By james art 
Nevada Sports Net columnist Chris Murray is one of 63 voters in the AP College Football Top 25 poll. Here’s a look at his newsletter this week.
On the rise
* Boise State: The Broncos continue to roll the Mountain West in line for not only a College Football Playoff berth, but could potentially get a first-round bye as one of the top four seeded conference champions. Boise State is 11th (up three spots) in my poll, which is still behind the top team in the Big Ten, SEC, Big 12 and ACC, but not by much. The Broncos would get a first-round bye in the playoffs and a CFP home game if they leapfrog the top champion from one of those conferences. Boise State has two big wins (Washington State, UNLV) with its only loss coming to No. 1 Oregon by three points in a game it largely dominated. Boise State wraps up the regular season with games against Nevada, San Jose State, Wyoming and Oregon State, the Wolf Pack contest on Fox national this Saturday.
In autumn
* Clemson and Iowa State: The two loudest fan bases complaining about my vote this season were Clemson and Iowa State. Both lost to unranked teams this week, with Clemson falling to Louisville and Iowa State to Texas Tech. I had Clemson 15th on my ballot (four spots below its overall ranking) and Iowa State 12th (one spot below its overall ranking). However, fans get very angry if their favorite team is a few places below the national average. The fact is, no team has beaten an opponent currently ranked in the Top 25, with Clemson having just one win over an over .500 team (5-4 North Carolina State). Neither team has proven enough on the field to be in the top 10 and this week showed that.
Chris Murray’s AP Top 25
1. Oregon (previously 1)
2. Ohio State (4)
3. Georgia (3)
4. BYU (6)
5. Miami (7)
6. Texas (5)
7. Penn State (2)
8. Notre Dame (8)
9. Tennessee (10)
10. Indiana (11)
11. Boise State (14)
12. SMU (17)
13. Iowa State (12)
14. Texas A&M (9)
15. Washington State (21)
16. Alabama (18)
17. LSU (19)
18. Ole Miss (20)
19. Pete (16)
20. Clemson (15)
21. Army (22)
22. Kansas State (13)
23. Missouri (23)
24. UNLV (n/r)
25. Colorado (n/r)
Dropped out: Illinois (24)
Columnist Chris Murray provides insight into Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @ByChrisMurray.