Here’s how the top 10 teams among the college football Group of Five stacks up heading into week 6 of the regular season.
The race for the Group of Five’s automatic qualifying spot in the New Year’s Six is taking shape after a number of notable results around college football in week five.
Saturday’s biggest result came from Baton Rouge, where Troy stunned LSU 24-21 for the program’s best win since moving to the FBS level in 2001. Second-year head coach Neal Brown has engineered a rapid rise for the Trojans, who look like the best team in the Sun Belt heading into conference play.
That wasn’t the only contest to have a major impact on the G5 rankings, as Central Florida throttled Memphis 40-13 to move to 3-0 and crack the AP Poll at No. 25. UCF is outscoring its opponents by a whopping 33 points per game and owns blowout wins over the Tigers and Maryland, the start of a resume that could get them to the New Year’s Six at year’s end.
The top two Group of Five contenders took care of business on Saturday to remain perfect on the year and hold on to their respective spots in the AP Poll. No. 19 San Diego State fought hard for a 34-28 win over a game Northern Illinois team that previously beat Nebraska, while No. 18 South Florida was firing on all cylinders in a 61-31 triumph over flailing East Carolina.
With AAC play starting to ramp up, the Group of Five power rankings could be shifting rapidly in the coming weeks. Here’s how the top 10 G5 teams grade out following the conclusion of week five action.