College Sports Journal Sagarin FBS G5 Top 25–Preseason 2024
Below are the Top 25 Group of Five (G5) preseason rankings based on the Sagarin rankings for the 2024 season. CSJ will show weekly rankings from the Sagarin rankings throughout the season and will have a final ranking after the national championship game in January.
With conference realignment, one school that were showcased in year’s past in SMU is no longer a part of the G5 as the Mustangs move to the P4 Atlantic Coast Conference starting this fall.
With the departure of those SMU, there is new G5 schools that transitioned up to from the Division I FCS ranks in Kennesaw State in Conference USA.
NOTE: Delaware and Missouri State are in the transitioning period this season but will be classified as FCS teams and will not be included in the G5 rankings this season.
In total, there will be 64 G5 teams this year that includes the five conferences of the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, Mid-America Conference, Mountain West Conference, and Sun Belt Conference. There are also two independent teams in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Army moves away from the Independent ranks and joins the AAC this year.
Also note, the PAC-12 two remaining teams of Oregon State and Washington State (after the remaining 10 teams in that league moved to either the Big 10 or Big 12 Conferences for this season) have a scheduling alliance with the G5 Mountain West Conference but those two teams will not be included in the G5 rankings.
Sagarin rankings provide the only rankings that actually ranks all Division I schools but our rankings will show just the G5 side of things and have been used for several years with his own computer ranking system to distinguish strength of schedule and strength of team when comparing teams.
You can see the full Division I Sagarin rankings at Jeff’s site itself.
In this preseason ranking, perennial G5 power Boise State starts the season as the top team in the rankings. Memphis out is ranked in the second position.
Appalachian State starts the season as the third ranked team, while last year’s top Group of Five as the team that represented the G5 in the New Year’s Six Bowl (Fiesta Bowl) in Liberty starts as the #4 team. UTSA rounds out the Top Five as a second team out of the AAC.
The FBS is moving this year to a 12-team playoff with the top five conferences getting an automatic bid so that means at least one G5 team will be represented in the new playoff structure.
See the remaining Top 25 in the chart below.
In the rankings, you will see the the G5 rankings first and the overall Division I ranking to the right of the the G5 ranking.
The numbers show the ranking in the Group of Five Top 25 as well as the overall Division I ranking.
The Top 10 and Top 30 are the overall Division I Sagarin rankings.
Click on the rankings to see a larger view.
Predictions_with_Totals_and_Moneylines
Just click on “Predictions_with_Totals_and_Moneylines” and it will take you to the daily predictions at Jeff’s site file where you’ll also see the additional set of predictions which are the basic predictions that are adjusted to take into account each team’s tendencies of performance at home and away along with the extra picks column of STRONG RECENT.
The following are the individual G5 conference rankings highlighted in yellow and the overall rankings within overall ranking in Division I FBS with dedicated divisions in conferences shown separately.
Click on the rankings to see a larger view.
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.
Reach him at this email or click below:
