Welcome back to the 18Stripes G5 Top Ten. We had our last big week of games before bowl season on Saturday. While the Power 5 had some more chalk results, we had some more interesting results in the G5. Let’s dive into it.
Also Considered: Coastal Carolina, Air Force, Northern Illinois, SMU, Western Kentucky
Week 14 Recap
Championship Weekend
Since we’re a few days later than our normal schedule, I’m going to briefly run through the games from last Saturday and get into what I want to talk about this week.
Cincinnati kept Houston at arms length in a 35-20 American Championship. Houston tried to remain close in the first quarter, but after that it was all Cincinnati, highlighted by a 21 point third quarter to make a close 14-13 game into a 35-13 blowout by the time the fourth quarter came along. The surprise wasn’t Cincinnati’s offense against Houston good defense, but the lack of urgency Houston showed in their drives when they were down. Cincinnati, with the win, became the first G5 team to qualify for the CFP and the first Group of 5 team to contend for the National Championship since BYU in 1984.
Our biggest surprise came during the afternoon window. Utah State demolished San Diego State in their “house” 46-13. Utah State blocked two Matt Araiza punts, one led to a safety, the other led to a Utah State TD. The Aggies were firing on all cylinders against the vaunted Aztec defense. Logan Bonner had one of his best days of his career, finishing with 342 yards passing with 4 TDs, and only got sacked twice. San Diego State falls short on what could have been a potential NY6 bowl bid, but the lack of offensive firepower that had hindered the team all season long came home in this game.
Back on Friday night, UTSA used its high powered offense to outwork the equally game Western Kentucky team in a 49-41 win. The roadrunners ran out quickly in the first half, and the Hilltoppers failed to match. The second quarter seems damning for WKU, where their first play was a successful FG. They then had drives end in; a missed FG, a punt, and another missed FG. The Hilltoppers tried but were unsuccessful in their comeback attempt, with a Hail Mary falling short.
During the noon slot on Saturday, Northern Illinois made quick work of Kent State in a 41-23 blowout in Detroit. The Huskies defense stopped Dustin Crum all afternoon and relied heavily on the running game to wear out the Golden Flashes defense. Finally, Louisiana survived a late scare to get a 24-16 win over App State. The Mountaineers offense was stifled all afternoon in Lafayette. The final blow came on a strip sack of Chase Brice as Billy Napier gets a conference championship in his final game at the helm for the Ragin Cajuns.
Awards Season
This week, with a limited schedule of games to talk about and preview, I wanted to take a quick look back at the G5 season that was. I am assuming nothing of note will happen in this week’s Army and Navy game but if any of these awards change because of that game I will make sure to make note of it on Monday. So let’s dive into some of the categories I’ve selected for awards this season.
Bradlee Van Pelt Award: Matt Araiza, P/K-San Diego State
Other Nominees: Jake Haener, QB-Fresno State, Sincere McCormick, RB-UTSA, Bailey Zappe, QB-Western Kentucky, Dustin Crum, QB-Kent State
For those unfamiliar with the Bradlee Van Pelt Award (or further BVP), along with why I’m leading with this award, I will point you to this 2019 article about the birth of this award and retroactive winners going back to 2000. I wanted to highlight this passage:
More accurately, BVPs are “the most college football player in standing out.” They have obvious flaws — too short, too frantic, too big, too small, too uneven in production — but produce anyway, often winning when they have no right to, and excelling in their own slightly off-cut fashion. BVPs aren’t perfect, but they are, in their moment, perfection. Sadly, no existing award properly honors them, a grievous oversight with a simple fix.
Araiza will almost assuredly win the Ray Guy Award, but he’s become a National Name because of his ability to boom the ball on punting. Plus, he even fits the flaws section above. He is secretly not a great placekicker for the Aztecs. But he does set up the elite Aztec defense well, pinning teams deep. For that, we reward him and the Aztecs.
Biggest Surprise-Northern Illinois’ Turnaround
Other Nominees: UTSA’s C-USA Rise, WKU’s Offensive Transplant, Houston’s Emergence as the #2 AAC Team, Frank Solich Retirement at Ohio
I was incredibly tempted to put UTSA in this spot, but with Northern Illinois’ win over Kent State, the story is too good to ignore. A year after going winless in the shortened 2020 MAC Season, Thomas Hammock and Northern Illinois inserted some transfers, notably Rocky Lombardi at QB, got a little bit of close game luck, and went out and won the MAC. It will be interesting to see if this can be sustained, but for 2021 that doesn’t matter. The Huskies now have tied Marshall for MAC titles, and look to try and continue their success into 2022.
