Group of Five power rankings: UCF, Boise State vie for top spot after Week 1
By Daniel Stave
Group of Five power rankings after Week 1 see Boise State and UCF vying for the top spot.
College football returned in full-form last weekend. Week 1 featured great matchups among the sport’s powerhouse programs. Fans nationwide were treated to top-25 battles between Washington and Auburn, Notre Dame and Michigan, LSU and Miami, and Florida State and Virginia Tech.
The talk going into every season always starts with the national title contenders and Heisman candidates.
But don’t ignore the little guys. Another joy of each fall is seeing which teams from the unheralded conferences can challenge the big boys.
Last season, the story was Central Florida, who defeated SEC West division champion Auburn 34-27 in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl, despite being 10-point underdogs. The Knights finished the season as the nation’s only undefeated team, claiming a national championship.
Week 1 of the 2018 season proved once again the teams from the Group of 5 are no pushovers.
Cincinnati went to the Rose Bowl and spoiled Chip Kelly’s debut as UCLA head coach, pulling out the 26-17 upset.
Kevin Sumlin fell victim to a similar fate, as his Arizona Wildcats lost to BYU 28-23 in Tucson.
The biggest surprise of the day was 10th-ranked Penn State trailing Appalachian State in the final minute of their matchup in Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions tied it with 42 seconds left and eventually won in overtime. The Mountaineers almost had another major upset of a Big Ten team.
College football is better when underdogs emerge to go toe-to-toe with the favorites. To track the most dangerous underdogs, each Wednesday I’ll be ranking the top 10 teams from the Group of 5 conferences and five of the six independent programs (excluding Notre Dame).
Here’s where they stand after Week 1.