Two Big Surprises in College Football

Tulsa and Ball State Blaze a Trail into the Top 25

In a sport where high profile teams seem to be the ones that make their way to the top 25 in the National Rankings, it is nice to see a couple of surprises now and then. College football has been full of surprises this year and maybe none more than two little known universities, Tulsa and Ball State.

As of this writing (10-28-2008) the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes are 8-0 with only four games remaining in their regular season. The Golden Hurricanes are in a smaller non-BCS Conference called Conference USA. Earlier in the year it was another team out of the conference in East Carolina that seemed it would shock the world, but then quickly lost 3 games in a row. But Tulsa has yet to falter looking as good as any team in the country. Their efforts have been rewarded with a National Ranking of 19 in the AP poll and 18 in the coach's poll (source: espn.com).

The Ball State Cardinals as of this writing are also a perfect 8-0 and also have four games remaining in their regular season. Like the Golden Hurricanes of Tulsa, the Cardinals are in a lesser-known, non-BCS conference called the Mid American Conference (MAC). Ball State has the total opposite National Ranking of Tulsa, being ranked18 in the AP poll and 19 in the coach's poll. What's even more amazing to this story is that the Ball State Cardinals have never been ranked in the top 25 before this season. The Cardinals have done this while being without one of their top players whose career was ended by a spinal injury (source: espn.com). Perhaps the players are finding motivation from their fallen teammate.