Welcome back to the G5 Top Ten Poll. We had a very fun week across the leagues, setting up for some truly fun finishes in these conferences. Let’s take a look at the Top Ten before we dive into the final week of the regular season.
Also Considered: James Madison, Fresno State, Toledo, Air Force, Western Kentucky
The American
First, we have to start at the American. The conference went from seemingly cut and dry to confusing, but also cut and dry? That is due to the loss UCF had at the hands of Navy, 17-14. In a classic triple option fashion, Navy limited UCF’s possessions, which led to frustrating offensive ineptitude by the Knights. Mikey Keene ended up coming in for benched John Rhys Plumlee. The Gus Bus hid a bit of a speed bump now, and their fate in the American no longer is in their hands.
That leaves some interesting scenarios, as I’ve noted above. Simply put, the winner on Friday between Cincinnati and Tulane will get to host the American Conference Championship Game the following Saturday. The loser of that game has a decent chance to make the ACCG as well.
That, however, depends partially on this Tuesday’s CFP Rankings. There are a couple of three team tiebreakers between Cincy/Tulane loser, UCF, and Houston (who isn’t mathematically eliminated but unlikely to make it) that need to use the CFP Rankings this Tuesday to figure out who will make it. But they also might not. It’s incredibly confusing so I pasted the important rules from here (my bold for emphasis):
5. If the regular season ends and the Championship Game is scheduled for the next Saturday, then the following tiebreaker procedures will be used;
5.1. If the highest-ranked of the tied teams in the latest available CFP Selection Committee rankings wins in the final weekend of regular season Conference play, it will be declared a Championship Game participant.
5.2.If the highest-ranked of the tied teams in the latest available CFP Selection Committee rankings loses in the final weekend of regular season Conference play, then a composite average of selected computer rankings (Anderson & Hester, Billingsley, Colley and Wolfe) will be used to determine the Championship Game participants
I cannot tell you how many times I read and re-read over these tiebreakers to make sure I got this straight. Essentially, for UCF to win that three team tiebreaker with the Cincy/Tulane loser and Houston, they need to be above both Tulane and Cincinnati. If they are above one and not the other, it creates some drama going into the Friday game. UCF’s easiest path to making the Championship is for Tulsa to win their game against Houston on Saturday. But it at least gives the regular college football viewing public something to watch on Tuesday to look toward Friday and Saturday.
Sun Belt
The Sun Belt is pretty cut and dry. South Alabama survived a scare from Southern Miss to keep their Sun Belt West hopes alive with a 27-20 win. Troy cruised in their game against UL-Monroe 34-16. Troy simply wins the Sun Belt West with a win over a putrid Arkansas State team. South Alabama needs to win their game against Old Dominion and also have Arkansas State get the upset.
Coastal, on the other side, got an unanticipated bye week due to the tragic shooting in Charlottesville understandably canceled their game against Virginia as that campus tries to grief and heal from a devastating event. The Chants play James Madison in any other year would have been a division deciding game.
Mountain West
The Mountain West decided itself this weekend, with its own flair. Fresno State deftly knocked off Nevada to officially clinch the Mountain West West Division. Even if the Bulldogs struggled, they would have clinched as San Jose State fell to Utah State.
In the Mountain Division, Boise State clinched their division with a 20-17 victory. However, that wasn’t as simple as it sounds. It took Boise two different possessions to ice the game away, sandwiched in between a disastrous Wyoming interception in the back of the end zone. Boise has turned their season around after a bad September, now winning six of their last seven games.
C-USA
C-USA had a little bit of a slow week in terms of conference play. UTSA easily took care of Rice to officially clinch their spot, hosting the C-USA Championship Game for the second consecutive year. They can finish their final season unbeaten in conference play with a win at home vs UTEP.
The other spot is North Texas to lose. As noted above, the easy path is for the Mean Green to win their game against Rice this Saturday. Even if they don’t win, if Florida Atlantic wins their game against Western Kentucky, the boys from Denton will be making a trip down to San Antonio. If only the Owls won their game against Middle Tennessee, they would be playing for that second spot. If Western Kentucky knocks off FAU and Rice beats North Texas, the Hilltoppers secure their rematch with UTSA.
MAC
The notable results of this past week of Maction tie directly to the scenarios for this week, so we are going to dive into all of them. First, Bowling Green stayed alive in the MAC East and also knocked their potential MAC Championship Game opponent Toledo in a snow flurry. You almost certainly saw the GW play for the Falcons as the WR broke multiple tackle attempts to score. Bowling Green can secure their place in the MAC Championship with a win and a Kent State win over Buffalo.
However, if Bowling Green and Buffalo both win this week, the Bulls would advance to Detroit. Thanks to Sickos Committee on Twitter for posting this early Sat morning after Buffalo’s game vs Akron was canceled due to the massive amount of snow that fell in Upstate New York. Their win this coming week over Kent State would be the deciding factor as both Bowling Green and Ohio fell to the Golden Flashes. A simple win for Ohio would clinch their spot in Detroit.
Independent Island
Over on Independent Island we saw two minor upsets. First, Virginia Tech, a fairly bad ACC team trying to rebuild, knocked off the Fighting Flames in an all Virginia football affair. Virginia Tech had a massive comeback. The other was Army, still on the road to trying to become bowl eligible, knocking of UConn at West Point. Army goes to UMass this week, and barring a letdown against a game UMass, the game against Navy will determine bowl eligibility for the Cadets.
That’s all I have for you all today! Hope you enjoy the games all week and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
As for bowl eligibility, Buffalo would need that game against Akron to become bowl eligible should they lose to Kent State. Ball State and Miami (Ohio) – each with five wins – play each other for their bowl eligibility. A Buffalo sixth win would give the MAC six bowl teams. Would the Akron game be rescheduled if necessary?
The American and the Mountain West each have seven bowl eligible teams and no others possible. The American conference will also reap exit fees from Cincy, Houston and UCF to add to their remaining teams’ bowl revenue.
While most conferences split the revenue from their bowl teams equally, the Mountain West does not. They agreed to give Boise State a unique “carve out” of media rights resulting in unequal bowl shares including keeping major bowl revenue. Utah St against Boise State looks for its sixth win.
In the C-USA with four teams already bowl eligible, four more need one more win. UAB is favored over LaTech (17.5), but Rice (v N.Texas), UTEP (v UTSA) and FAU (v W.Kty) are all underdogs.
Correction: Utah State is bowl eligible, having won five of the last six and despite losing their FCS game against Weber St.