What a weekend at the Group of Five level! ‘Any Given Saturday’ was the mantra in many upsets over power-conference opponents in Week 5.
James Madison’s 70-50 win over North Carolina was the story of the weekend. JMU led 53-21 at halftime and continued to physically and psychologically dominate the Tar Heels in the second half. QB Alonza Barnett III scored seven total touchdowns (five passing, two rushing) and broke a Sun Belt record in the process. This upset was so bad that it has unequivocally altered the course of the Tar Heels under Mack Brown.
Interestingly enough for Group of Five teams, they’re learning even more about game magnitude in this new CFP format. We’re learning a lot about teams and how they can either handle stress and/or success. Take Northern Illinois, which suffered a huge loss against Buffalo one game after upsetting Notre Dame. Memphis, off its big win over Florida State, lost to Navy.
Yes, the Midshipmen not only upset Memphis, they looked dominant in doing so and are now 3-0 on the season. If both Navy and Army finish undefeated, which means that both would have to upset Notre Dame in the process, it could make for a unique an interesting last two weeks of the season for both squads. In that scenario, Army and Navy would play in the AAC Championship Game the week before playing in the Army-Navy game, which would not count towards the CFP or to the AAC standings.
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.
Group of Five Power Rankings
No longer ranked: Northern Illinois, Louisiana, Toledo
