ESPN Inaccurately Ranks The Top Ten Non-BCS Schools

by Jeremy Mauss on Aug 11, 2010 4:12 PM PDT in Mountain West Football

Early today ESPN has been running a series in ranking the teams within each conference and the non-AQ teams were combined for a top 10 list. Well, to be nice the list is a joke.

1. Boise State. Broncos went 14-0 last season and return 21 starters.

2. TCU. Only loss last season was to Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. Most starters return, including QB Andy Dalton.

3. Houston. QB Case Keenum is one of the best in the country. If the defense improves, watch out.

4. Navy. Ricky Dobbs should be a household name. The easy schedule could make this a record-setting season for the Middies.

5. Utah. Jordan Wynn returns, but the defense must be rebuilt.

6. Notre Dame. Brian Kelly should bring improvements to the Irish, but they are one year away from being a Top-25 team.

7. Middle Tennessee. Dwight Dasher makes Middle Tennessee a team to watch.

8. SMU. The Mustangs were one year ahead of schedule last season. Kyle Padron is back, and the offense should be high flying once again.

9. Temple. Bernard Pierce and the Owls are coming off a historic season, and the Owls shouldn't have a letdown in 2010.

10. Northern Illinois. Fifteen starters return, including first-team All-MAC RB Chad Spann and most of a defense that ranked No. 30 in the nation last season.

One and two are not questionable, but putting Houston at three is just plain wrong. If my memory serves me correctly Air Force who was the fourth best team in the Mountain West crushed Houston in the Armed Forces Bowl. That same Air Force team picked off Case Keenum six times in a 47-20 win, so not sure how they can be the third best team in the non-AQ especially when loses include to SMU and East Carolina. Houston also is not even ranked in the coaches top 25 and was in the other receiving votes where Utah was in at 24th alongside West Virginia.

I am a fan of Navy and think they are a good team, but ahead of Utah? I think not and that may be the homer in me, but I think Utah would be able to beat Navy. Notre Dame is a questions mark and sixth is ok in my book, but two HUGE omissions from this list is BYU and Air Force.

Via Doc Saturday

First off BYU received votes in the coaches poll and had more then everyone on the list except for Utah, TCU, and Boise State all who are ranked in the polls. Houston was the closest by being behind BYU in the coaches poll. BYU and Air Force should be in the list. I have yet to get to the RIDICULOUS notion of Middle Tennessee State on this list. Yes, they won 10 games last year but they play in Sun Belt (sorry Sun Belt but it is true) and their best win in '09 was a mid level C-USA team in Southern Miss. While I think MTSU should be on the list but I would like to see anyone say with a straight face that they are better then BYU, Air Force, and other teams on the list.

Where is Nevada and their Pistol offense ran by Colin Kaepernick and the mad scientist head coach Chris Ault? This image alone should warrant them on the top 10 list. On a serious note Nevada is the only team in the WAC to give Boise State some trouble, and had three 1,000 yard rushers last year.

Now onto what a top 10 list of the non-BCS should look like.

Boise State
TCU
Utah
Houston
Navy
Air Force
BYU
Temple
Northern Illinois
Nevada

This list is tougher then one thoughts but I think this list is a good representation, plus I removed Notre Dame from consideration because they have special BCS rules so they do not belong. I just do not buy SMU and yes I know they crushed Nevada in their bowl game last year; it is just a gut feeling to remove them from the list.

Northern Illinois does have a history of good teams so they get the benefit of the doubt, and I am hesitant to put Temple on the list, but Al Golden is a stud.

Go ahead and make your own list, and rip mine or the one that ESPN put out.

Follow Mountain West Connection via Twitter and Facebook for News Quick Hits and Random Nonsense.

Tweet Comment 15 comments | Add comment | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Whoa...

Middle Tennesee?? In Lindy’s Pre-Season magazine they were ranked 80th… They don’t even deserve to be there. SMU has to replace a few key offensive positions from the high-powered offense that got them to the post-season.

Navy just isn’t better than Utah. Utah had a better record than Navy last season with a tougher schedule. Utah has more talent than Navy this year and it shouldn’t even be a consideration of Navy better than Utah with a coaching advantage as well.

I agree with you that Nevada should be in over Temple.

Mountain West Connection - The best site for MWC Sports.
UNLV is going all the way this year!

by rebelfan1 on Aug 11, 2010 4:23 PM PDT reply actions

Who cares about ESPN.com?

They obviously have proved they care about us non-AQ’s by assigning us uninterested BCS honk writers like Graham Watson and Andrea Adelson. Adelson is a Miami grad and former Gators beat writer for the Orlando Sentinel, she could give a crap about the MWC, she just see’s this gig as an ESPN stepping stone. My reccomendation is just to stop giving them pageviews, the only thing worth clicking on cfb wise is the “rumors” section.

