B/R's College Football Weekly Awards: Week 13

Old Dominion opened the year with a 4-3 record, but a challenging schedule made a bowl appearance look unlikely. Sure enough, the Monarchs soon dropped to a 4-6 mark. In the last two weeks, however, they completed a sweep of Georgia Southern and Georgia State. Saturday afternoon, ODU scored a touchdown as time expired to win 25-24 and snatch that critical sixth victory.

Time for the opposite story, really. Entering the month, Air Force boasted an 8-0 record with a fantastic shot at a trip to a New Year's Six bowl. The remaining slate didn't look particularly difficult. But the Falcons fell to two-win Army and three-win Hawaii before understandable—and still disappointing—losses to UNLV and Boise State.

The football gods have smiled upon second-year FBS team James Madison and newcomer Jacksonville State. To fill the bowl slate, we needed 82 six-win teams—and there are only 79 (provided a spot is not held for Army or Navy, but that's a different story). Which means——that 11-1 JMU and 8-4 Jacksonville State should be the first choices to fill the open postseason spots. Well-deserved, on both counts.