The AP poll hasn't been released yet (I'll post it when they do), but Utah moved up three spots from 20th in the Coaches.
Right now, the Mountain West has three teams ranked. TCU is the highest at 4th and the Cougars rejoined the poll at 25th after a bye-week (which isn't bad for a program that has lost by huge margins in two games).
Other than that, Boise State - TCU's main competition - is at fifth.
Looking at these results, does anyone see a scenario where TCU cracks the top-two? They really need Utah to climb as high as possible before their game against them in two weeks, but even that would require a Texas loss (and right now, that just does not seem to be in the cards).
What's fascinating is just how great this season is playing out for the non-BCS outside the top-three. Unlike last year, where Utah struggled to move up the rankings throughout the season, both the Broncos and Frogs are knocking on the door to the national championship in the regular season. Unfortunately for both, and unlike last year, it seems very unlikely Florida, Alabama and Texas lose in the regular season.
So any hope they have of playing for a championship rests on the following teams: Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Florida International, Florida State, LSU, Miss. State, Chattanooga, Auburn, UCF, Baylor, Kansas, Texas A&M and some average Big 12 North team.
That's the remaining games for Florida, Alabama and Texas. Florida's toughest test will come against South Carolina (on the road), Alabama's against Auburn and LSU (Auburn is on the road) and Texas' against a fickle Texas A&M team. Or basically - it's not looking good any of these teams have one-loss entering the conference championship game period. If that's the case, it won't matter what TCU or Boise State does, they're not playing for a title.