The Ohio State Buckeyes are the Rodney Dangerfield of the college football landscape - they get no respect. They own the longest winning streak in the country at 18 games, and have yet to lose a game under head coach Urban Meyer. Despite this, it appears OSU is on the outside looking in when it comes to contenders for a spot in the BCS National Championship. They sit fourth in the Associated Press poll behind Alabama, Oregon and Clemson. A win this weekend by Florida State would knock Clemson from the Top 3, but in all likelihood result in the Seminoles taking their position. When the first BCS rankings are released on Oct. 20, Ohio State could slide even further due to their poor strength of schedule. In the NCAA, your opponents are your worst enemies until the final whistle blows. At that point get your pom poms out and start cheering. Every win they accrue boosts your standing, and every loss they suffer makes your result less impressive. Last week Ohio State was on their bye, and still came away as losers when both Northwestern and Michigan lost. They havent even played Michigan yet, but they needed that game to a battle of two top ranked teams to give them a chance and thatll no longer be the case. The current conference rankings in some order have the SEC, Pac 12, ACC and Big 12 in some order. The BIG 10s inability to crack that quartet is the main reason for the Buckeyes dilemma. Any perfect teams from those conferences will get an invite to the big game before a BIG 10 champion, even if they dont have a loss. OSU didnt schedule any tough out of conference opponents and their BIG 10 slate doesnt offer any substance. Even wins over Wisconsin, Northwestern and Michigan mean little if none of those teams finish the season ranked. Ohio State has the sixth best offence in the country and the 24th ranked defence. But without some help from their competitors theyll continue to be saddled alongside Louisville as the teams who couldve been great, had they played some real competition. And thats the shame, with Urban Meyer on the sidelines coaching top end talent in QB Braxton Miller, RB Carlos Hyde, LB Ryan Shazier and CB Bradley Roby the Buckeyes might be the best team in the country but we may never get a chance to find out. One interesting thing that could work in their favor is last years suspension from the post-season. Having not played in a bowl game last season, there is a building curiosity for what they may be capable of. Last year they likely would have faced Notre Dame in the National Championship had they been eligible. A second straight season with a 0 in the loss column may sway some voters but the fact of the matter is, Ohio State not only needs some upsets to happen at the top of the rankings, but they need their fellow BIG 10 teams to step up and win some games. Up next for the Buckeyes is Iowa at the Horseshoe - another match up that has OSU as three TD favourites. Other notes from around the NCAA: - Oregon beat Washington by three touchdowns cementing their spot as the Pac-12 elite, at least until their showdown with Stanford. The win over the Huskies makes it 10 straight years with a win against Washington. - Utah got their programs first win over a Top 5 program when they upended Stanford. The star of the game was RB Bubba Poole who had 186 combined yards. - Florida lost to LSU in what looked like a classic SEC matchup. One of the coolest stats of the season as we reach the midway point...The Gators have yet to give up a passing touchdown. - UCLA and Cal both like to spread the ball around but their contest took sharing to a whole new level. Twenty-one different players recorded a reception in the Bruins 37-10 win. - Penn State and Michigan played the game of the season to this point needed four overtimes to settle things. The Nittany Lions win was the first four-OT game for either program. - Two streaks continued when Northern Illinois squeaked past Akron 27-20. The Huskies extended their NCAA best home winning streak to 23 games. As for the Zips, they lost their 30th straight on the road. - Ole Miss and Texas A & M combined for 1,049 yards in their see-saw affair which included 41 points in the fourth quarter alone. Johnny Manziel suffered a knee injury, and was "held" to 470 total yards and two touchdowns. Cheap Hockey Jerseys China .C. -- Glenn Howard needed an extra end to move into the Masters Grand Slam of Curling final. Authentic Hockey Jerseys . Dougie Hamilton and Jordan Caron scored in the first period after the Red Wings had miscues on the ice and Tuukka Rask finished with a 23-save shutout, giving Boston a 3-0 win over the Red Wings and a 2-1 series lead in their first-round series. https://www.fakehockeyjerseys.com/.com) - The Atlanta Hawks have stepped up to every challenge during their 14-game winning streak and will face another daunting task Friday with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder in town. Cheap Hockey Jerseys Authentic . 