The Northern Illinois Huskies' 63-19 dismantling of UMass on Saturday didn't come off as too impressive in the eyes of voters, as the Huskies actually found themselves slipping in one poll.
The newest USA Today Coaches and AP Poll's were released Sunday morning, and NIU came in at No. 20 for the second straight week in the Coaches Poll, while slipping a spot to No. 22 in a AP Poll this week. Meanwhile, Fresno State, a fellow non-AQ school climbing up the polls, bumped up one spot to No. 17 in the Coaches Poll. The Bulldogs also fell a spot in the AP Poll, slipping to No. 17.
Luckily for the Huskies (and Bulldogs) the AP Poll has no bearing on the BCS Rankings, where NIU came in at No. 17 this past week. The updated standings come out tonight.
NIU's lack of progression this week likely comes from the fact that its defense gave up more than 300 yards to an anemic Minutemen offense that was without its starting quarterback. A strong performance by Michigan State (which jumped up five spots to No. 19 in the Coaches Poll following a blowout win over Michigan Saturday) also had a lot to do with NIU's stagnant ranking this week.
What should also worry Huskies fans is the fact that UCF, despite having a bye-week, actually shot up a spot in the Coaches Poll to No. 21 (one behind NIU). The Coaches Poll does count for the BCS rankings. UCF and Houston are in a race for the American-Athletic Conference, if the AAC champion finishes in the Top 16 in the final BCS rankings, it could erase all hopes of NIU making a BCS Bowl game.
The Huskies are off this week, but take on Ball State on Wednesday, Nov. 13 on national television, before taking on Toledo the following week. Those two games should provide the Huskies plenty of opportunity to move up, if they perform well and win both.
Here's a look at the USA Today Coaches Poll:
RANK | TEAM | RECORD | POINTS | FIRST PLACE VOTES | PREVIOUS RANK | CHANGE | HI/LOW |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Alabama Crimson Tide |
8-0 | 1540 | 54 | 1 | 1/1 | |
2 | Oregon Ducks |
8-0 | 1475 | 5 | 2 | 2/3 | |
3 | Florida State Seminoles |
8-0 | 1436 | 3 | 3 | 3/12 | |
4 | Ohio State Buckeyes |
9-0 | 1369 | 0 | 4 | 2/4 | |
5 | Baylor Bears |
7-0 | 1299 | 0 | 5 | 5/NR | |
6 | Stanford Cardinal |
7-1 | 1222 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 4/13 |
7 | Clemson Tigers |
8-1 | 1121 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 4/10 |
8 | Oklahoma Sooners |
7-1 | 971 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 8/18 |
9 | Missouri Tigers |
8-1 | 961 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 7/NR |
10 | Auburn Tigers |
8-1 | 959 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 10/NR |
11 | Oklahoma State Cowboys |
7-1 | 864 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 11/20 |
12 | LSU Tigers |
7-2 | 835 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 6/13 |
13 | Texas A&M Aggies |
7-2 | 800 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 6/15 |
14 | Miami Hurricanes |
7-1 | 747 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 6/NR |
15 | South Carolina Gamecocks |
7-2 | 722 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 6/20 |
16 | Louisville Cardinals |
7-1 | 569 | 0 | 17 | 1 | 6/17 |
17 | Fresno State Bulldogs |
8-0 | 567 | 0 | 18 | 1 | 17/NR |
18 | UCLA Bruins |
6-2 | 494 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 10/21 |
19 | Michigan State Spartans |
8-1 | 446 | 0 | 24 | 5 | 19/NR |
20 | Northern Illinois Huskies |
9-0 | 409 | 0 | 20 | 20/NR | |
21 | Central Florida Knights |
6-1 | 340 | 0 | 22 | 1 | 21/NR |
22 | Wisconsin Badgers |
6-2 | 333 | 0 | 23 | 1 | 18/NR |
23 | Texas Tech Red Raiders |
7-2 | 217 | 0 | 15 | 8 | 9/NR |
24 | Arizona State Sun Devils |
6-2 | 130 | 0 | NR | 23/NR | |
25 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish |
7-2 | 108 | 0 | 25 | 11/NR |
And here's the AP Top 25:
Rank | Team | Record | Votes | Previous |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Alabama (52) | 8-0 | 1,491 | 1 |
2 | Oregon (2) | 8-0 | 1,418 | 2 |
3 | Florida State (6) | 8-0 | 1,409 | 3 |
4 | Ohio State | 9-0 | 1,315 | 4 |
5 | Baylor | 7-0 | 1,234 | 5 |
6 | Stanford | 7-1 | 1,214 | 6 |
7 | Auburn | 8-1 | 1,082 | 8 |
8 | Clemson | 8-1 | 1,059 | 9 |
9 | Missouri | 8-1 | 956 | 10 |
10 | LSU | 7-2 | 863 | 11 |
11 | Texas A&M | 7-2 | 861 | 12 |
12 | Oklahoma | 7-1 | 816 | 13 |
13 | South Carolina | 7-2 | 769 | 14 |
14 | Miami (FL) | 7-1 | 737 | 7 |
15 | Oklahoma State | 7-1 | 662 | 18 |
16 | UCLA | 6-2 | 515 | 17 |
17 | Fresno State | 8-0 | 493 | 16 |
18 | Michigan State | 8-1 | 478 | 24 |
19 | UCF | 6-1 | 472 | 19 |
20 | Louisville | 7-1 | 385 | 20 |
21 | Wisconsin | 6-2 | 342 | 22 |
22 | Northern Illinois | 9-0 | 322 | 21 |
23 | Arizona State | 6-2 | 197 | 25 |
24 | Notre Dame | 7-2 | 164 | NR |
25 | Texas Tech | 7-2 | 102 | 15 |
Others Receiving Votes: Texas 34, Georgia 32, Brigham Young 28, Mississippi 17, Houston 9, Minnesota 7, Michigan 6, Washington 6, Ball State 4, Duke 1 |