Fairly good results if you're a bronco fan. We lost quite a few of the very small battles that add up to small help in the computer. The big games mostly went as expected with the exception of a nice Oregon State win over USC. TCU's lead over Boise State in the BCS is now .0135, which is tiny. The frustrating part is the computers. All six computers rank TCU over Boise State. Had more of the small computer victories taken place, things could have looked differently in the standings.

Category: The Obvious

Virginia Tech over Miami (31-17): That was hard to watch for 3 quarters, but the Hokies pulled it off. Don't underestimate the importance of this VT win.

Oklahoma over Baylor (53-24) : Where or where are TCU's quality wins, oh where or where could they be?

Toledo over Bowling Green (33-14): After beating up on Bowling Green, the Rockets have a good chance to finish 8-4 with their final game next week against Central Michigan (3-8). TCU’s comparable opponent, SMU, is 5-5 and figures to finish 6-6.

Marshall over SMU (17-31): SMU was expected to win this game and is now 6-5. They likely won't be favored at East Carolina next week.

Nevada over New Mexico State (52-6): The showdown is officially on.

Oregon State over USC (36-7): What a pleasant surprise. Welcome back to football, Beavers.

Wyoming over Colorado State (44-0): Where the heck was this Wyoming team against UNLV and New Mexico?

Cal over Stanford (14-48): Cal used up all its energy stopping Oregon's offense last week.

Ole Miss over LSU (36-43): I thought they played defense in the SEC. Nonetheless, I think the voters will punish LSU for this showing. LSU not as legitimate of a threat without the human support.

Category: Not So Obvious

Utah State over Idaho (6-28): The computers won't care about this outcome, but it would have been nice to face a Utah State team playing for its bowl eligibility in the last game to avoid SOS scrutiny.

Hawaii over San Jose State (41-7): Both are on the schedule, but Hawaii has a legitimate shot at being ranked by season’s end. Two computers have UH ranked #24. They should win their remaining games and finish 10-3. The big one for BSU will be their finale against TCU’s opponent, UNLV.

Michigan over Wisconsin (28-48): Wisconsin has a Starting QB-less Northwestern at home in their finale. Unless Ohio State loses to Michigan, Wisconsin is Rose Bowl bound.

Ohio St over Iowa (20-17): Ohio State still holds out hope that Wisconsin will lose to Northwestern. Good luck.

San Diego State over Utah (34-38):The Aztecs gave this game away and Utah will stay ranked.

Arkansas over Mississippi State (38-31): A confident Arkansas team has a better chance of beating pesky LSU next week if they are coming off a win. Plus, if Mississippi State had pulled the upset, there was a chance they would jump Nevada while Arkansas may not drop behind the Wolfpack.

Nebraska vs. Texas A&M (6-9): The Big XII hurt itself it it wanted to grab two BCS spots. On the down side, both A&M and Nebraska are surely to be ahead of Nevada now, moving the Wolfpack down a spot.

Category: Thousandths of BCS Computer Points

Illinois over Northwestern (48-27): Good for Fresno's SOS. Now let's see if Pat Hill can get it together and beat these guys.

Cincinnati over Rutgers (69-38): Fresno’s opening week win has been downgraded due to to Cincy’s subpar season, but they sure did show some offense in this game and are now 4-6.

South Florida over Pitt (10-17): Pitt just now became bowl eligible and they'll likely be playing the the Fiesta Bowl. That makes me sick.

Army over Notre Dame (3-27): Notre Dame beat Utah 28-3. Army (6-5) is one point better than Utah.

UNLV over Air Force (20-35): UNLV’s out of conference schedule is littered with WAC opponents (3) including a game against Hawaii in the finale. Air Force, on the other hand, has no WAC opponents on its schedule. This one would have been nice but wasn't a huge deal and would have been a pretty big upset.

UCLA over Washington (7-24): Washington shares BYU as a common opponent with TCU while UCLA only shares Oregon State as TCU's common opponent. This game shouldn't tip any computers in favor of TCU, but these tiny victories are nice to get.

