Northern Illinois jumped past Fresno State in the latest BCS standings and that is because of how the computers love the Huskies and have them ranked in the top 10. The human polls feel the opposite as Fresno State is No. 13 in each, while Northern Illinois is multiple spots behind them.
Both teams should finished undefeated so the difference between the two teams could come down to the computer ratings of their upcoming opponents. Northern Illinois is getting past Western Michigan fairly easily, but their computer rating is in the toilet and more comparable to Fresno State's last opponent in New Mexico.
Fresno State should make some ground up this week by playing San Jose State who is in the 80s and 90s, so the gap could shrink quite a bit between the two teams. but probably not enough for Fresno State to jump Northern Illinois.
The final game between each school is not yet set in stone but they are fairly comparable for both Northern Illinois and Fresno State, with a slight edge for Fresno State.
Here are the computer rankings for Northern Illinois.
Team | Jeff Sagarin | Anderson & Hester | Richard Billingsley | Colley Matrix | Kenneth Massey | Dr. Peter Wolfe |
Western Michigan | 196 | 119 | 123 | 129 | 119 | 248 |
Buffalo | 62 | 60 | 57 | 56 | 62 | 57 |
Bowling Green | 56 | 64 | 48 | 61 | 64 | 69 |
Here are Fresno State's opponents computer rankings.
Team | Jeff Sagarin | Anderson & Hester | Richard Billingsley | Colley Matrix | Kenneth Massey | Dr. Peter Wolfe |
San Jose State | 97 | 89 | 80 | 84 | 88 | 90 |
Boise State | 45 | 65 | 51 | 58 | 50 | 59 |
Utah State | 49 | 68 | 56 | 63 | 48 | 67 |
Assuming both teams win out the BCS bid will not be known until the actual announcement, so there will be plenty of excitement over the final two weeks.
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