Into the Top 25 You Should Go, Iowa Football Team

Thanks to the Buffalo Bulls, Iowa ought to make its first appearance in the AP Top 25 collge football poll for the first time since, well, a while. Certainly the first time this year.

The Bulls bullied Ball State in the Mid-American Conference title game Friday night in Detroit, ruining the Fighting Cardinals' unbeaten season. It also was sure to send 12th-ranked Ball State plummeting down the rankings.

If the rest of the AP voters are like me, Ball State won't be in their top 25 come Sunday morning.

It was cute that the Cardinals were ranked above Oklahoma State, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Missouri and Michigan State, to name but a few of the teams better than Ball State but not ranked as high.

Iowa was 26th in the AP voting a week ago. Some voters will surely keep Ball State in their rankings, because people are stubborn to admit they've made mistakes. But you can't play like that against a 7-5 Buffalo team and pretend you're Top 25-caliber.

The Hawkeyes are about to get ranked, me thinks, for whatever that's worth. It may be all the Outback Bowl has to hang its Bloomin' Onion on this time around.