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Week 7 College Football Rankings: Mountain West Shutout Of AP, Coaches Poll
Three teams are getting votes.
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Mountain West is getting no respect
It is all about respect and the zero to the right side of one’s record. None of the Mountain West teams have the latter and that means the former comment is hard to come by.
The latest AP and Coaches Poll after Week 7 do not feature any Mountain West teams, but three are earning votes in Utah State, Fresno State and San Diego State.
The Aztecs are the closest to being ranked as they are two spots outside of the AP poll and in the coaches poll they are four spots out of being ranked in the coaches poll.
https://twitter.com/RedditCFB/status/1051547545980219392
San Diego State is doing what it does which is winning by close defensive battles and getting by despite having injuries to its starting quarterback, running back and the key fullback position for the Aztecs.
Once, or if, San Diego State gets everyone healthy they will be even more of a threat to win the Mountain West.
Winning is key but winning impressive is very important which is why Utah State probably has the best reason to be ranked.
The Aggies are second in the country in scoring at 51.7 points per game and are one of two teams that score over 50 points. The other, oh, it is just Alabama which is scoring 53.6 points per game. Utah State is not just scoring on offense but they are getting points from special teams and also defensive scores.
The opening season loss to Michigan State, 37-31, is the only blemish and while Utah State’s schedule has not been all that great, but they have been dominating its competition with an easy week in and week out schedule.
The Aggies schedule the rest of the way is not too daunting as they miss Fresno State and San Diego State this year, but the remaining road games do pose threats playing at Hawaii, at Wyoming and the season finale at Boise State.
Fresno State has looked really good and can arguably be considered as good, or even better than Utah State. The Bulldogs are scoring a lot of points but its defense is peforming better than the Aggies.
The Bulldogs are scoring 38 points per game and are holding opposing teams to just 13.5 points per game which is second in the country. Scoring margin favors Utah State at plus 21.2 to Fresno State’s plus 16.2, then there is San Diego State which is actuall minus 0.2 per game in margin of victory.
All three of these teams have a great reason to be ranked but voters either don’t watch (which is very likely due to other duties) and also strength of schedule is a reason to not vote any of these Mountain West teams in the top 25 polls.
However, dominant wins should come into play as a consideration even if playing teams from non-power leagues or just bad competition.
With how close San Diego State is in both polls they have a really good chance of being ranked next Sunday if they can beat San Jose State, but they need to look good winning by a large margin.
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