2. Appalachian State is in better shape than you think
Welcome to the cannibalization of a conference.
Cincinnati is the highest-ranked Group of Five team at 17, Memphis is 18, and Navy is 23. SMU still has just one loss, but it dropped out of the top 25 entirely.
If any American Athletic Conference team wins the conference title and goes 12-1, it’s off to the Cotton Bowl as the Group of Five’s representative in the New Year’s Six.
Cincinnati, though, still has to go to USF and Memphis and play Temple.
Memphis has to go to Houston and USF along with the game against the Bearcats.
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Navy plays Notre Dame this week, and closes with SMU, at Houston, and Army, and SMU finishes with at Navy and Tulane – but it probably won’t win the West, or the conference, so it’s out of the mix.
Basically, they’re all going to beat each other up.
Boise State is playing like a team just begging for another loss. It’ll beat New Mexico and Colorado State, but it could lose at Utah State, and it could certainly lose the Mountain West Championship.
Appalachian State now has won over North Carolina and South Carolina on the road. The one loss to Georgia Southern stinks, but at least the Eagles will end up going bowling.
12-1 with a Sun Belt title might just give ASU the big stage.
– Rapid-fire first reaction
– The known unknown
– The Group of Five situation
– What it all really means