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Underdogs Included In Final Regular Season Polls

Despite there being no undefeated Group of Five teams left in the country, the three usual suspects remain in the major Top 25 polls. And, after an impressive victory over Marshall on Saturday, Western Kentucky remains unranked. Maybe next week.

By FletchTopper
Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

As we officially descend into championship week, and as we all await the next batch of rankings from the College Football Playoff Committee, the major non-playoff polls were all released on Sunday, and feature the usual G5 suspects of Navy, Houston and Temple all remain in the Top 25 of the AP and Coaches polls. The full AP and Coaches polls, along with the Top 25 in S&P+ and Massey, can be seen below.

AP Coaches S&P+ Massey
1 Clemson (53) Clemson (58) Clemson Alabama
2 Alabama (8) Alabama (5) Alabama Oklahoma
3 Oklahoma Iowa (1) Oklahoma Clemson
4 Iowa Oklahoma Ohio State Ohio State
5 Michigan State Michigan State Florida State Michigan State
6 Ohio State Ohio State Michigan Iowa
7 Stanford Stanford Ole Miss Notre Dame
8 North Carolina North Carolina Baylor Stanford
9 Notre Dame Florida State Notre Dame Baylor
10 Florida State Notre Dame Western Kentucky Florida State
11 TCU TCU Michigan State TCU
12 Baylor Baylor Navy North Carolina
13 Northwestern Northwestern LSU Ole Miss
14 Oklahoma State Oklahoma State West Virginia Michigan
15 Oregon Florida Stanford Oklahoma State
16 Ole Miss Oregon Florida Florida
17 Houston Ole Miss Arkansas Houston
18 Florida Houston Bowling Green Navy
19 Michigan Michigan TCU LSU
20 Temple Utah Washington Oregon
21 Utah Temple USC USC
22 Navy Navy UCLA Northwestern
23 LSU LSU Mississippi State Utah
24 USC USC Toledo Tennessee
25 Wisconsin Wisconsin Oklahoma State Wisconsin

While there's no true voting done in the latter two polls, it is worth nothing that the Cougars and Midshipmen are included in the Massey, and despite being left out of the AP and Coaches polls, the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers are among the country's elite teams in terms of S&P+. As the resident Hilltopper at UDD, I wholeheartedly approve.

Lets talk about those Hilltoppers for a quick moment - all season long, the Tops have been right on the cusp of Top 25 prominence. Hell, even Les Miles voted for them the week the Tigers and Tops tangled. But, alas, when all was said and done against the Power 5, a 1-2 record - with losses by three points to Indiana and 28 to LSU - have held the Tops at bay and unranked. But, this week there was some good news.

While WKU isn't ranked (yet) they did garner a ton of votes from AP voters. 14 of them to be exact - nine votes for #25, one vote for #24, three for #23 and one for #22. All in all, Western Kentucky sits somewhere around 27th, which isn't bad all things considered, but it almost makes you wonder what it'll take for WKU to get that ranking.

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