Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
The Cougars are back in the national Top 25, placing 23rd in the AP, Coach's and Harris Polls (the BCS Standings come out later this afternoon).
*******
Kentucky, Michigan, Penn State and Cincinnati all lost and dropped out of the Coach's poll, while Kentucky and Michigan were dropped from the AP survey, and Kentucky, Michigan and Penn State disappeared from the Harris Poll. All of the aforementioned teams were ranked between 20-25 last week, so there was room for BYU to move.
*******
Utah and Tulsa are the nation's only 8-3 teams not to receive any votes in the Coach's poll, while both receive votes in the AP and Harris Polls. Interesting to note that the head coaches of both teams have been the subject of "sportsmanship-related" discussions this season (Kyle Whittingham for the obvious, Todd Graham for his "jersey switching," "injury timeouts," etc). Note that the voting coaches are the ones leaving Utah and Tulsa out in the cold. I'm just sayin'...
*******
With BYU breaking through, all 18 teams with 2 or fewer losses are now ranked in the Top 25. Air Force, however, is the only 9-win team not ranked in the Top 25 (27th in the Coach's and Harris Polls, 31st in the AP). The Falcons' next game will be their bowl game.
*******
Four MWC Coaches vote in the USA Today poll--they are Gary Patterson, Rocky Long, Sonny Lubick, and... you guessed it: Joe Glenn.
*******
Interesting to note that Hawaii and Boise State either held steady or dropped in all 3 polls despite winning this past week. Perhaps voters are finally realizing both teams have gotten fat on weak non-conference foes and a league full of pushovers.
*******
More on the national numbers when the BCS Standings are released later today. Could BYU break in there, too? It's possible. What's also possible is BYU ending up with better computer numbers than Hawaii's...
*******
A quick look ahead to the weekend gives us this:
BYU (7-game win streak) home to Utah (7-game win streak)
Hawaii (11-game win streak) home to Boise State (9-game win streak)
Kansas (11-game win streak) home to Missouri (5-game win streak)
Those games represent the first, second, third and fourth-longest current winning streaks in the country.
Big weekend? Um, yeah.
*******
Then, there's this: of the five non-BCS conferences, only one has an overall winning record. The MWC, at 51-47. Next best is the WAC, at 46-51. Of course, Mountain West Conference teams have recorded a combined 8 wins against teams from BCS leagues (second best number behind the ACC and Big Ten, with 9). The mighty WAC has a combined... zero! That stat alone should be enough to keep Hawaii and Boise State out of a BCS game. If Hawaii beats Boise and Washington, we can revisit that. Until then...
*******
