College Football AP Top 25, Week 4: Winners and losers

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TAMPA, FL – SEPTEMBER 15: Running back D’Ernest Johnson #2 of the South Florida Bulls fights off DUPLICATE***defensive back Patrick Nelson #21 of the Illinois Fighting Illini during the first quarter at Raymond James Stadium on September 15, 2017 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Joseph Garnett Jr. /Getty Images) /

Winner: South Florida Bulls (No. 22 up to No. 21)

Has an uglier game of football ever been played? Well, Tennessee and Florida fans would argue to the in their defense, but South Florida and Illinois played one of the most-penalized contests of all time. It seemed each side was trying to one-up the other in terms of penalties accrued.

In the end, though, South Florida rolled over the Fighting Illini for a big win over a medicare Power Five team. Despite it being “just Illinois”, the Bulls have to feel good about their chances to once again enter the New Year’s Six talk.

After two poor showings to start the year, albeit with a 2-0 record to show for it, the Bulls were looking like this year’s letdown team in the Group of Five. They had already been falling in the rankings despite recording wins, but they weren’t impressive, obviously.

Charlie Strong’s team finally looked like that top Group of Five contender, outside of the sloppy penalties, and it stuck it to Illinois, 47-23. Quinton Flowers had quite the game under center and got himself back on track.

The last Group of Five team to beat Illinois by 24 points was Western Michigan a season ago. What happened after that? The Broncos went 13-1 and made the Cotton Bowl.

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