Group of 5 Top 4 after Week 9
RELATED ARTICLES: W9 RECAP, CFP TEAMS, GOPHERS UPDATE, W10 PREVIEW
The AAC is UCF's to lose. After USF was upset by Houston, the Knights took control of first place, and their final contest against those Bulls will determine who represents the East. It wasn't easy though. While the final score against Austin Peay was 73-33, there were times early that UCF struggled to pull away. Their offensive explosiveness won out, and appear to be on a collision course for a rematch against....
.....Memphis. The Tigers routed Tulane 56-26 behind yet another great offensive performance (sound familiar?) and their defense continued to progress. Mike Norvell's success has him connected with potential job openings, and we could see the top three teams in the conference lose their head coaches. Hopefully not.
I'm not sure what was wrong with Toledo's offense against Tulsa and Miami, but they haven't reappeared since. The Rockets gave up 51 points to the Golden Hurricane and 52 to the Hurricanes. Maybe they couldn't weather those storms. Ok, bad pun. Logan Woodside has taken the loss of Cody Thompson in stride, and receivers like Diontae Johnson and Jon'Vea Johnson have stepped up in his absence.
Finally, the AP poll will get it right. Only because they'll see a "1" in the loss column. Certain people have been saying that the Bulls were due for a loss because of their mistakes and slow starts, but apparently the voters didn't know that. Another reason why a Group of 5 team won't make the playoff (among others) is that a large majority of people aren't watching these games. So even if one of these teams made a serious case for the playoff, people won't pay attention. Sorry to rant in your section Bulls, but you proved me right.
San Diego State re-enters the rankings after a couple confusing losses, and they got Rashaad Penny back on track. Penny rushed for 253 yards and two touchdowns against Hawaii, and the defense got back to playing stout football. The Aztecs do need some help to win their division, but a Fresno State loss this weekend certainly helped.
FAU really doesn't belong, but I really just wanted to talk about the job that Lane Kiffin is doing. After a bad start, the Owls are one of the hottest teams in the Group of 5. Devin Singletary has been a one man wrecking crew running the ball, and the Owls have a great chance of winning the Conference USA.
