his legs as well as throw the ball all over the field. He put on an exhibition for the voters as the Gophers were no match for the Buckeyes. This is his race right now to lose.

2. Steve Slaton - Slaton had the week off before the game that will define his Heisman chances for this year as well as next. The Mountaineers travel to Papa John’s Stadium to play Louisville on Thursday night, and if Slaton can have a big game he will be the front runner for the 2007 race.

3. Brady Quinn - Quinn and Notre Dame just doesn’t wow me anymore. I’m not sure if the reason is their coach complaining about where they are ranked in the polls, or the fact that they just are not as good as hyped. Quinn threw all over the Midshipmen, next up are the reeling Tar Heels of North Carolina.

4. Michael Hart - Hart had another good game against Northwestern running for 95 yards. He could have had more but the Wolverines wanted to get his backup some carries and keep Hart healthy for the pre-BCS Title game against the Buckeyes.

5. Marshawn Lynch - Lynch rested this week and was licking his lips when he saw the Oregon State running back run for over 100 yards in the Beavers’ victory against the Trojans.

6. Erik Ainge - Ainge proved he could go into a hostile stadium and win a game for the Vols. He threw for 254 yards and 2 touchdowns, making a strong statement for his campaign starting in 2007.

7. Calvin Johnson - Johnson put his catch-less week behind him and helped the Yellow Jackets take a firm grip on the ACC Coastal Division crown. He had 68 yards and a touchdown but still has to wonder what could have been if he had a competent quarterback.

8. Ray Rice - Rice had a nice night even though he got hurt. The Rutgers running back ran for 79 yards before hurting his ankle, but says he will be back in time to play Louisville in two weeks.

9. Colt Brennan - Brennan put on a clinic against the Vandals throwing for 333 yards and 5 touchdowns. It is a real shame no one gets to see this guy play.

10. Chad Henne - Henne did not have a great day statistically but what quarterback would throwing in winds that gusted up to 50 mph? Henne has a ton of leadership and is a big reason why the Wolverines are in the position to play for the title.

Honorable Mention: Ian Johnson, Colt McCoy, Pat White,

There are six undefeated teams remaining in Division I-A left after nine weeks; Ohio State, Michigan, West Virginia, Louisville, Rutgers, and Boise State.

In itself, that is pretty special. To have two of them play each other is extraordinary, or we at least hope so. You see, we really have no idea just how good West Virginia and Louisville are. We think, the bloggers and the pollsters, think that these Big East powerhouses are indeed very good, but the computers are telling us a different story. So much a different story, they have West Virginia at #13, lower than Boise State. Why? They haven’t played anybody. Is that new? No.

If you are old enough to remember the Big 8, especially the Big 8 of the 1970’s and 1980’s, you remember that it was Oklahoma and Nebraska and the six dwarfs. Most years, these two teams played nobody outside of the Big 8, and I mean North Texas nobody, until they would meet the last weekend of the season with the winner going to Miami for the Orange Bowl, and on a number of occasions, the National Championship.

That pretty much sums up the Big East this year. Louisville did play Miami, but as bad luck would have it, Miami looks closer to a strong squall as supposed to a hurricane. Like the Sooner and Cornhusker teams of yore, the Mountaineers and Cardinals have destroyed their competition. West Virginia’s running game, featuring quarterback Pat White and super sophomore Steve Slaton has run through, around, and over Morgantown this year. There is certainly no question that West Virginia is an extremely talented team. But, we can’t say with any certainty that they are a top five school.

Louisville’s case is similar. They score, get yards in bunches, and win. But, they are a little better known than WVU because of not only the Miami game, but an impressive win in Kansas State. They have experienced dramatic change too, as their two pre-season Heisman candidates, Brian Brohm and Michael Bush were severely injured. Bush, so injured, that he’s gone for the season. Yet, they looked like they never missed a beat.

So here is where perception meets reality. Both teams are loaded, yet they face maybe the biggest game of their careers. The winner is a win over Rutgers away from the National Championship game. You can argue, and I would probably agree, that an undefeated WVU or Louisville is not better than a one loss SEC team. But, they will have done something that two, maybe three teams can possibly claim this season, that they are undefeated, and that alone earns the ticket to Glendale.