Purdue over Michigan State (31-35): Did Purdue lose this game on purpose?

James Madison over Maine (14-10): JMU is now 6-5 with a win over Virginia Tech. Barf.

This is being promoted from the fanshot page to the front page

Dearest Frog Fans,

I put my self in your shoes during the BCS Standings show last night and it was pretty sick feeling. Every expert (besides Mark May - the one expert you don't care to have on your side) is predicting your downfall and telling the nation that TCU is completely helpless. All they can do is hope for a Boise State stumble. I know how you feel. All Bronco fans know how you feel. We have gone undefeated 4 times in the past 6 seasons and been jumped by non-aq foes three of those years. Twice we were left out of the BCS and fortunately the last time, a bizzare series of events took place which allowed us to make it in.

Just last week we were in your shoes. Hoping for a miracle in South Bend and in Forth Worth. We got what we needed and it feels good. Unfortuately it feels good for us at your expense. There is still hope for you however. Think of it this way: If Auburn and Oregon play for the NC game, TCU is more likely to get an at-large bid due to geography of the selecting bowls. Dallas FORT WORTH is a good fit for the Sugar Bowl and a far better fit for Miami than Boise. (Fort Worthians apparently don't like being associated with Big D. They are raising money to have build their own airport that nobody will fly in to that doesn't share a name with dreaded Dallas.) We have no chance of landing in the Orange Bowl if Virginia Tech wins the ACC, but you do. If we both make BCS bowls back to back years during the MWC BCS evaluation period, we are sitting pretty... that is if you don't jump ship for the Big East. So go pound New Mexico and get that at-large berth for both of our sakes. Time for me and the rest of Bronco Nation to bite our nails over the Fresno and Nevada games while you ruthlessly root against us.

Sincerely,

Bronco Fans

Chris Durfesne of the LA Times tweeted it perfectly: "If there isn't a poll/BCS swing back toward Boise on Sunday somebody call the cops..." Other than a few games here and there, Boise State couldn't have had a better weekend of results that help their poll cause. If TCU isn't punished for Utah's horrible loss combined with their narrow defeat of SDSU, there is definitely a double standard going on here. If Boise State gets beat up for beating teams by 29 points at home, TCU surely must be scrutinized for narrowly winning at home. Even Coach Patterson seemed a bit nervous after the win. Have fun checking out the results. Can't win them all, but we sure got some good ones.

Category: The Obvious

San Diego State over TCU (35-40): Notice this game isn't crossed off as a loss for Boise State's cause. San Diego State took the Frogs down to the wire in Fort Worth. That result and the Utah loss should be enough to have Boise State rejump TCU in the human polls. If its not, I will cry foul because voters use every excuse imaginable to dock the Broncos. This is a legit excuse to dock TCU.

Virginia Tech over North Carolina (26-10): This game was scary early, but only because the Hokies couldn't get in the end zone after impressive drives. They finally put some TDs together and their defense picked off UNC left and right. Boise State is hanging its hat on the Va Tech win... what is TCU's signature win now that Utah is proven to be a fraud? Perhaps voters will take this in to consideration.

Texas A&M over Baylor (42-30): This game was very significant because Baylor would have likely been ranked had they beaten A&M. I have a feeling that, as of tomorrow night, TCU will have zero ranked teams on their schedule. That is fantastic. Which victory does TCU have to hang it's hat on?

Notre Dame over Utah (28-3): This was excellent. Voting Obnuggies got what they wanted and more with this win. This Utah loss was so ugly that not only will TCU be hurt in the computers, but the voters almost have to second guess their decision to leapfrog TCU over Boise State for a win over an obviously overrated Utah team.

Wyoming over UNLV (16-42): Boise State picked the wrong year to schedule Wyoming. Ouch. This outcome was irrelevant for TCU, bad for Boise State.