8 Sergio Parisse for its penultimate Six Nations match against Ireland at Lansdowne Road. Custom Hockey Jerseys .The Toronto Raptors guard, who will represent the Eastern Conference at the All-Star Game in New Orleans on Sunday, says he doesnt complain in the face of adversity "because I know this little girl is just happy for anything.Frisco, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Having watched their teammates win the NCAA Division I Football Championship three years ago while they were freshman redshirts, Carson Wentz and Joe Haeg sensed something after the 2011 season. Wentz, now NDSUs starting quarterback, and Haeg, the teams All-American left tackle, stood outside their freshman dormitory on campus and agreed that the Bisons lone loss to Youngstown State during the regular season might have been the best thing to happen to their team. Without it, the two reasoned, the Bison could have had an arrogance about themselves heading into the playoffs, and the start of their three straight national titles may never have happened that season. Fast forward to North Dakota States opportunity on Saturday to become the first program to win a fourth straight FCS title and the Bison still appear to be a team that is not getting ahead of itself. They talk as though they are as grounded as their vaunted power run game, and first-year head coach Chris Klieman even pointed out Friday how the lone regular-season loss to Northern Iowa helped his players relax from the burden of carrying an FCS-record 33- game winning streak. Illinois State, the team standing in between NDSU and history, is showing respect for a fellow Missouri Valley Football Conference champion as well. But the Redbirds, all new to championship week, have to prove they wont be swallowed up by the national stage, a more relaxed opponent and the NDSU dynasty, although the Bison players were hesitant to label themselves as that during a final news conference on the eve of the championship game. Were just here to win this one, said senior defensive end Kyle Emanuel, whos played a part in the three-peat. You threw out the word invincibility, Wentz said in answering a reporters question. Thats a terrible word to think for your team. It just leads to destruction if you ask me. Our mind-set every week is to go 1-0. FCS championship week has the tendency to feel about anything but football with the anticipation during a three-week buildup from the national semifinals having long been tiresome and the travel to Frisco followed by various media sessions and off-the-field functions cutting into game preparation. North Dakota State players carried more relaxed looks throughout the day than the Redbirds, even posing with the championship trophy at a high noon banquet for both teams, with their team helmet showing in photos but the Illinois State helmet conveniently hidden behind the many hulking linemen.dddddddddddd. Indeed both teams were longing for kickoff Saturday, but perhaps more so the Redbirds who have played in NDSUs shadow despite tying for the Missouri Valley title. NDSU is 14-1 and Illinois State 13-1 after each went 7-1 yet missed playing the other in the conference schedule. Well, its been a crazy kind of 48 hours since weve gotten in, Illinois State All-American long snapper Chris Highland said, but were done with most of the mandatory team functions. Now its just time to play football. Were kind of into our regular Friday schedule that weve had all throughout the season. Now were just focused on one thing and that is North Dakota State. Theres definitely a lot of emotion coming into this the day before the game, echoed strong safety Dontae McCoy, a fellow senior. It feels real good to be in this position, to see all the hard work that we put in over the offseason and the winter workouts and all that, to be in the final game to try to win the national championship. Illinois State will have more fans at Toyota Stadium than what seemed to be a 90-10 split between North Dakota State and Towson in last years title game rout. But Frisco is still painted yellow and green this week and the crowd remains an advantage for the Bison. In fact, at practice on Friday, the Bison were met by about 150 former players who showed up to provide encouraging words and support. Even just seeing a couple of your friends that you havent seen in a while that you played with last year and you dont see every week, All-American safety Colten Heagle said. Playing and being with guys pretty much 360 days out of the year every day and then not seeing them at all is tough. I was able to speak to some of them and just thank them for the foundation theyve laid and the tradition that weve been able to follow here at NDSU. I said to them there is no way we could have had the success today that weve had without them in the 60s, and 70s, 80s, and 90s. So its honestly one of my favorite parts about this whole trip. Many of the key North Dakota State players have likely made more trips to Frisco in the last four years than to their favorite family vacation spots. The Bison are determined to keep winning all in the family on Saturday. ' ' '