West Virginia at Louisville- Say what you want, this will be great theater.

West Virginia is truly an old school offense. They run left, right, up the middle, through the stands, over old ladies, where ever that offensive line will let them. Steve Slaton is the second best player in the country. Pat White can be unstoppable, making Major Harris look like Drew Bledsoe on the mobility scale.

Louisville carries enough octane on offense to make NASCAR engine builders envious. Brohm is back under center, and Hunter Cantwell did a very good job keeping the ship afloat during Brohm’s injury. They can move the ball at will.

Two major things can switch this game. Both defenses remain untested. They simply have not faced any offense the caliber of these two. Simply, can they stop each other. Second, can West Virginia rebound if they get behind. They are the road team, they will be the ones in the hostile environment. How hostile? Think Penn State’s reception of spurned recruit (and three year Michigan starter) Chad Henne. They will need a Henne type of cool to win. They have the most to prove, the perception is that they are better.

Add the usual disclaimer about special teams, penalties, and turnovers, and you have more wild cards than at a cheesy table at Vegas. Both teams will be nervous, the first half has the potential of ugliness written all over it.

The reality is that a true front runner will emerge. Beat Rutgers, win out, go to Glendale. Sound easy?

I think that this is a flip a coin game. Because the game is in Louisvlle and because they have met their tests better than expected, I’ll take the Cardinals by the home field 3.


Rank School
1 Appalachian State (96) 8-1 2568
2 Montana (1) 7-1 2438
3 UMass (3) 7-1 2321
4 James Madison 7-1 2257
5 North Dakota State (3) 7-1 2151
6 Cal Poly 6-2 1994
7 Youngstown State 7-2 1985
8 Illinois State 6-2 1783
9 UNH 6-2 1721
10 Tennessee-Martin 7-1 1618
11 Furman 6-3 1319
12 Southern Illinois 6-2 1265
13 Hampton 8-1 1263
14 Northern Iowa 5-3 1191
15 Richmond 5-3 911
16 San Diego 8-0 902
17 Coastal Carolina 6-2 673
18 Harvard 6-1 607
19 Montana State 6-3 587
20 Eastern Illinois 5-4 497
21 Towson 6-2 495
22 Maine 5-3 465
23 Princeton 6-1 415
24 South Dakota State 5-3 411
25 Portland State 5-4 333

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Western Kentucky 256, Charleston Southern 240, UC Davis 240, Delaware State 121, Alabama A&M 113, Yale 109, McNeese State 41, Wofford 41, Central Arkansas 40, Tennessee State 30, Gardner-Webb 18, Monmouth 11, Delaware 10, Holy Cross 8, South Carolina State 7.
DROPPED OUT: No. 20 UC Davis, No. 25 Delaware



No.
1 Ohio State 9-0 2848
2 Michigan 9-0 2727
3 West Virginia 7-0 2583
4 Texas 8-1 2432
5 Louisville 7-0 2278
6 Auburn 8-1 2202
7 Florida 7-1 2127
8 Tennessee 7-1 2081
9 Southern California 6-1 1937
10 Notre Dame 7-1 1913
11 California 7-1 1789
12 Arkansas 7-1 1492
13 LSU 6-2 1437
14 Rutgers 7-0 1241
15 Boise State 8-0 1192
16 Boston College 7-1 1138
17 Wisconsin 8-1 1065
18 Oklahoma 6-2 979
19 Clemson 7-2 793
20 Georgia Tech 6-2 637
21 Texas A&M 8-1 582
22 Oregon 6-2 448
23 Wake Forest 7-1 414
24 Virginia Tech 6-2 247
25 Tulsa 7-1 116
Others Receiving Votes: Missouri 88; Nebraska 65; BYU 54; Washington State 37; Iowa 28; Hawaii 17; Maryland 14; Oregon State 13; Penn State 9; Pittsburgh 8; TCU 7; Georgia 5; Oklahoma State 4; Alabama 3.



