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The Horned Frogs just keep on winning. Flush with their 38-17 non-conference win over Army on Saturday, the No. 25 Horned Frogs became the first non-BCS conference team to be bowl-eligible. That's nothing new for the Horned Frogs, who have reached a bowl game six of the past seven years. What's different is the setting. After spending the past five years duking it out with the south and midwest teams in Conference USA, the Horned Frogs are now dominating the schools of the Rocky Mountains. The Horned Frogs are now riding a five-game winning streak and are back in the Top 25 for the second time this season, and moved up to No. 21 in the Associated Press poll after losses by No. 22 Minnesota and No. 24 Colorado. TCU's rationale for leaving Conf-USA was the opportunity to play in bigger bowl games, and possibly improve its standing to reach a BCS bowl game, which the Horned Frogs came close to in 2003, when they won their first 10 games and moved up to No. 6 in the BCS standings to nearly crash the New Year's Day party. The Mountain West has three bowl tie-ins, including the Las Vegas Bowl and the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco. The conference also has a tie to the new Poinsetta Bowl in San Diego. It's debatable whether these bowls are any bigger than the five Conf-USA is tied to. But how many teams in Conf-USA have a national reputation in football? It's hard to make a case for any of them, frankly. At least in the Mountain West, you have Brigham Young, which has won a national title in the past, and Utah, which became the first non-BCS school to reach a BCS game last year. The strength of schedule should help TCU eventually. But right now the Horned Frogs will have to revel in leading the Mountain West. They're winning with a fluid quarterback situation, as Jeff Ballard threw for two scores and ran in two more against the Black Knights. He looked more efficient than fellow QB Tye Gunn, who along with Ballard has once been named MWC Offensive Player of the Week this season. But their head coach, Gary Patterson, is a former defensive coordinator who took over after Dennis Franchione left for Alabama (and then Texas A&M). So it's no surprise the Horned Frogs lead the nation in takeaways and turnover margin, and had three turnovers on Saturday. The Horned Frogs have four more MWC games remaining. The one roadblock to an uncontested conference title is Colorado State, one game behind TCU at 2-1. The Rams are one of three schools — BYU and Utah are the others — that have won the MWC football crown. Colorado State is probably the second-best team in the conference — or at least they were before losing to BYU, 24-14, after most college football fans went to bed Saturday night. It's a critical loss for the Rams, who had no answer for BYU running back Curtis Brown, who rushed for 147 yards and two touchdowns. It was also a critical win for BYU (3-3, 2-2), as it keeps their slim conference title hopes alive. And they are slim. In reality, the Cougars are playing for second or third place and a possible bowl trip. Elsewhere in the MWC, Utah continued its tumble since the departure of coach Urban Meyer, as the Utes fell to San Diego State, 28-19. That stopped the Utes' (3-4, 1-3) 10-game winning streak at home. San Diego State (3-4, 2-2) got more than 300 yards in total offense out of quarterback Kevin O'Connell. Utah QB Brian Johnson had 483 total yards in the loss. New Mexico's DonTrell more continued his rise up the NCAA rushing leaders with a 181-yard, 3-touchdown performance in a 27-24 win against Wyoming. New Mexico (4-3, 2-2) is now two wins from bowl eligibility, as are the Cowboys (4-3, 2-2). And Air Force (3-4, 2-3) trashed UNLV (2-5, 1-3), 42-7, in a battle of the next-to-last and last-place teams in the conference. Bowl report (Predictions on who will go where) Las Vegas Bowl (conference champion): TCU Emerald Bowl (second or third place): Colorado State Poinsettia Bowl (MWC at large): BYU Conference USA All Saturday's results did was muddy up the title picture, and show that this conference, with the departures of TCU and Louisville, is now wide-open. Central Florida had an opportunity to keep its separation at the top of the Eastern Division, but fell to Southern Mississippi, 52-31. Dustin Almond went nuts, tossing five touchdown passes and leading the Golden Eagles to a school-record 45 first-half points. Now both are 2-1 in Conf-USA action. Southern Miss is 3-2 overall, UCF is 3-3. If that's not bad enough, two other teams are 2-1 in the East. East Carolina (3-3, 2-1) got three touchdowns from quarterback James Pinkney to beat SMU (2-5, 1-3) 24-17, marking the first time ECU has been at .500 in October since 2001. Also, Marshall (3-3, 2-1) is in this massive tie for first place after slipping by UAB (3-3, 1-2) 20-19. Memphis kept itself in the hunt, rebounding from its loss to UCF last Saturday with a 35-20 win over Houston. The Tigers (3-3, 2-2) started their fourth different quarterback this season — wide receiver Maurice Avery. He spent most of the night handing off to NCAA rushing leader DeAngelo Williams, who had 198 yards and two scores, as he surpassed the 5,000-yard mark for his career and