Western Michigan focusing on Ball State

Western Michigan coach P. J. Fleck won’t be watching when the College Football Playoff poll is released Tuesday night.

He’ll be too busy dealing with other, more pressing matters.

See, Fleck understands the 17th-ranked Broncos didn’t position themselves for an unbeaten season, a Mid-American Conference championship and perhaps a playoff spot by worrying about things beyond their control. He’s turned Western Michigan into a national power by earning respect for the program on the field and keeping it by winning game after game.

“We are everybody’s big game, we are everybody’s elite opportunity and we know that,” Fleck said. “We used to play against teams like that when we weren’t very good. We were there. We know where we’ve been. So now we’ve embraced this com- pletely opposite role.”

While the Broncos (8-0, 4- 0) relish this new role, they attack it with the same vigor they needed to reach this point — even if Tuesday night’s game at last-place Ball State (4- 4, 1-3) looks like a gimme to everyone else.

For Western Michigan , it’s chance to show the college football world why they are one of five remaining unbeaten teams in the country and why they deserve to be in the CFP discussion. The first batch of rankings will be released shortly after the Broncos game begins.

Play poorly on national television, in a game most believe should be a rout, and the performance could taint Western Michigan’s national perception for the rest of the season.

But it’s also a potentially dangerous predicament for the Broncos.

Ball State can take more risks than usual, will likely play in front of a big, raucous crowd and has something to prove, too.