Don’t look now, but there is a new challenger emerging within Conference USA: the Jacksonville State Gamecocks. Coach Rich Rodriguez has quickly gotten his team acclimated to FBS ball, having made the move up from FCS a year ago. Last season JSU made their first bowl game in program history, and this year they are gunning for a C-USA title game appearance with an undefeated record in conference play and a five-game winning streak.
Up in Connecticut, the UConn Huskies are in the midst of a good season themselves. Sitting at 6-3 on the year, the Huskies have made the most of their life as an FBS independent. The Huskies are already 6-1 at home and have played six in a row within the friendly confines of Pratt & Whitney Stadium. This week, they take their show on the road against UAB, but we know their run game and defense will travel. Both have consistently showed up each week.
While they don’t get the chance to play in a conference title game being an independent, the Huskies are bowl eligible and one of the better Group of Five teams in the country right now.
Group of Five rankings remain important. Though these conferences get a significantly lower financial guarantee from the new 12-team CFP, they are on a more equitable field when it comes to the competition: The four highest ranked conference champions get byes, and the five highest ranked champs get auto-bids, but nothing is to say that the supposed “Power Four” are guaranteed those four byes or four of those five spots; if a Group of Five team were to outrank, hypothetically, the Big 12 champion, it would get a bye and home game. And with those spots comes financial windfalls based on success in the tournament.
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Group of Five Power Rankings
Dropped out: Memphis, Navy