This week in the undercards.

War drums, ceaseless and uneasy.
The mid-major flag is carried into the top 10 again this week by Boise State, enjoying the fruits of a bye week, and Texas Christian, by virtue of a close call at Air Force. (As well as the frontrunner for AP headline of the season. Because it's cold in Colorado in October! Get it?) Interceptions, fumbles, hostile weather, and special teams trickery all played roles in a 20-17 blood-pressure-belaboring TCU win in Colorado Springs, where the conditions were far from ideal, especially for Texas-bred Frogs, but par for the course from here on with trips to BYU and Wyoming still ahead.

S-E-C!! S-E-huh?
If you're going to chink the armor of College Football's Premier Conference, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt are the points to set your knives. Houston got its groove back with pinball-worthy numbers from quarterback Case Keenum in Starkville, and Army's boasting its first .500 record in October in more a decade after kicking past Vandy in overtime. (For Black Knight fans in the crowd: When the Commodores come to down, do you berate them for those goofy feathered hats? Is this a redundant question?)

Streaking forward, cautiously.
Attrition-ravaged Utah is still finding ways out of the damndest spots, including a 14-point hole at Colorado State, and has only that unfortunate Oregon episode tarnishing its '09 record. Remember that time Colorado State was 3-0 with upsets over Colorado and Nevada and we all pointed and said, "Hey, how in the blue hell is Colorado State 3-0?" Pretty much done with that now. 3-3 is equilibrium for the Rams as far as we're concerned. Move along, nothing to see in Fort Collins ...

Conquerors prefer enemies as fierce as tigers and brave as yarbnalls.
Idaho, increasingly seen by many to be the last, best hope at taking out Boise State, put a scare into us Saturday night in a too-close-for-comfort victory over San Jose State that could set the wheels in motion on Dick Tomey's exit from San Jose. Suddenly quarterback-free Hawaii should provide a nice breather next week, after which the Vandals face as tough a gauntlet as you can really draw in the WAC, with Nevada, Louisiana Tech and Fresno State in a row before they set foot on the Smurf Turf.

Tommy West, now only mostly fired.
UTEP, back in full pumpkin mode beyond the eerie boundaries of El Paso, followed last week's inexplicable Houston punch-out with a loss to a Memphis team so bad that hometown reporters were already lining up replacement candidates for the head coach. before the Tigers' first conference win. If you're looking for West this afternoon, he'll be the one adding "transitive win over Top 25 team" to his CV.

Profiles in continuing ineptitude.
As expected, though with less certainty than you'd think considering their play thus far, your roster of winless teams has dwindled to seven. The happy one-fer is Florida International, which disposed of Western Kentucky and will now carry its proud 1-4 record into a date with Sun Belt overlord Troy and, inevitably, more disappointment. The unhappy remainders with '0' in the win column: Rice, Miami (Ohio), Eastern Michigan, Ball State, New Mexico, Western Kentucky, and Florida Atlantic.

What should have been ...
We hold a special place in the black pits where our hearts should be for the Doc's alma mater of Southern Miss, and they've had their share of ridiculous misfortune already this season, but to lose to Louisville, that Louisville, on a literal last-minute field goal, is just rubbing lemon juice over their paper cuts. The three-game win streak to open 2009 has crumbled beneath three straight losses, and the Golden Eagles will need their cylinders firing faster to get past Houston and Tulsa later on.

... and what never had a prayer:
Rice and Eastern Michigan's bids to crawl out of the winless well. The former ran into the buzzsaw of a ticked-off Navy outfit determined not to let the ball leave the ground; the latter into Dan LeFevour's throwing arm and shapely feet, from which very little in the MAC emerges intact.

Player of the Week: Freddie Barnes, WR, Bowling Green.
BG quarterback Tyler Sheehan busted a few scoreboard bulbs himself with more than 500 yards passing, four TD passes and the winning touchdown scramble in the Falcons' 36-25 win over Kent State, but the spotlight really belonged to Sheehan's main target, Barnes, who had a respectable season in an afternoon with 22 catches (one shy of the NCAA single-game record) for 278 yards and three touchdowns to get BG off a four-game slide.

Dan LeFevour Stat Watch
Mid-Major Monday's token Heisman show pony saw a slight dip in his completion percentage against Eastern Michigan, racking up "only" 318 yards on 16-of-22 passing, but obliterated his previous marks this year for distance, nailing a 70-yard bomb to Antonio Brown for a score early in the first quarter. He finished the day with three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a blistering 239.3 rating in a 56-8 Chippewa win. (Oh, and did we mention three more short-yardage rushing touchdowns?)

A Somewhat Arbitrary Mid-Major Top 10
1. TCU (5-0) Frogs are up by virtue of playing an actual game this week, however squeakily they survived.
2. Boise State (5-0) And down by that same token.
3. Central Michigan (5-1) Will the last directional Michigan date (Western) be the Chippewas' undoing? (No.)
4. BYU (5-1) Marking time to TCU's visit on Oct. 24.
5. Houston (4-1) Beating Mississippi State won't win back that flavor-of-the-month cachet, but at least it's not losing to Mississippi State.
6. Utah (4-1) As predicted, it's a bit of a slog for the Utes this year -- but they're still winning.
7. Idaho (5-1) Close call this week. Hang in there, yarbnalls.
8. Navy (4-2) Save some rageahol for Southern Methodist, Middies.
9. Tulsa (4-1) Idle this week, still scored 45 despite three turnovers.
10. Ohio (4-2) The return of Boo Jackson will earn you an additional 2-spot bump, Bobcats, no questions asked.
Dropped out: Middle Tennessee State

Stay Tuned.
Games pinging our radar for next week include Boise State at Tulsa, Mississippi State at Middle Tennessee State, Wyoming at Air Force, Marshall at West Virginia, Colorado State at TCU, and Northern Illinois at Toledo.

• Most Realistic Upset: MTSU over Missy State. The Dan Mullen Machine is not yet fully operational, and until he's got the roster to pull off his moves, he can be gotten. After a nasty loss to Troy, the Blue Raiders will be out for more Big Six blood after beating Maryland for the second year in a row last month. The Raiders also came very close to picking off MSU in Starkville last year.

• Most Unrealistic Upset: Central Florida has quivered in the wakes of even the most marginally solid teams this season, dropping games to Southern Miss and East Carolina and barely getting by Samford and Buffalo. The Knights are 15-point underdogs to Miami (FL), and that's being incredibly kind.

• Most Inevitably Gruesome Blowout: UAB at Ole Miss. An embarrassed Houston Nutt is a man riding with the winds of chaos, and after having his team exposed as a pretender to the SEC West throne by Alabama, he's not going quietly. Dates with Arkansas, Auburn, and LSU remain, and the unexpectedly deplorable Blazers will prove convenient punching bags. The Rebels will run it up just to spite the haters before flaming out at least one more time in conference play this season.

Scoreboard. After six weeks of competition, the mid-majors gain a sliver of ground on BCS schools, then lose a step: The little guys are 17-73 head-to-head, up from 15-71 last week. And let's give a warm welcome to the service academies to the right side of the board, courtesy of their first win over a major conference team with Army's overtime defeat of Vanderbilt. Yes, it counts ...

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Holly welcomes your adulation and veiled threats at nastinchka-at-yahoo, etc.