Hello and welcome back to the G5 Top Ten! We had some interesting results this entire week. From Wednesday onwards, the teams in the mix for the Top Ten was constantly changing. This is how it landed after a fun Week 6.
Also Considered: Toledo, Air Force, Boise St, Troy, UAB
Week 6 Recap
Headliners
We have to start at the NEWLY RANKED James Madison Dukes. Five games into their FBS tenure they are now ranked in the AP Top 25. The Dukes earned this spot by knocking off Arkansas State on the road 42-20. After a scoreless first quarter, James Madison took control and moved to 5-0. It’s a shame that they don’t get to take part in any of the pageantry of postseason play. It takes some air out of their matchup with Coastal later this season and could potentially deny the Dukes a shot at making the NY6. But, 2023 could be that next step.
The other conference that requires a look into is the Mountain West. I thought going into the season that Fresno State, Boise, and Air Force would be mainstays on this list. While the Broncos and Falcons are flirting with entering the list, the one team that looks to be in the best position is San Jose State. The 2020 champions beat up UNLV 40-7. Hawaii transfer Chevan Cordiero was responsible for 4 TDs (2 passing, 2 rushing) in the beatdown. The Spartans have their schedule open up. They take on Fresno State next week (we’ll get to that) and then there isn’t a team out there that scares me for them. A 11-1 run with a close loss to Auburn seems to be their destiny going into the Mountain West Championship.
The game of the weekend happened right before the above beatdown started. Houston stormed back to potentially save their season, beating Memphis 33-32. Houston QB Clayton Tune threw two TDs to KeSean Carter in the closing minutes to give the Cougars their first conference win on the season. This is a major blow for Memphis, who combined with the emergence of Tulane, seem to fall back in the middle of the AAC pack with this loss.
Biggest Movers
We’ve gone over extensively the BYU Notre Dame game here on the site, but let me take a quick look at the BYU side. In the 28-20 loss the Cougars obviously fell out of the top spot they were precariously perched on. However, I still think that they are one of the best Group of 5 teams and without question the best 2 loss team. Their strength of schedule is on par with someone in a power conference and they’ll have plenty of chances to try and get big wins to help bolster their resume.
The other major fall, which was slightly alluded to, was the Air Force-Utah State game. The Falcons failed to get past the floundering Aggies; ultimately falling 34-27. When you’re an option team of any type, you know that every possession is important. The Falcons failed to live up to that in the fourth quarter. A Haaziq Daniels interception gave Utah State a short field to extend their lead. The Falcons subsequently fumbled on their next possession; this time shutting down a promising drive. I thought for the longest time that Air Force would be the team to beat in the Mountain Division. However, with how Boise is seemingly adjusting with a new OC and QB, its hard to argue against it. We will see when they play on the field in two weeks.
Other Notable Results
The American held serve as UCF, Tulane, and Cincinnati all won their matchups in conference. Cincinnati was the team who had the most trouble, but kept South Florida at arms length for most of the second half; winning 28-24. Toledo and UTSA continued to look good in conference play, further establishing themselves as teams to beat. Coastal survived a scare to get to bowl eligibility. They seem to have the Sun Belt East under wraps between App State’s struggles and JMU’s ineligibility.
Week 7 Preview
Top of the Marquee
This week is a little lighter in terms of marquee matchups. I decided to go with two games that have some of our top ten in interesting matchups. First we have BYU. They host Arkansas, which on its own is interesting. Getting an SEC team to go north of the Ohio River is notable on its own. To go to Provo is another thing entirely. Plus, both of these teams are coming off of interesting losses. Arkansas can use this to try and rebound before back into the SEC West Gauntlet, while BYU can use this as a measuring stick for their season and for their team going into 2023 and the Big 12.
The other game I put here was the aforementioned San Jose State trip to Fresno. This appears to be the final hurdle for the Spartans before they go into an easier stretch of their season. A win here gives them the most firm control of the Division, holding tiebreakers over the other potential top teams.
Conference Spotlight
American: Tulane @ South Florida
Tulane continues its run towards potentially making the American Championship Game with a trip to Tampa. The Bulls have had an up and down season so far, pushing Florida and Cincinnati but also falling to be competitive with Louisville. I’m interested to see if Tulane can continue its roll.
C-USA: UTSA @ Florida International
The Conference USA slate this week is a little wanting so I’m going to focus on UTSA. This could be a potential let down spot post Western Kentucky. They have two games to tune up for their trip to Birmingham to take on UAB.
MAC: Kent State @ Toledo
The Rockets have lived up to their potential this season, coming off of a big win over Northern Illinois where the result was never truly in doubt. Their next test is a Kent State that has shown signs of competitiveness in every game this season. It could put Toledo luck in close games.
Mountain West: Air Force @ UNLV
Air Force and UNLV, as noted above, are teams that fell back a bit in terms of their division races. This is a must win game for both of these teams, the loser almost assuredly losing out on a potential conference crown.
Sun Belt: Texas State @ Troy, UL-Monroe @ South Alabama
Both Troy and South Alabama have potential look ahead spots here. The two teams face off in their Sun Belt West showdown in two weeks. First, they have to take care of the teams in front of them. Troy hosts a Texas State team that just knocked off App State. South Alabama hosts UL-Monroe, who played Coastal close and knocked off Louisiana.
Also Playing
Some other games I have my eye on this week to monitor the top teams:
- Temple @ UCF
- Old Dominion @ Coastal Carolina
- Gardner-Webb @ Liberty
- Northern Illinois @ Eastern Michigan
- James Madison @ Ga Southern
That’s all I have for you all today! Enjoy the week and enjoy the games!
Nice write-up. I’d love to see BYU beat Arkansas and get another win for a G5 team over a P5 team.
At this point and if my calculations are correct, G5 teams have won 11 games and lost 76 games to P5 teams (12.6%). Seven of those wins are over P5 teams that are in the bottom part of their conferences:
I can’t yet put Miami in the above group (to Middle Tennessee).
But three of the G5 wins over P5 school are significant and true upsets. Two were surprising – Tulane over Kansas State. Appalachian State over Texas A&M. One was a battle between teams considered equal – BYU over Baylor.
By some standards, there was a fourth true upset 🙁
We have spoke of this once, which is enough.
We have crossed that name/game out.
We shall not speak of that again or there will be consequences.