Games of the week

Besides the high rankings and national attention that UC has received, one big difference for me as a fan this season has been the fact that I am much more interested in the outcome of other top 25 games. In previous seasons, I rooted for teams in Big East games that impacted Cincinnati, but that was about it. Now I look at all the top teams, which has been fun.

So besides UC, what teams do Bearcat fans need to root for this weekend? The Bearcats are #5 in the BCS rankings, which is composed of #5 in Harris poll, #7 in coaches poll, #5 in computer rankings (5,5,7,5). Here are games that could affect Cincinnati's standings in the polls and computer rankings

-Boise State (7,4,5,8) @ Louisiana Tech--Boise is becoming less of a threat to bump UC, as their weak schedule is causing their computer ranking to fall.

-Syracuse @ Pittsburgh (13,15,14,14)--Pitt, like UC, needs to keep winning to help raise the stature of the Big East in the eyes of voters.

-Texas (2,2,2,3) @ Central Florida--A loss by any of the other undefeated teams helps UC. This would be a huge one, but is unlikely.

-Iowa (4,7,6,2) @ Northwestern--Iowa is a huge threat to UC. If only 3 teams go undefeated and Iowa and Cincy are two of them, Iowa likely gets the nod over UC for the chance to play for the national championship. This is a game that Iowa should win, but they haven't dominated anybody and anything can happen in conference play.

-Oregon (8,8,8,8) @ Stanford--Oregon is hot right now and attracting a lot of attention. Their loss to Boise State will keep them behind Boise and UC, for now.

-Alabama (3,3,3,2) @ LSU (9,9,9,9)--This game could have a huge impact on the national championship. If LSU wins out it would knock both Florida and Alabama out of contention for a spot in the title game, and open a spot for a non-SEC team, unless LSU leapfrogs everyone for the spot.

-TCU (6,6,4,6) @ San Diego State--TCU has been coming on like a freight train, and thanks to alot of love from the coaches (which UC doesn't get), trails the Bearcats by only 0.002 points in the BCS standings.

- Florida (1,1,1,1) @ Vanderbilt--Like Texas, Florida isn't likely to lose this one, but it would really open things up if they did.