Non AQ Week 5
By: HillbillyPirates

The National Media only cares about TCU and Boise State right now. They should care considering their Top Rankings, but there is a big problem with college football if we are talking about STYLE points in week 5. Seriously…style points? Could we just have a playoff so we wouldn’t have to worry so much about polls, style points, and whether your conference strength of schedule is perfect. This is no longer about opinion polls, this is now about putting down the other program, the other conference, and trying to prop yourself up. To be honest, this whole system is starting to wear thin.

Best Showing: Tulane…the trip down the New Jersey turnpike was probably the hardest part of Tulane’s trip to Rutgers. As soon as Rutgers QB went down with an injury, they were done. Not much depth in the Big East there, huh?? Tulane is one of the worst CUSA programs year in and year out. I think the honeymoon may be over for Rutgers in college football. Plus there’s a brand new stadium just down the road for the Pro teams, why do people want to go to Piscataway?

Worst Showing: The Sun Belt…the Sun Belt’s out of conference record after 5 weeks stands at 4-22. That’s not good. What makes it even worse is that the wins so far have come against Austin Peay, Bowling Green, UAB, and Southeastern Louisiana. Wow!! MTSU and Troy face off this week in the de facto conference title game. They are both 2-2 and they are playing on Tuesday. Hey FCS schools, is this what you aspire to be, playing on Tuesday nights in a bad conference?? App State, Montana, James Madison, you may be better off staying put.

CUSA

Southern Miss continues to rebound from that opening loss at South Carolina. They now sit at 4-1 and were up 28-0 at the half against Marshall. They host East Carolina next week. UTEP also sits at a somewhat surprising 4-1 after winning at New Mexico. The schedule works out for them to go on a run this month. The CUSA race looks to be unsettled at best right now, with SMU and Tulsa also coming into play in the West and UCF and possible East Carolina in the East.

Mountain West

Utah has been flying under the radar and still sits unbeaten. Air Force collected the Commander-in-Chief trophy. We all know about TCU. BYU is struggling. But keep an eye on San Diego State. They blew out Utah State and suffered a three point loss at Missouri. Coach Brady Hoke (from Ball State two years ago) looks to have this team on the rise and they could cause some trouble for the usual suspects in the MWC. I always thought that the Aztecs program had unrealized potential, maybe Hoke is on their way to realizing it.

MAC

Just calling it like I see it, the MAC sits just above the Sun Belt right now…just above. Put it this way, Temple has become the flag bearer of the MAC. Yes, you heard me… Temple. Miami (OH) seems to be the next best team, that stubborn little team that gave Florida fits. Maybe Northern Illinois can do something, they do have a win over a bad Minnesota team. I feel like I’m reaching here, we’ll find out a little when NIU visits Temple this week.

Indy’s

We already know the honeymoon is over for Notre Dame, who did get a win over a bad Boston College team (you guys want Coach Jags back yet…hmmm??). The honeymoon may also be over for Navy. Paul Johnson is gone and now the schedule gets tougher. A loss to Air Force, now a trip to Wake Forest followed by hosting an improving SMU team before playing Notre Dame.

Anyone else notice that Notre Dame is only playing 3 road games. The game at Navy is always played in Baltimore and ND lined up teams from the MWC, CUSA, and the MAC to roll into South Bend. This is “Must-see TV?.” I can already see the plan….schedule your way to relevancy.

Army sits with the best record right now at 3-2. They blew out Duke in Durham a few weeks back and then followed it with a loss to Temple. Now they take on Tulane and Rutgers, who just played each other. Bring new meaning to the lyric “What are we fighting for, don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn”. You gotta love a band named Country Joe and the Fish.

This Week: We will see what Houston has in QB Terrance Broadway this week when they host Mississippi State. If Broadway is as good as advertised, Houston’s demise may be premature. This is a huge game for the future of their program, post Case Keenum. Other interesting matchups include Oklahoma State visiting UL-Lafayette on Friday and Utah travels to Iowa State.