Rank School
1 Ohio State 0.9864
2 Michigan 0.9697
3 West Virginia 0.7862
4 Florida 0.7791
5 Louisville 0.7621
6 Auburn 0.7589
7 Texas 0.7562
8 USC 0.7152
9 Notre Dame 0.7151
10 California 0.7133
11 Tennessee 0.700
12 Rutgers 0.5153
13 Arkansas 0.5072
14 Boise State 0.4763
15 Boston College 0.3983
16 Wisconsin 0.3848
17 LSU 0.3754
18 Oklahoma 0.2735
19 Clemson 0.253
20 Georgia Tech 0.228
21 Texas A&M 0.1856
22 Oregon 0.1778
23 Washington State 0.1321
24 Wake Forest 0.0937
25 Virginia Tech 0.0621



Rank
1 Ohio State (63) 9-0 1623
2 Michigan 9-0 1547
3 West Virginia (2) 7-0 1494
4 Texas 8-1 1397
5 Louisville 7-0 1278
6 Auburn 8-1 1250
7 Florida 7-1 1243
8 Tennessee 7-1 1232
9 USC 6-1 1059
10 Cal 7-1 1040
11 Notre Dame 7-1 1037
12 Arkansas 7-1 935
13 LSU 6-2 842
14 Boise State 8-0 688
15 Rutgers 7-0 644
16 BC 7-1 624
17 Wisconsin 8-1 617
18 Oklahoma 6-2 589
19 Clemson 7-2 435
20 Georgia Tech 6-2 402
21 Texas A&M 8-1 353
22 Wake Forest 7-1 246
23 Virginia Tech 6-2 188
24 Oregon 6-2 167
25 Washington State 6-3 40

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Tulsa 38; BYU 30; Missouri 25; Nebraska 17; Maryland 13; Oregon St. 9; Penn St. 8; Pittsburgh 6; Hawai'i 2; Oklahoma St. 2; Alabama 2.
DROPPED OUT: No. 20 Nebraska; No. 23 Missouri.



Rank
1 Ohio State (63) 9-0 1575
2 Michigan 9-0 1500
3 West Virginia 7-0 1437
4 Texas 8-1 1347
5 Louisville 7-0 1271
6 Auburn 8-1 1235
7 Florida 7-1 1167
8 Tennessee 7-1 1118
9 USC 6-1 1049
10 Notre Dame 7-1 1030
11 Cal 7-1 980
12 Arkansas 7-1 816
13 LSU 6-2 775
14 Boise State 8-0 694
15 Rutgers 7-0 662
16 BC 7-1 639
17 Wisconsin 8-1 584
18 Oklahoma 6-2 515
19 Clemson 7-2 458
20 Georgia Tech 6-2 363
21 Texas A&M 8-1 335
22 Oregon 6-2 262
23 Wake Forest 7-1 214
24 Virginia Tech 6-2 141
25 Missouri 7-2 64

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Iowa 42; Tulsa 42; Nebraska 38; Georgia 26; Washington St. 21; BYU 19; Hawai'i 18; Penn St. 15; Maryland 9; Pittsburgh 9; Oregon St. 4; TCU 1.
DROPPED OUT: No. 20 Nebraska; No. 25 Georgia.


No, not really.

I’ve been trying to think how to wrap up what we know about this day and give it some perspective. If you can see through mud, be my guest.

As of 9:10 ET, it looks like that each of the six BCS conferences will have a playoff. Out of that, probably three wild cards come out of losses.

BIG TEN- Ohio State and Michigan are on a collision course for a trip to Glendale. We knew that before today, and nothing today changed it.

Ohio State rolled at home over Minnesota, 44-0. Troy Smith looked like a Heisman winner, 14 of 21 for 183 and a score.

Michigan quietly took disposed of Northwestern, 17-3. Mike Hart breaks 100 and really should be only second to Smith on Heisman ballots right now. What happens in he Big East, and West Virginia will change that, maybe.

We talked earlier about the other teams, so as of now Ohio State should play Michigan for the BCS title game, loser gets a BCS wild card, Penn State/Wisconsin fighting for Orlando.