Oregon State over Washington State (14-31): Yikes. Good thing the Beavers are on TCU's schedule too.

Georgia over Auburn (31-49): Is it just me or does Auburn just seem really sleazy? I have a feeling they have a date with destiny against Alabama AND South Carolina... and the NCAA.... and the FBI.

Cal over Oregon (13-15): Oregon sneaked one out against the Golden Bears. Dang. My favorite part was when Reese Davis mentioned how Nevada destroyed Cal before beginning the highlights during a halftime report.

Nevada over Fresno State (35-34): This game couldn't have played out any better. Fresno looked respectable and Nevada got the win to stay ranked for the after-turkey-day showdown.

Category: Not so obvious

Arizona State over Stanford (13-17): Close, but no cigar.

Texas over Oklahoma State (16-33), Kansas over Nebraska (3-20), Texas Tech over Oklahoma (7-45) & Northwestern over Iowa (21-17): The Big XII kept their at large pool attractive with no upsets today.

Ohio State over Penn State (38-14): Ohio State is going to get a BCS bid even if they don't win the Big 10. It's some unwritten law. We might as well root for them to win the Big 10 and not take up an at-large bid.

Indiana over Wisconsin (20-83): No, this is not a typo.

Category: Thousandths of Computer Points

Virginia over Maryland (23-42): Va Tech plays Virginia but not Maryland this year in the ACC.

Colorado over Iowa State (34-14): What's bad for Utah's SOS is bad for TCU. Although Utah's SOS is the least of their worries after the egg the Utes laid in South Bend.

Uconn over Pitt (30-28): Utah's SOS took a hit which will trickle down to hurt TCU just a bit. The better part of this outcome is that the Big East STILL doesn't have a bowl eligible team and they are guaranteed a BCS bowl bid. This creates controversy which is great for anti-BCS folks.

James Madison over William & Mary (30-24): Hey, the Dukes pulled one out for us. They were pretty big under dogs in this one too.

Welcome to Panic-ville, USA; just last week known as Boise, Idaho. While a drop in the BCS rankings brings panic and despair throughout the land, a ray of hope shines brightly to the south upon Rice Eccles Stadium. Utah has a chance of to knock off the Broncos’ non-AQ frenemy, TCU. With the same kickoff time as Boise State’s matchup with Hawaii, Bronco fans are sure to be flipping through their TV manual trying to learn how to use their picture-in-picture technology only to find out they don’t get CBS College Sports anyway. Complied below is a list of several desired results which will help Boise State’s ranking in the race to finish as the top Non-AQ and secure at least a BCS bowl bid. Keep in mind some of these results would only add up to thousandths of points in the BCS equation. We've seen how annoyingly close the BCS standings can be. Saddle your Bronco up Cowboys, do the Hokie pokie, squash a Frog, save a Beaver from a trap, and make a rug out of a Bear.

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I want to be the first to call it. Due to USC's Bowl ban, the Pac 10 is going to have 5 bowl eligible teams with 6 bowl slots to fill; one of those being the Vegas Bowl. This will be our "pat on the back" bowl game just like the Poinsettia Bowl was in 2008. It makes me a little sick to think about, but I wouldn't actually mind this match-up. At least we wouldn't be playing a team from the MAC in the H-Bowl.... bfadsh;aog ... sorry, I just threw up a little.

Before we go off screaming about how Boise State squandered an opportunity to play BCS AQ schools, let's pause and put our BCS thinking caps on. See, those BCS computers have a whole different way of thinking as they use numbers in place of common sense. Would it really have been better to play a Big Ten or PAC 10 school that would likely have finished with 4 or 5 or 6 losses? Would it really have been better to play another ACC team? Virginia Tech is only ranked in the top 25 in 1 of the 6 computers right now. That win isn't currently do anything for Boise State computer credibility. One-loss Nevada is ranked in 5 out of 6 of the computers. Ah HA!