Biggest Disappointment-Toledo Post-ND
Other Nominees: Western Michigan Post-Pitt Win, Coastal Carolina Underwhelming, Boise State’s Down Year, San Jose State Fails to Come Close to Competing for MWC
On the other end of the MAC spectrum, our two biggest disappointments lie there. However, instead of focusing on Western Michigan, I want to focus on Toledo. Matt Campbell seemingly left the Glass Bowl with the Rockets in great shape to remain on top of the conference, or at the very least the West Division. This year appeared to be the prime candidate for Jason Candle and his squad. They pushed the Irish to the limits. After that though? There was a lot of not great results. Losing at home vs Colorado State, losing to Central Michigan, then a loss at home vs Eastern Michigan. The Rockets finished 7-5, but their talent in the MAC should have had them do much better.
Game of the Season-Houston 44-SMU 37
Other Nominees: UTSA 34-UAB 31, App State 30-Coastal Carolina 27, Fresno State 40-UCLA 37, App State 31-Marshall 30
This was probably one of the easiest picks of all of the lists on here. The Houston SMU game on October 30th set the table for the rest of the AAC season. It helped Houston emerge as a potential spoiler for Cincinnati, and set up the downfall of the Mustangs strong opening half of the season. The kickoff return by Marcus Jones with less than 30 seconds left sealed the deal, in not only the best finish of the G5 season, but probably of the entire FBS.
Play of the Season-Marshall’s Fake Reverse Kickoff vs App State
Other Nominees: Marcus Jones’ GW KO Return vs SMU, Calvin Turner Jr Sweep TD Run, Matt Araiza 86 Yard Punt vs San Jose St, Jake Haener GW TD Pass to Jalen Cropper vs UCLA
I could have easily gone with the kickoff return Marcus Jones had, mentioned above, but I decided on this trick play that put Marshall ahead in the second quarter. The play was well executed in the fact that it caused mass confusion among App State defenders, and as you can tell by the video, the ESPN camera crew in Boone. While Marshall’s season fell short (both in this game and in C-USA play) they will have this moment.
Coach of the Season-Blake Anderson-Utah State
Other Nominees: Jeff Traylor-UTSA, Brady Hoke-SDSU, Thomas Hammonck-Northern Illinois, Luke Fickell-Cincinnati
Once again, I wanted to put Jeff Traylor here for his work on pushing UTSA to the next level, but I landed on Utah State’s Blake Anderson. The highly regarded former Arkansas State head coach was seemingly an under the radar great season. After losing back to back games against Boise State and BYU, the Aggies went on to win six of their next seven games, including the big win on Saturday against the Aztecs. I think his coaching job considering the disparity of talent brought in compared to his other peers deserves recognition.
Defensive Player of the Season-Sauce Gardner, CB-Cincinnati
Other Nominees: D’Marco Jackson, LB-App State, Coby Bryant, CB-Cincinnati, Marcus Jones, CB/KR-Houston, Cameron Thomas, DL-San Diego State
This is where we give Cincinnati their recognition. Despite the Thorpe Award recognizing Bryant in their finalist circles, Gardner was the better corner in that secondary. The Senior shut down whomever he lined up against. It got to the point where teams would actively ignore whom he covered (see Kevin Austin in South Bend). PFF noted that WRs covered by Gardner got targeted less than 3 times per game and allowed 96 total yards. It shows how great of a defender he was and how important he is to the Bearcats success going into the CFP.
Offensive Player of the Season-Desmond Ridder, QB-Cincinnati
Other Nominees: Sincere McCormick, RB-UTSA, Grayson McCall, QB-Coastal Carolina, Carson Strong, QB-Nevada, Lew Nichols III, RB-Central Michigan
We end the awards with the catalyst of the Cincinnati offense. The senior QB led the way, despite some slow starts, and brought the offense back from some sticky situations. Ridder led the way in the Indiana comeback win. He was poised and prepared against the Irish. His passing took a step up to the tune of 3190 yards, 30 TDs, and only 8 INTs. He didn’t rely as much on his legs, but was still effective in leading the offense, with his biggest test to come in Alabama.
Week 15 Preview
Before we get into the games in bowl season, we do technically have one more game on the schedule, and it involves a Top Ten team no less! This weekend is Army-Navy week and this one should be a fun one, if only for the fact it will return back to the neutral sites. Plus, unlike last year, this game will be alone in the FBS schedule (with FCS playoffs also going on), for the maximum eyeballs. The game itself should be pretty straight forward. With Jeff Monken seemingly staying in West Point another season, he will have his boys focused and knock off Navy, officially clinching the CIC Trophy for the second straight year.
That’s all I have for you all today. Next week will be a big G5 Bowl Preview! Apologies for the lateness of the post but with all of the Irish craziness I was more than happy to take a back seat. Enjoy the games this weekend!
I saw the Cinci-Bama spread opened at 13.5. Seems low.