1. The Mountain West's claim for an automatic BCS-bowl berth seems more and more worthy each passing week. The MWC currently has three ranked teams, including two in the top 10 (Texas Christian and Utah). That's more ranked teams than the Big East or ACC and more top-10 teams than either of those two conferences and the Big 10. The Big East was shut out of the rankings for the second consecutive week, and Mountain West fans can't be happy that a potentially unranked Big East champion still has an automatic BCS bid.
2. It's not a good time for traditional powerhouses. USC and Texas fell out of the rankings entirely after the Trojans lost at home to unranked Washington and the Longhorns dropped their second consecutive contest. No. 14 Florida continues to struggle in the post-Tim Tebow era, getting routed by the top-ranked Crimson Tide 31-6--putting up less points than Duke did against Alabama two weeks ago--and falling seven spots.
3. Schedule strength is starting to matter. Boise State's path to the national game just got more difficult after the Broncos were jumped by Oregon in this week's poll. The Ducks rose to No. 3 after coming back to defeat then-No. 9 Stanford 52-31. Boise State only has one more ranked opponent on its schedule and now needs two teams ahead of it to lose. The gap between Boise State and TCU is also closing, and the Horned Frogs may be able to jump the Broncos as champions of the Mountain West.
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