moved into 10th place all-time in NCAA history. In the West Division, Tulsa (4-3, 3-1) stayed percentage points ahead of UT-El Paso (4-1, 2-1) for first place. Tulsa had little problem with Rice (0-5, 0-3), which lost its 11th game in a row. Uril Parrish led Tulsa with three rushing touchdowns. UTEP, meanwhile, had beaten Tulane (2-3, 1-2), as the Miners got 203 all-purpose yards from sophomore Marcus Thomas, making his first collegiate start. It's only going to get muddier this weekend, as Southern Miss faces UAB and Marshall gets UTEP. Bowl report (Predictions on who will go where) GMAC Bowl (C-USA No. 2): UCF Liberty Bowl (C-USA Champion): Tulsa Hawai'i Bowl (C-USA No. 3): Marshall New Orleans Bowl (C-USA at large): Southern Miss Fort Worth Bowl (C-USA No. 4): Houston Western Athletic Conference Nevada might be on the verge of something special after its 37-27 win over Louisiana Tech on Saturday. Nevada (4-2, 3-0) took a percentage point lead over Fresno State (4-1, 2-0) and Boise State (4-2, 2-0) with the victory, as quarterback Jeff Rowe passed for 269 yards and a pair of scores in the victory. Running back B.J. Mitchell pounded away at the Tech (2-3, 2-1) defense for 146 yards. The Wolf Pack ended up with 458 yards of total offense, while holding La. Tech to just 229 yards total offense. But the Wolf Pack has nowhere to hide, as a pair of former WAC champions are hot on their trail. Fresno State got itself back into the Top 25 with its 53-21 win over new WAC member Utah State (2-3, 1-2). Fresno State scored 46 straight points after falling behind 6-0. It was also the Bulldogs' seventh straight WAC victory, and are now fifth in the nation in points scored (44.6 points per game). That leaves fans lusting for the shootout between the Bulldogs and Boise State, which beat San Jose State (1-5, 0-3) 38-21. The Broncos now have a 28-game home and conference winning streak, which are longest in the nation. That game is coming up on Thursday, Nov. 10, conveniently scheduled for maximum exposure on ESPN. And last, Hawai'i (2-4, 2-2) defeated New Mexico State (0-7, 0-3) 49-28, on the strength of quarterback Colt Brennan's 515 yards passing and seven touchdowns, numbers dwarfed only by Texas Tech's Cory Hodges, who threw for more than 600 yards Saturday. Don't look for any of the top three to lose this coming weekend, either. Nevada is off, Boise State gets Utah State and Fresno State faces Idaho in non-conference action. Bowl report (Predictions on who will go where) GMAC Bowl (MAC or WAC at-large): Nevada Hawai'i Bowl (WAC at-large): Fresno State MPC Computers (WAC at large): Boise State Mid-American Conference Toledo (5-0, 3-1 MAC West) and Bowling Green (4-2, 3-0 MAC East) remained on a collision course for the MAC Championship game later this year. Bruce Gradkowski threw for 207 yards and three touchdowns in Toledo's 34-14 win over Ball State (1-5, 1-2) on Saturday. Toledo needs only one more win to be bowl eligible this season. Meanwhile, Bowling Green back B.J. Lane ran for a career-high 141 yards and three touchdowns, leading to a 27-7 win over Buffalo (0-6, 0-3). Bowling Green's lead appears safe, for now. The Falcons have a two-game lead on Akron (3-3, 2-2), thanks to a 51-23 loss to Miami (Ohio). Josh Betts had three touchdowns and Miami rolled up 580 yards in total offense to damage the Zips' championship game hopes. That, however, helped Miami and kept its faint hopes alive. In the West, Central Michigan (4-3, 3-1) remained in striking distance with an easy 37-10 homecoming win over Ohio (2-4, 1-2 East). Northern Illinois (3-3, 2-1 West) is still in the hunt as well. NIU beat Eastern Michigan (3-4, 2-2 West) 24-8. Elsewhere, Kent State (1-5, 0-3) fell to Navy, 34-31, and provisional MAC member Temple was drilled by No. 7 Miami, 34-3. Western Michigan (3-3, 1-2 West) did not play. Bowl report (Predictions on who will go where) GMAC Bowl (MAC or WAC at-large): Bowling Green Motor City Bowl (MAC winner or runner-up): Toledo Note: Those are the MAC's only binding bowl ties. The league also sent schools to the Fort Worth Bowl, the Liberty Bowl and the Silicon Valley Bowl in 2004. Sun Belt Conference Louisiana-Monroe continued its stunning run at a New Orleans Bowl berth with a 27-3 domination of Troy on Saturday. Troy (2-4, 1-1) committed 12 penalties and Indians (3-0, 3-4) quarterback Steven Jyles went 15 of 29 for 190 yards. The Indians are a game up on Arkansas State (3-3, 2-1), which needed all it had to slip past Louisiana-Lafayette (1-5, 0-2) 39-36. Eric Neihouse kicked a 35-yard field goal as time expired to prevent a loss that would have pretty much ended ASU's hopes of a bowl trip. North Texas (3-3, 2-1) bounced back from its loss to Troy, one that ended its run of domination in the Sun Belt, to beat Florida International (1-4, 0-2) 13-10. It wasn't perfect, certainly, but the Mean Green dodged a bullet and got 112 yards rushing from senior Patrick Cobbs to stay in the hunt for its fifth straight trip to the New Orleans Bowl. And, Middle Tennessee (2-3, 1-1) pounded Florida Atlantic (1-6, 1-2) 35-20. Bowl report (Predictions on who will go where) New Orleans Bowl (Sun Belt Champion): Louisiana-Monroe ----- |
 
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