Highlights: CSJ FBS Group of Five Top Five Games and Recap of Week 11

On By Kent Schmidt

UCF defeated Navy and remains the only unblemished team left in the Group of Five.

While the Knights kept winning, other Group of Five conference contending teams including San Diego State, Fresno State, North Texas, South Florida, Houston, and Georgia Southern fell this week.

Below is a brief summary of each conference and its race for a champion. See the full standings below (click on the link to see a larger view).

AAC
UCF remains atop the AAC East Division and likely will face their toughest test to date next week against Cincinnati, who defeated South Florida this week. Temple also remains in contention in the East as the Owls defeated previous West Division leader Houston on the road. Houston and SMU are now tied in the West. SMU defeated UConn on the road and since Houston lost to SMU previously, the Mustangs would have the tie-breaker in the West Division.

Sun Belt
In Group A (East), Troy remained in the lead after defeating Georgia Southern on the road. Appalachian State remains in contention in the division with its win at Texas State. In Group B (West), Louisiana-Monroe defeated South Alabama to stay atop the division.

Mountain West
The MWC took a little more shape with Utah State staying on top of the Mountain Division. Boise State defeated Fresno State to remain in contention and the looming Aggie-Bronco game to end the regular season looks like it will decide the division. Even with the loss, Fresno State stays atop the West Division as San Diego State could not take advantage in its upset loss to previsously win-less within the conference UNLV. Nevada also could be in the mix as it has now won three games in a row including this week’s blowout over Colorado State.

MAC
The MAC races have just two remaining undefeated teams in conference play and unless something crazy happens in the last two weeks, those two should play for the conference title. Buffalo leads the East after winning easily over Kent State. Northern Illinois leads the West after also getting an easy win this week over Toledo.

Conference USA
C-USA was the first conference to have a division winner as UAB clinched the West Division in its overtime win over Southern Miss. In the East, Middle Tennessee State leads by a half game over Florida International but FIU has the tie-breaker with its earlier win over the Blue Raiders.

Independents
Army moved to 8-2 overall with its win over FCS Lafayette. BYU defeated UMass on the road and looks for one more win to be bowl eligible.

Below are my Top 5 games of the week and I added in highlights of the games involving other conference contenders that caught my eye. Click on the score for a detailed recap of the game and the video link to see highlights.

1 UAB 26 Southern Miss 23 (2OT) (Birmingham, Ala.)

2 Boise State 24 Fresno State 17 (Boise, Idaho)

3 Old Dominion 34 North Texas 31 (Norfolk, Va.)

4 UNLV 27 San Diego State 24 (San Diego, Calif.)

5 Miami (OH) 30 Ohio 28 (Oxford, Ohio)

 

Other Games Involving Conference Division Leaders & Contenders

UCF 35 Navy 24 (Orlando, Fla.)

Troy 35 Georgia Southern (Statesboro, Ga.)

Temple 59 Houston 49 (Houston, Tex.)

Cincinnati 35 South Florida 23 (Cincinnati, Ohio)

Louisiana Tech 28 Rice 13 (Ruston, La.)

Louisiana-Monroe 38 South Alabama (Mobile, Ala.)

Utah State 62 San Jose State 24 (Logan, Utah)

Buffalo 48 Kent State 14 (Buffalo, N.Y.)

Appalachian State 38 Texas State 7 (San Marcos, Tex.)

SMU 62 Connecticut 50 (East Hartford, Conn.)

Northern Illinois 38 Toledo 15 (Dekalb, Ill.)

Nevada 49 Colorado State 10 (Reno, Nev.)

Middle Tennessee State 48 UTEP 32 (El Paso, Tex.)

Florida International 45 UTSA 7 (San Antonio, Tex.)

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