College Sports Journal FBS Group of Five Power Poll Top 20 — Week 8
The power poll looks a little different this week and will look different next week too. This past week, Cincinnati lost to Temple so they dropped down and there are just two undefeated teams left with UCF and South Florida left and those two are my top two teams.
The poll will look different with two Top 20 match-ups with South Florida visiting Houston in a Top 10 match-up in the American. Appalachian State and Georgia Southern get their match-up this Thursday in what will go a long way of determining the Sun Belt East Division.
UCF is still riding the longest win streak in all of Division I FBS football and South Florida has been winning some very close contests but still winning to keep the top two spots. Appalachian State is now #3 with its only loss to begin the season at the Big 10’s Penn State. San Diego State and Army round out the Top 5.
Fresno State, Houston, Utah State, Buffalo, and Boise State round out the Top 10.
Three teams leave the Top 20 and three new teams join this week.
Time is again short for me this week but here is my Top 20 below with the results and next opponents listed. We do have two new teams and two moving out this week.
| This week | Last Week | Team | Record | Result Last Week | This Week Game |
| 1 | 1 | UCF | 7-0, 4-0 AAC | Win at East Carolina 37-10 | Bye |
| 2 | 2 | South Florida | 7-0, 3-0 AAC | Win vs. Connecticut 38-30 | at Houston |
| 3 | 3 | Appalachian State | 5-1, 3-0 SBC | Win vs. Louisiana-Lafayette 27-17 | at Georgia Southern |
| 4 | 5 | San Diego State | 6-1, 3-0 MWC | Win vs. San Jose State 16-13 | at Nevada |
| 5 | 6 | Army West Point | 5-2 Indy | Win vs. Miami(OH) 31-20 (2OT) | at Eastern Michigan |
| 6 | 7 | Fresno State | 6-1, 3-0 MWC | Win at New Mexico 38-7 | vs. Hawai’i |
| 7 | 8 | Houston | 6-1, 3-0 AAC | Win at Navy 49-36 | vs. South Florida |
| 8 | 9 | Utah State | 6-1, 3-0 MWC | Win at Wyoming 24-16 | vs. New Mexico |
| 9 | 10 | Buffalo | 7-1, 4-0 MAC | Win at Toledo 31-17 | Bye |
| 10 | 11 | Boise State | 5-2, 3-1 MWC | Win vs. Colorado State 56-28 | at Air Force |
| 11 | 4 | Cincinnati | 6-1, 2-1 AAC | Loss at Temple 24-17 (OT) | at SMU |
| 12 | 17 | UAB | 6-1, 4-0 CUSA | Win vs. North Texas 29-21 | at UTEP |
| 13 | 16 | Georgia Southern | 6-1, 3-0 SBC | Win at New Mexico State 48-31 | vs. Appalachian State |
| 14 | 15 | BYU | 4-3 Indy | Bye | vs. Northern Illinois |
| 15 | 20 | Marshall | 5-2, 2-1 CUSA | Win vs. Florida Atlantic 31-7 | Bye |
| 16 | out | Western Michigan | 6-2, 4-0 MAC | Win vs. Central Michigan 35-10 | vs. Toledo |
| 17 | 19 | Louisiana Tech | 5-2, 2-1 CUSA | Win vs. UTEP 31-24 | at Florida Atlantic |
| 18 | out | Florida International | 5-2, 3-0 CUSA | Win vs. Rice 36-17 | at Western Kentucky |
| 19 | out | Temple | 5-3, 4-0 AAC | Win vs. Cincinnati 24-17 (OT) | Bye |
| 20 | 12 | North Texas | 6-2, 2-2 CUSA | Loss at UAB 29-21 | vs. Rice |
| out | 13 | Florida Atlantic | 3-4, 1-2 CUSA | Loss at Marshall 31-7 | vs. Louisiana Tech |
| out | 14 | Memphis | 4-4, 1-3 AAC | Loss at Missouri 65-33 | Bye |
| out | 18 | Hawai’i | 6-3, 3-1 MWC | Loss vs. Nevada 40-22 | at Fresno State |
Originally from LaMoure, North Dakota, Kent is a 1996 graduate of North Dakota State University. His prior writing experience is over 15 years having previously worked with D2football.com, I-AA.org, and College Sporting News before coming to College Sports Journal in 2016. His main focus is college football is the Missouri Valley Football Conference within the Division I FCS. And in 2017, he began also to look at the FBS Group of Five conferences of the American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, and Sun Belt.
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