I would love to spread this hate over to TV, but honestly ESPN has surprised me with fairly unbiased covereage of us, including 3 MWC sites for ESPN College Gameday.

"Football is a violent game played by violent people, so put a smile on your face, murder in your heart and lets go kick these f***kers in the mouth" -Dick Bumpas, TCU Defensive Coordinator

by Ben Findley on Aug 11, 2010 5:43 PM PDT reply actions

still

sometimes it is worth it. Her countdown at the Oralnod Sentinel was laughable with I think 3 MWC teams in the 100 plus range.

Mountain West Connection The best site for MWC sports!

by Jeremy Mauss on Aug 11, 2010 6:03 PM PDT up reply actions

You will rarely be disappointed when you bet against SMU having two solid-esque seasons in a row.

by HawkeyedFrog on Aug 11, 2010 6:52 PM PDT reply actions

I think UCF is better than Nevada & possibly NIU

But I do agree that UH should be knocked down a bit- people really forget how terrible their defense was last season.

Axes Up. Miner Rush - For UTEP Miners Fans

by Adrian Mac on Aug 11, 2010 9:24 PM PDT reply actions

plus notre dame is THE bcs team. espn was talking about them going to a bcs bowl if they went 9-3 with charlie weiss as coach.

I'm all about covering the spread and moneylines. Glory favors the bold. Chance favors the prepared mind. Luck, well i have that too. University of Utah goes to the Pac-12 conference in 2011. I expect them to compete immediately for the conference CG. Brock Lesnar will defeat Cain Velasquez. Womens MMA, the next big thing in sports. 3 weeks till the first game of college football. UTAH vs Pitt. September 2nd 2010.

by wolfmanshowlforever on Aug 12, 2010 12:47 AM PDT up reply actions

Agreed

1) Putting Notre Dame on the list is a SERIOUS screw up.
2) Her list is a SERIOUS screw up.

She clearly doesn’t know what she is talking about and ESPN is happy with that.

by daedalus17 on Aug 12, 2010 9:24 AM PDT up reply actions

Navy has a real chance to go undefeated this year.

Good team there, nothing wrong with their spot on the list.

And you know what is worse than a horribly inaccurate non-BCS poll? Being totally ignored. So things could be worse.

by Spyder Mayhem on Aug 12, 2010 9:54 AM PDT reply actions

And before someone jumps all over their weak schedule, remember...

Navy recruits have to meet certain height/weight requirements established by their service. No schedule is easy when your offensive line is tiny.

by Spyder Mayhem on Aug 12, 2010 9:56 AM PDT up reply actions

trust me i have great respect for navy. after utah's 19 aq bcs wins navy is second with 18.

then tcu and then byu. your right they are loaded but the fact remains we beat them in a bowl game and utah is better and it will be close who will have more wins this year. hopefully air force won’t botch a 24 yard fg like last year.

by wolfmanshowlforever on Aug 12, 2010 11:36 AM PDT up reply actions

wolfman

I was at that bowl game in 07, and it was closer than you may remember – 35-32. And that game could have gone either way. Utah won, fair enough, but let’s not pretend there was much difference between the teams. (I will say the Utah fans were awesome before, during and after the game, by the way… better than Missou last year).

We both had 10 wins last season, and Navy arguably had the tougher schedule. At the end of the day I think Utah and Navy are pretty evenly matched. Too bad we wont be playing this year.

And let’s hope that on Oct 2 AF misses all of their FG’s, fumbles every time they run, and throws an interception every time they pass…

But even if they don’t, I think Navy will win again this year and by a larger margin than last. But we’ll see. That’s why the game is played on the field and not on paper.

by usna95 on Aug 17, 2010 10:23 AM PDT up reply actions

This is about the quality of the teams

No one cares about how “tiny” a team’s line is or the height/weight requirements. We’re talking college football and the relative merits of non-aq teams. The question is about how good the team is. If they have overcome the obstacles you mention, good for them. But when they suit up on Saturday, it’s all about playing football, and Navy and Air Force are very good football teams with some outstanding players and coaches.

by rrb on Aug 13, 2010 9:10 AM PDT up reply actions

air force will be good and i love your qb but you lost the entire ol from last year.

you have many weapons on offense and jefferson can concentrate just on football. just beat navy and army and get back the commander and chiefs trophy. 2 things you know about the service academies. they won’t give up and the are very disciplined so they get less penalties then 95% of the teams out there. good luck to your team.

by wolfmanshowlforever on Aug 14, 2010 2:19 AM PDT up reply actions