PAC-10- This the big story of the day. #3 Southern Cal’s 27 game winning streak in the conference is over, they lose on he road at Oregon State, 33-31. The Beavers at one point led by 20, 30-10, but the Trojan offense finally got it’s act together and went on a 21-3 splurge in the last seventeen minutes. In fact, they scored the possible game tying touchdown on a two yarder from John David Booty to eve Smith with seven seconds to go. However, the two point conversion was knocked down at the line of scrimmage. Streak over. Booty gets 406 yards on the day, but a first half pas was picked off in the endzone killing a drive, that was the difference. Steve Smith catches 11 balls for 258 yards.

Matt Moore gets 262 in the air for Oregon State.

Southern Cal/Cal is for the Rose Bowl. Notre Dame’s CS chances take a big hit here too, they needed USC to be undefeated before their November 25th clash in Los Angeles. Cal, probably, can do no worse than a BCS wild card. You’d have to think they will be favored now.

SEC- This conference was supposed to have a championship game tobegin with. After Florida hung o to beat Georgia, 21-14, it looks good for the Gatos to get to Atlanta. They have beat Tennesee and Georgia with South arolina coming up. Remember, Tennessee beat the Bulldogs already.

It wasn’t a pretty game at the World’s Largest Dr Pepper Party, butthe two headed qb monster of Leak/Tebow outplayed freshman uber-wonder Matt Stafford for the win. An early third quarter turnover resulted into a Gator score, that being the difference. Florida would have probably won by a higher margin, but were set back by 10 penalties.

Auburn won a snoozer over Ole Miss, 23-17. Arkansas is throttling Louisana-Monroe.

Arkansas needs to lose two while Auburn has to run he table for the Tigers to get to Atlanta. Alabama remains on the Tigers Dance card. LSU remains on Arkansas’

Arkansas would have to win the SEC outright, most likely,to take the automatic slot in New Orleans and the Sugar Bowl. Does anyone outside of Tiger fans and our friend Brian really think Auburn is better than Florida? Florida looks no worse than a BCS wildcard, provided they stay clean until the SEC Championship. They still entertain an outide notion of the National Championship, but everything would have to go the Gators way.

Tennessee needs to beat South Carloina to keep hope alive for the SEC East.

BIG EAST- All three undefeated teams were off. The West Virginia/Louisville game Thursday night looked like it was a semi-final game for Glendale, but those pesky Rutgers Scarlet Knights are still on both schedules. The WVU/L’ville winner versus Rutgers is the de-facto Big East Championship. If the winner runs the table, it would be shocking if they didn’t play in Glendale. Rutgers plays UConn tomorrow night.

BIG 12- Does anyone want to win this conference?

Oklahoma beat Missouri, 26-10. That gave Nebraska a whopping three-and-a-half hour cushion in the North. Oklahoma State, behind a 21 point 4th quarter, stuns the Cornhuskers, 41-29.

Texas and Texas A&M are in trouble tonight. Texas trails Texas Tech, 31-28 in the 3rd. A&M is tied with Baylor at 21 in the 4th.

Oklahoma needs two Big 12 losses by Texas to pass them. A&M remains on the Longhorns schedule, it could happen. Oklahoma must run the table.

Texas/Nebraska are still in line for a trip to the Fiesta Bowl. No Wild cards here.

ACC- Clemson’s loss Thursday knocked out the only decent team out of the race.

Boston College and Wake Forest both win. They play, I think, next week. That winner should draw Georgia Tech for that BCS spot . Simply, the winner in Jacksonville in December plays in Miami, err Dolphins Stadium in the Orange Bowl. That’s the only ACC slot.

Tech beat Miami, 30-23. Wake wins at Chapel Hill, 24-17. BC over Buffalo, 41-0.

ELSEWHERE- Oregon State’s upset was a double BCS whammy. It hurts Notre Dame, for reasons mentioned earlier, and it HELPS Boise State. They did what Southern Cal could not do, which was beat Oregon State. The Irish beat Navy, 38-14.

We’ll update any upsets if waranted.