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Underdogs Poll, Week Eight

East Carolina and Marshall are dueling it out for the top Group of Five slot, while everyone else watches politely.

Joel Auerbach

I was away last weekend and couldn't get a ballot submitted in time, which was honestly okay with me because I didn't want to have to write a word about the USF-ECU game. Now that a week has passed and we can pretend that game never existed, here is your Voodoo Five Underdogs poll.

Rank

Team Points Last Poll
1 East Carolina Pirates 30 1
2 Marshall Thundering Herd 28 4
3 Colorado State Rams 26 5
4 C. Florida Knights 23 13
5 Boise State Broncos 22 6
6 (tie) Northern Illinois Huskies 19 2
6 (tie) BYU Cougars 19 2
8 Georgia Southern Eagles 16 11
9 Air Force Falcons 15 7
10 (tie) Houston Cougars 9 NR
10 (tie) Arkansas State Red Wolves 9 NR
12 (tie) Memphis Tigers 6 8
12 (tie) Toledo Rockets 6 14
14 Utah State Aggies 4 15
15 Temple Owls 3 9

Receiving votes: San Diego State (2), Middle Tennessee (2), Louisiana Tech (1)

- Andrew commented that picking 15 teams this week was like throwing darts, which is pretty much accurate. Apart from the top two teams, there's really no sort of continuity anywhere. The race for the Group of Five access bowl slot has more or less been whittled down to East Carolina and undefeated Marshall, although I suppose C. Florida and Boise State could get themselves into contention if they won out and ECU and Marshall each took a loss. There's also a 6-1 Colorado State team lurking, of which I have no idea what to make. Hi, Colorado State!

- The AAC race is starting to gain some degree of clarity. ECU is obviously the top dog, but C. Florida is undefeated in conference play as well and has still yet to lose an AAC game ever. Fittingly enough, ECU hosts the Knights on the last game of the season in what could be a de facto conference championship game. Behind them, Houston is starting to gain some traction with back-to-back wins over Memphis and Temple, while the Tigers and Owls will need to string together some wins to stay alive in the conference race.

- Games to keep an eye on: the Taysom Hill-less BYU Cougars will take on Boise State on Friday night in a game the Broncos need to win to keep their slim access bowl hopes alive, in case you need something to watch after USF plays Cincinnati. On Saturday, Temple and C. Florida square off at 7 p.m., and both can ill afford a loss.