I see this scheduling move as a pure stroke of genius. Nevada and Fresno teams that could likely dominate the WAC next year. We're talking about 9 or 10 win seasons for each school. All the while, they are beating teams in the WAC that are no longer hurting Boise State's strength of schedule. BSU gets the best of both worlds. They play in a different league and play the top teams from the old league and don't face the teams those two teams will be beating up.

Aside from that, Boise State all but controls its own destiny for a BCS Bowl bid next year. They play in the top Non-AQ conference and, if they go unbeaten, no other non-aq could possibly finish ahead of them. Why ruin that opportunity by playing tougher competition that likely wouldn't get you into the national championship game anyway?

If you read my FanPost of who to root for on Saturday you'll notice we either didn't root hard enough, or the powers that be don't like us very much. Here are the results of what we needed to happen to keep good positioning over TCU and Utah:

Texas over Baylor: This was the kill-shot for TCU jumping us. Baylor continues to be ranked well in the computers and Va Tech is only ranked in one computer at #25. Computers are not givign us credit for a quality win. This is the single reason why TCU is close to us in the rankings. Had Baylor had a typical Baylor year, we would be crushing them.

East Carolina over UCF

Tulsa over Notre Dame: YES!

Tulane over SMU

Lousiville over Pitt

Cincinnati over Syracuse

Purdue over Illinois

Boston College over Clemson:A miracle. But didn't really do too much for us. Just a little

Wake Forest over Maryland

Obvious for the wrong reason- Ole Miss over Auburn

Obvious for the wrong reason (part 2)- Nebraska over Missouri: May slightly help us down the road as SDSU's loss to Missouri isn't quite as impressive. What WILL help us is another Missouri loss since we are STILL behind them in the computers but TCU is already ahead of them.

Obvious- Root for Toledo over (1-7) E. Michigan: Got one, but not a very quality win for Toledo. Who knows, This may have even hurt our computer SOS, but a Toledo loss would have hurt even more.

Chew on this- Cal over Oregon State. This was a win for TCU, a win for us and a small loss for us as well. Had Cal won, It would have been an equal loss for TCU and us plus a small win for us because Nevada's computer numbers would have received a boost.

And two for fun- Murray State vs Tennessee Tech (TCU's 1-AA opponent) is actually next week, my bad.

James Madison over UMass JMU lost and is now 4-4. That JMU game is absolutely KILLING Va Tech's computer numbers.

Let's not kid ourselves... We are all terrified of getting passed up by TCU and playing in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl with a 12-0 record and possibly the best team in our school's history. Remember, it took an extraordinary amount of extenuating circumstances for two non-AQ schools to reach the BCS last season. Being ranked #3 or #4 BEHIND TCU will guarantee nothing. Right now the gap between us and TCU in the BCS standings is .0013. A Virtual a tie.

As of right now, TCU's victory over the Baylor Bears is helping their BCS ranking more than BSU's big Virginia Tech win is helping the Bronco's ranking. Of the 6 computer polls, Baylor is ranked in 3 (#23,24 & 25) and Va Tech is ranked in 1 (#25). The computers don't only take into consideration SOS, they also take into consideration quality wins, which is why even with the same amount of losses, Baylor does more for TCU than Va Tech does for us. Each computer must be treated as its own poll. The best ranking and the worst ranking are thrown out. Unfortunately for us, the computer that has Virginia Tech ranked also give us our best ranking. So not only is that ranking thrown out for determining Va Tech's BCS ranking, but it is also thrown out for us. Essentially, Va Tech is unranked in the computer and the ONLY element of the Hokies BCS score is the human rankings, which doesn't help our computer rankings at all like Baylor's is helping TCU's.

Note: North Carolina State's victory over Florida State is significant. Va Tech's biggest computer win this season is over the Wolfpack. This should boost the Wolfpack's computer rankings, therefore boosting Virginia Tech's ranking, therefore helping us with those small points we need to stay ahead of TCU.On the other hand, both NC State and Florida State could be ranked ahead of Hawaii now, thus keeping the Warriors unranked for our Nov 6 game.

