With five weeks left in the college football season, No. 18 NIU football trails the No. 16 Fresno State Bulldogs in the BCS Standings by two spots.

Ever since the original BCS Standings came out back in week nine of the season, I have been trying to figure out for the life of me why the Bulldogs have been ranked higher than the Huskies. I still don’t have the slightest clue.

Based on the way the Huskies have played compared to the Bulldogs, I think the Huskies should be the higher ranked non-AQ school. In the long scheme of things, being ranked lower than the Bulldogs largely affects the Huskies’ chances at a BCS Bowl.

In theory, if the college football season were to end today, Fresno State would find itself playing in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl because it is ranked in the top 16 and ahead of the AAC Champion (UCF/Louisville).

Looking at the bodies of work between the Huskies and the Bulldogs this season, they are two of only seven remaining undefeated teams in college football. NIU is 9-0 while the Bulldogs are 8-0 due to a game with Colorado being postponed in week three of the season.

Fresno State plays in the Mountain West Conference while NIU plays in the Mid-American Conference. All the chatter is that the Bulldogs play in a better conference than the Huskies, but I don’t see it.

As of now the MAC has five bowl-eligible teams compared to just two in the MWC. People always bash the Huskies for playing a weak non-conference schedule, but there’s nothing impressive at all about the Bulldogs’ non-conference victories.

They beat Cal Poly (4-5), 41-25, dominated an Idaho (1-8) team that NIU struggled with, 61-14, and their most impressive win was a 52-51 victory over Rutgers (5-3) in overtime. The Huskies went out and became the first MAC school in history to beat two Big 10 schools in Iowa (5-4), 30-27, and Purdue (1-7), 55-24. They also beat one of the best FCS schools in the nation in Eastern Illinois, 43-39, and were able to pull out a 45-35 win over the Vandals.

The Bulldogs have struggled within their conference and have been lucky to survive on a number of occasions. They slipped by Boise State at home, 41-40, and caught a huge break in their 35-28 overtime victory over San Diego State when the Aztecs missed a game-winning field goal at the end of regulation.

As for the Huskies, they have made quick work of the MAC Conference and run through every team they have played, with the exception of their 27-20 victory over Akron.

Both the Bulldogs and Huskies can light up the scoreboard as the Huskies are seventh in the nation in scoring, with 44.2 points per game, while the Bulldogs are eighth in the nation in scoring, putting up 43.9 points per game.

The Huskies do their damage on the ground as they are the fourth-best rushing team in the nation, averaging 312.7 yards per game. The Bulldogs are led through the air, ranking as the fourth-best passing team in the nation, throwing for 386.3 yards per game.

In the most recent BCS Bowl projections released by ESPN writer Brad Edwards, he selected the Huskies to go to the Fiesta Bowl. If the Huskies take care of business in their final three games of the season and win the MAC Championship, I see no reason why they can’t make the jump over the Bulldogs in the standings to earn a BCS Bowl bid.