So far the Renegades have responded to every challenge (at least since the loss at El Camino). The latest was Saturday (Halloween night), when the Gades blasted Ventura 44-14 to clinch at least a tie for the Northern National Conference title.

Now the Gades have a bye week, which will, as coach Jeff Chudy said after the game, allow the players (and coaches) to "re-charge their batteries."

A win at Canyons in two weeks gives BC an outright NNC title and ensures a home game in the Golden Empire Bowl as a first-round SoCal playoff game.

BC was fourth in the rankings prior to the win over Ventura and will likely remain there. Top-ranked El Camino was beaten 42-26 by No. 3 Mount SAC. I expect El Camino to remain ahead of BC since it has beaten the Gades head-to-head. Mount SAC was third, and will probably move up to No. 2. Cerritos entered the weekend undefeated and improved to 8-0 (and probably No. 1) by beating Desert 27-17. Cerritos and El Camino still must play each other before the regular season ends.

Should the unthinkable happen and BC lose to Canyons, then who knows what will happen? It could mean the Gades would have a first-round playoff game on the road, and the Golden Empire Bowl would have two out-of-town teams. But I expect the Gades to take care of business and beat Canyons.

BC has certainly routed opponents in the NNC. The scores were 34-13 over Pasadena, 31-24 over Hancock (a game BC led 24-3 in the third quarter), 52-14 over Moorpark and 49-3 over Glendale before Saturday's 44-14 win over Ventura (it was 41-0 at one point).

A blog comment mentioned BC has benefitted from playing in a sub-par conference. The Gades have no control over that. All they can do is take care of business against whoever they play. And except for the El Camino loss (40-24 on Sept. 26), they've done that.