Who to root for (besides the obvious):

East Carolina over UCF: Both are 5-2. East Carolina win strengthens Va Tech's SOS as well as NC State's who is the opponent of an opponent. We're talking thousandths of points people. But remember, .0013

Tulsa over Notre Dame: Assuming TCU beats Utah, we'd like for Utah's next game to be against a sub .500 Notre Dame team so Utah's SOS can remain horrible.

Tulane over SMU: Had SMU not lost to Houston last week, we would all be in a mode of panic because TCU WOULD have jumped us. We dodged a bullet. That, along with Toledo winning, helped us dodge a bullet.

Lousiville over Pitt: Not only does this weaken Utah's SOS, but it strengthens Oregon State's... which I know helps TCU as well, but a Pitt win would strengthen Utah's SOS and hurt Oregon State which is a wash for TCU but hurts us. Plus human element comes in to play with Utah hanging its hat on the Pitt "victory" (I call it the debacle).

Cincinnati over Syracuse: Fresno's win over Cincinnati can still help us if the Bearcats can muster a decent season. Their starting QB is questionable though.

Purdue over Illinois: This is a wash in the end of the season because Toledo beat Purdue and Fresno gets a chance to play Illinois in Fresno in December. But for maintaining a lead over TCU as they try to make their move next week, this could slightly help in the short term. .0013

Boston College over Clemson: Va Tech played BC. Clemson not on the 2010 sked.

Wake Forest over Maryland: Va Tech played Wake. Maryland not on the 2010 sked.

Obvious for the wrong reason- Ole Miss over Auburn: Focusing on strengthening our schedule to stay above TCU, Ole Miss is on Fresno's schedule. Opponents SOS counts. If Ole Miss beats #1 computer-ranked Auburn, that cascades to Fresno which eventually impacts us for the good. .0013.

Obvious for the wrong reason (part 2)- Nebraska over Missouri: The more Missouri wins, the more San Diego State is going to start getting more recognition as the team that SHOULD have beaten Missouri but didn't because of a blown no-call on Missouri's magical finish play. They already have votes in the polls, which helps TCU.

Obvious- Root for Toledo over (1-7) E. Michigan (who suspended 7 players... I think we're good) and Wyoming over San Diego State... not so easy. Wyoming winning helps us and TCU, but San Diego State winning only helps TCU and hurts us.

Chew on this- Cal over Oregon State. Not focusing on getting to the national Championship game, if our sole purpose is to stay above TCU, Cal winning will help Nevada's already impressive computer numbers which will help us when we play them. Oregon State's loss will hurt us and TCU equally, but Cal's win will only help us. That being said, Go Beavers.

And two for fun- Murray State over Tennessee Tech (TCU's 1-AA opponent) and James Madison over UMass. .0013

I am very grateful that BYU stinks this year and that TCU still has to play UNLV and New Mexico. With all these thousandths of points being counted, that New Mexico State victory over New Mexico could prove to be quite important. Thanks Aggies. Oh and did I mention, .0013?

I have watched bits and pieces of the game over the past five days and it continued to give me goosebumps up until last night. James Madison beating Va Tech has tainted that recording and I can no longer enjoy watching it knowing that just anyone with a small chip on their shoulder can beat up on Virginia Tech. There is no chance for a NC game appearance and TCU now has an excellent case for jumping us in the rankings and leaving us a 12-0 team in the Humanitarian Bowl... just like almost happened last season. Life as a Bronco fan went from sublime to sub par in 5 days.

Unfortunately those Vandals will be jumping up and down screaming about the opening we'll have on our schedule next season if the MWC goes into the football season with only 8 teams. Crap. Just when we thought we got rid of them. I wish I could not care about this conference crap and just get excited for this season... because it's going to be an awesome season. Screw this conference stuff. Maybe we should just go independent too.