Welcome back to the 18Stripes G5 Top 10. This week’s rankings may look wonky despite the relatively quiet week, but we’ll dive into it after I give you the Top Ten.
Also Considered: Utah State, SMU, UCF, Liberty, Marshall
Week 10 Recap
The CFP Rankings and These Rankings
I wanted to briefly touch on the Rankings from last week, which are already out of date but it explains some of the movement. Obviously, the committee respects BYU as the second best Group of 5 team due to their Pac-12 wins and ranked them as such. While I initially disagreed, I did set out at the beginning of the season to try and rank how they would be treated as potential Group of 5 teams in the New Year’s Six Bowls. So yes BYU went up six spots but not it wasn’t because they beat Idaho St.
The other team is San Diego State. Readers here will remember this team has been the toughest team to figure out. They have a win over the probable Pac-12 South Champion in Utah, but have not looked good in many other games in the season. That includes the late game this weekend on island vs Hawaii. I will put them a step below BYU because of their play and the lack of big wins compared to the team in Provo.
Movers and Shakers
Now that we have gotten that logic out of the way, we can now talk about the two games that directly affected the rankings of this week. First we take a trip back to Memphis, where SMU was looking to rebound from their loss to Houston. After a half of a defensive struggle and a 10-7 lead, the wheels blew off the Pony Express.Â
SMU got an interception and forced a punt on the first two Memphis possessions. However, the Tigers promptly responded with 21 unanswered points to take a 28-10 lead. SMU tried to play catchup by scoring in bunches, getting 15 points to get it to 28-25. However, a Tanner Mordecai interception during the final two minutes sealed the Mustangs fate. Memphis gets its fifth win of the season and closer to bowl eligibility.
The other game with stakes for this week’s Top Ten wasn’t nearly as close as the game in Memphis. Boise State looked like the Group of 5 giants past teams had become in their 40-14 dismantling of Fresno State. The story of the game could be traced back to the first two Fresno State possessions.
 After a Boise punt, the Bulldogs got deep into Bronco territory, but got stuffed by the Broncos defense. The Broncos got a field goal on the ensuing drive. Jake Haener and the Bulldogs offense then turned around and threw an interception. The Boise offense attacked the Fresno defense immediate and within two plays, the game was 10-0 Boise State. The Broncos never looked back and now find themselves firmly back in the Mountain Division hunt.
Top Teams Wraparound
I know I talked about moving up BYU and San Diego State because of the CFP rankings, but I couldn’t have them jump the Roadrunners. In their first conference game on the Worldwide Leader since their trip to Memphis, the C-USA leaders balled out. They quickly dismantled upstart UTEP, 44-23. The game never felt as close as the final score dictated. The Roadrunners made sure that the CFP committee could see them dominate the first half to the tune of a 30-9 halftime lead. UTSA SHOULD be in the Top 25 tomorrow night, but if by some bizarre result they are not, they will remain at #2 in these rankings.
Cincinnati continued its march on the playoff discourse by playing with Tulsa before ultimately winning 28-20. They did not make the final minute easy for those watching. After a goal line stand where the Tulsa QB slid instead of diving for an assured TD, Desmond Ridder fumbled the first down snap and gave Tulsa four more downs to try and tie the game. Tulsa failed to do so and Cincinnati continues its undefeated march.Â
Louisiana continued to play with its food once again on Thursday, finally putting away Georgia State. The Panthers were in the game for three quarters, essentially shutting them out for that amount of time. However, the talent on Louisiana’s sideline was too much to overcome. After an interception on their second possession of the second half, Levi Lewis and the Cajuns offense scored touchdowns on each of their next three drives. The Cajuns defense held and Louisiana officially clinches the Sun Belt West and a spot in the Sun Belt Championship.
The Sun Belt East is still up for grabs, with both App State and Coastal cruising. The Chants won 28-8 without Grayson McCall, who appears to have some leg injury and may be out for the foreseeable future. App State continued to cruise with the pressure firmly on them to perform, knocking off Arkansas State 48-14. Also in other action in the Top Ten, Houston kept South Florida at arms length for most of the game in their 54-42 victory. Finally, Nevada got a game winning field goal from Brandon Tallon to knock off San Jose State at home 27-24.
