Bowl games are inherently weird if you stop and think about them for too long. They are glorified exhibitions between teams that aren’t always on the same competitive level, especially in these G5 games. Even the G5 vs P5 games this year weren’t with teams that are normally in contention for the bowls (looks at South Carolina and Miss State) besides the Peach Bowl. Because of that, and the weird circumstances following this season like a dark cloud, I’m not going to change the rankings from after the bowls than before. I thought about this long and hard, especially after the Cure Bowl, and came to the decision. Now, will I change my mind this time next year? Perhaps if there is a more clean and cut way to compare teams. For this year, however, I’m going to stick to the list and go into a bowl roundup for the teams in the top 10.

18 Stripes G5 Top 10 Poll

Bowl Season Recap

People looked at this slate and saw Coastal playing Liberty as something that was beneath what Coastal had accomplished, including myself. However, Liberty, who was originally scheduled to play earlier this season and was switched to BYU, came to play with a chip on their shoulder to show that they belonged. The Flames squad went toe to toe with the Chants offense, leading by double digits late into the second half before Grayson McCall led two quick touchdown drives to help tie the game. Then, the game decided to dip into the post Christmas eggnog and go a little sideways. Liberty drove all the way down the field for a potential game winning FG, but fumbled the opportunity when the Chants defense tried to throw Joshua Mack into the end zone. He promptly fumbled, Coastal recovered, and off to OT we went. It honestly felt like an NCAA glitch in those games where the CPU is doing everything right to win the game. Liberty got the ball first, kicked a FG. Coastal, despite some of the clearest overlooked DPIs of the season, couldn’t get the ball moving and got a chance to tie, before the game was promptly blocked.

I’m not worried about this Coastal result for the program as McCall is a freshman and can continue to get better and grow and they locked up head coach Jamey Chadwell until 2027. Coastal also has one of the mor intriguing G5 out of conference matchups with Buffalo in 2021. Liberty finishes with a school record 10 wins. Next year they have opportunities to build on their success, with trips to Ole Miss and Syracuse and hosting Louisiana and Army on the docket for 2021.

The next biggest matchup of the season obviously was Cincinnati vs Georgia in the Peach Bowl. This was a true story of two halves for Cincinnati. They played well, mostly on the defensive end (hey Marcus Freeman how are you doing?), and got some key scores late in the first half to take a 14-10 lead. The major problem for the Bearcats in the second half can be traced to that late TD drive. Two plays before the TD, Tackle James Hudson went straight for a Georgia defensive back right after the play, leading with the crown of his helmet. Cincinnati got penalized and Hudson got ejected. Cincinnati, who got the ball to open the second half, seemed to adjust to the change in OL easily, as Jerome Ford took a 79 yard rush to the house to extend the lead. Unfortunately, Georgia’s defense tightened up and only allowed 17 total yards of offense from Cincinnati the rest of the way. The offensive woes were highlighted when Cincinnati had a 3^rd and 2 on their own 40 and Desmond Riddler tried to hit Michael Young about 30 yards downfield, which was wildly unsuccessful. Georgia marched down the field to get the game-winning FG and got a safety to make it an even three-point win for the Bulldogs.

Cincinnati should still be a top 15 team going into 2021, and the presumptive favorite for the AAC. Any CFP “chances” they have rely on their trips to South Bend and Bloomington and their presumptive march through AAC play. We will see if Marcus Freeman is preparing his defense for those teams, is the DC of either of those teams, or if he is elsewhere entirely.

The other major G5 vs G5 matchup was between the MAC Champions Ball State and Mountain West Champion San Jose State. Both teams tore it up and killed expectations and continued to show glimpses of it during this game. The game was mostly carried by the Ball State defense, led once again by ND alum Tyler Stockton. If the Cardinals weren’t forcing a punt in the first half, they were forcing a turnover, highlighted by their opening drive pick six to help give the Cardinals the beginning of a wire to wire bowl victory, the program’s first.

The Spartans struggled immensely but still had a great season, especially considering the hassles and hoops they had to jump through at the end of their season with COVID restrictions. They have a chance to knock off a big P5 opponent when they travel to the Coliseum and face the presumed Pac-12 favorites in USC.  Ball State looks to continue their success in the MAC while also adding a trip to Happy Valley and hosting Army in 2021.

We had some weird P5 vs G5 matchups this bowl season, as Army found an opponent in West Virginia in the Liberty Bowl and Tulsa faced off against Mississippi State in the Armed Forces Bowl (seems like Army should have been in that one in the first place, but I’m just a measly amateur college football writer). Tulsa seemed to outplay Miss State for most of the game, but had some critical turnovers, including a 90 yard pick six that turned the tide for the Bulldogs in the less than ideal conditions on the field. That was all forgotten with a truly ugly post game brawl as the teams had been chirping at one another since the pregame warmups. The less said about that the better. In the other game, Army was the beneficiary of their long touchdown drives for the first two and a half quarters, getting a 21-10 lead. However, the Mountaineers offense woke up and took the lead late in the fourth. Army tried to put together a good drive to tie the game, but between a missed FG and interception, they couldn’t scramble to get that 10^th win head coach Jeff Monken wanted for his program.

Tulsa has trips to Oklahoma State and Ohio State on their docket for 2021, along with their tough AAC schedule. Army has the games mentioned above and also goes to Wisconsin and hosts Wake Forest in back to back weeks in October.

We have a couple more games to point out before we wrap up. App State ran all over North Texas in the first bowl of the season. BYU demolished a UCF team that was loved all season by the advanced analytics, but could never live up to those expectations. Nevada kept Tulane at arms length in a back and forth showdown. Georgia Southern and Memphis waltzed over their C-USA competition in Louisiana Tech and Florida Atlantic, respectively. Buffalo ended the season with a win after a weird 17-10 win over Marshall. Louisiana held off a feisty UTSA squad. Finally, and unfortunately, C-USA champ UAB was left without a dance partner in a bowl after South Carolina backed out due to COVID issues, which seems an appropriate note to end the G5 season on.

What’s Next?

I have some ideas over the offseason for G5 content, but a true top 10/preview will come until August. I have some ideas about looking at a potential playoff structure for G5 teams and what that would have looked like in past years, probably beginning with 2004, where we had our first BCS buster in Utah. I also have some thoughts about the G5’s place in the current structure. Until then, I hope you enjoyed this content and I look forward to giving you more this offseason and start it up again in the 2021 season! Sound off below on what you’d like to see.