The BCS standings, which were released Sunday, made a lot of noise for NIU fans.

The standings represent the top 25 teams in the nation and each team’s chance to get into a BCS bowl game. A number of upsets in the top 25 headlined college football: Top teams like No. 3 Clemson, No. 6 LSU, No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 8 Louisville and No. 9 UCLA were all taken down. In the end, nine top 25 teams lost over the weekend.

While the top 25 struggled, the Huskies took care of business, taking down Central Michigan, 38-17, behind quarterback Jordan Lynch’s NCAA-record 316 rushing yards as a quarterback. NIU is now one of only 10 remaining unbeaten teams.

With that win, the Huskies come in respectably at No. 18 in the BCS standings. They remain No. 23 in The Associated Press poll and move to No. 22 in the USA Today Coaches poll.

Meanwhile, Fresno State comes into the BCS Standings one spot ahead of the Huskies at No. 17. It moved up to No. 15 in The Associated Press poll and No. 18 in the USA Today Coaches poll. While the Huskies narrowly trail the Bulldogs in the BCS Standings, the Huskies have an edge on them in the computer rankings.

The Huskies’ average computer ranking is 13 while the Bulldogs’ average rank is 17. The Huskies are also ranked by all five computer polls while Fresno State is ranked by only three. No upset may have been bigger for the Huskies than UCF’s 38-35 victory over then-No. 8 Louisville Thursday night.

With that loss, Louisville falls to No. 20 in the BCS standings while UCF comes in at No. 23. This makes NIU and Fresno State’s journey to a BCS bowl a little more manageable. With the Bulldogs and Huskies most likely to finish ahead of the AAC Conference Champion (Louisville/UCF), they only need to finish ranked in the top 16 as opposed to in the top 12.

As for the Huskies, not much has changed since last week. NIU still needs Fresno State to get upset at some point to move ahead of it in the rankings. NIU also needs to run the table in the MAC while earning some impressive victories in the process.

If that becomes a reality and the Huskies are ranked in the top 16, ahead of the AAC Conference Champion, they may very well find themselves eligible for a BCS Bowl game for the second consecutive season.