Week 11 Preview
Headliners
We once again have a top ten matchup between Mountain West schools! This will probably be the last one before the Championship Game, so I want to cherish it. San Diego State hosts probably the best QB in the conference in Carson Strong. However, the best player on the field this day will be the guy pictured above. Matt Arazia. Taking the college football internet by storm, the San Diego State punter will look to wow onlookers with his flip the field booming punts. If he can pin the Nevada offense back and make Strong work for his numbers, it could neutralize the Wolfpack long enough for the Aztecs to scrape together some points.
The other headliner involves two teams not involved in the Top Ten (or top 15 for that matter). It’s a showdown that could decide the MAC West. Northern Illinois, despite losing last week to Kent State, still are firmly in control of the division. If they knock off defending MAC Champion Ball State, they will have tiebreakers over them, Eastern Michigan, and Central Michigan. All of those teams are a game behind NIU and need help to get to Detroit. A win for the Huskies won’t clinch the division, but will make it difficult for them to lose it.
Conference Highlights
Cincinnati @ South Florida (American): Cincinnati Playoff Watch continues to march. South Florida showed some offensive spark against Houston, despite never really having a chance to win the game. If Cincinnati doesn’t put them away early, this could be another sloppy win for the Bearcats.
UAB @ Marshall (C-USA): A rematch of last year’s championship, this game has stakes for both teams. Marshall has a date with Western Kentucky at the end of the season that will decide the East Division and UAB needs to keep pace with UTSA for their matchup on the 13th.
Kent State @ Central Michigan (MAC): As mentioned earlier, Central Michigan needs to win and get some help to get to Detroit. Kent State is in the driver’s seat in the East, tied with Miami (OH), whom they play at the end of the season. Dustin Crum should impress in this MACtion contest.
Utah State @ San Jose State (Mountain West): If Utah State falls to the defending MWC Champs, it will create a logjam at the top that will rely on their games within the division due to the split games between the Aggies, Boise State, and Air Force. They have Wyoming and New Mexico after this, but if they continue to win, that tiebreaker won’t be a problem.
Louisiana @ Troy (Sun Belt): This will probably be the best team Louisiana plays this side of App State before the Sun Belt Championship. If any team is going to trip up the Cajuns, it will be this Troy team looking to get bowl eligible with a victory.
Top Teams Roundup
Elsewhere, UCF and SMU will have a matchup to see who is firmly the third best team in the American, which will help with bowl placement for the two squads. Houston continues its march to the Championship, heading to Philly to take on Temple. UTSA follows up their win in El Paso with a trip home to take on Southern Miss. Coastal Carolina looks to wait for App State to drop a game as they host Georgia State. The Mountaineers host South Alabama. Finally, Fresno State looks to their home game against New Mexico and hopefully figure out more about their situation in the MWC West Division, depending on who wins the headliner.
That’s all I have for you all today! Sound off below on what you think of the week’s game and the schedule ahead!
Love these!
Question: I don’t follow the details of the G5 super close, but are there some coaches in this poll who could be potential “next HC at ND” material?
Maybe its premature to kick that Hornets nest, but it seems like there are some coaches who’ve made some damn good programs, and might be candidates? That being said, is a G5 HC good material for a super high profile position though?
Anywho, G5 are the real Pac-12 champs!
Fickell is probably the one where you could pluck him out of his current job and put him in South Bend and he’d transition the best/easiest. All of the other ones are much more regional in their coaching (Jeff Traylor at UTSA, Jamey Caldwell at Coastal, Billy Napier at Louisiana) so they would probably need another stop at a P5 school to cut their teeth there before they could be considered HCIW (kinda like what Fleck did in 2016). Then you have Holgorsen at Houston and Sitake at BYU who don’t seem like they’re leaving anytime soon. Plus Brady Hoke is at SDSU and I don’t think any Notre Dame fan wants that.
Haha, great point on mr hoke. Maybe this is hot take, but some of those guys I don’t feel would match more of a CEO vibe i think is needed at ND. But that also could be my bias.
Yes… brady hoke please stay in that vacation job
I don’t know that Fickell will leave his job anytime soon, I think with Cincy slated to move to the Big 12, (Houston and BYU too) and his reluctance to disrupt his family, I think his next opportunity that he would be willing to consider would have to be Power 5 in a relatively close location to Ohio.
ND is Power 5 – Without actually being Ohio, can’t get much closer to Ohio than Indiana, geographically.
Found your man.
Eric… know this: you made my heart skip a beat from however many thousands of miles away you are from Seattle, soon-to-be boston!
But also well played sir