Season reaches the halfway point

The 2023 JUCO football season has reached the halfway point and things have started to take shape in many of the regions. As many as 15-20 teams remain in the hunt for the JCGridiron Dirty 30 national title.

Mississippi Gulf Coast took a big step forward when they blasted perennial power East Mississippi on Thursday, 42-17. The Bulldogs moved up to No. 5 in the rankings as Eli Anderson threw for five touchdowns against his old team. Gulf Coast will host Pearl River on Thursday.

Defending national champ San Mateo suffered its first loss of the season in the Northern California ranks when they fell to Butte College, 30-28, on Saturday. The Bulldogs had already walked a tightrope a couple of times this season and the rope eventually snapped. San Mateo fell to No. 14 in the rankings as a result while Butte climbed up to No. 12. San Francisco remained the top-ranked team from the NorCal region as the Rams sit at No. 2 in the Dirty 30.

Southern California looks like a three-team race between No. 3 Mt. San Antonio, No. 6 Riverside City and No. 7 Fullerton. All three finished the first half of the season with perfect 5-0 records heading into the bye week this weekend.

Iowa Western was the first program with six wins this season as the Reivers held off a tough charge from Independence (KS) this past weekend before winning, 28-16. Iowa Western now has the grueling task of heading to Utah for a game against No. 19 Snow. The two squads have developed a nice little rivalry in recent years and one of them will get their first loss of the season on Saturday.

Hutchinson took a big step towards capturing the Jayhawk Conference last weekend when they cruised past Butler, 43-16, to improve to 5-0. The No. 1 Blue Dragons play No. 21 Dodge City this weekend and a win could have them in total control of the conference.

The Southwest Junior College Football Conference has five programs ranked between 13-25, and none of them seem to have an upper hand. Tyler is the top ranked team at No. 13, followed by No. 17 Trinity Valley, No. 23 New Mexico Military, No. 24 Navarro and No. 25 Kilgore. Tyler plays at New Mexico Military this weekend.

It’s a lite week, with over half of the teams in the country on a bye.

#21 Dodge City at #1 Hutchinson
#4 Iowa Western at #19 Snow
#42 Hinds at #8 Jones (TH)
#18 East Mississippi at #10 Northwest (TH)
#13 Tyler at #23 New Mexico Military
#28 Holmes at #27 Northeast (TH)

The rest of the Dirty 30 Rankings follow. Just a reminder, the Dirty 30 Rankings do not include games against club teams, prep schools, non-CCCAA, non-NJCAA or non-HJCAC programs in its rankings.