Highlights: CSJ FBS Group of Five Top Five Games and Recap of Week 7

And we are down to three. Three undefeated teams in the Group of Five that is. That number is down from the four we had coming into Week 7. Memphis fell from the ranks of the undefeated teams with its narrow loss at Temple. Appalachian State and Boise State, however, remained unscathed and SMU had a bye this week.

Temple QB Anthony Russo threw two touchdown passes and the Owls took advantage of four turnovers by Memphis to upset the Tigers in Philadelphia.

Boise State QB Chase Cord threw for 175 yards and three touchdowns in relief of injured starter Hank Bachmeier to help lead the Broncos Hawaii by a wide margine.

Appalachian State won a suprisingly defensive battle over the opponet it faced last year in the Sun Belt Conference game in Louisiana–winning 17-7.

I will go over each Group of Five conference action below and add my Top 5 games of the week as well.

American Atheletic Conference

As mentioned Temple beat Memphis to take the Tigers away from the undefeated group. But the game was not without contraversy. With the Tigers trailing by what wound up being he final score, TE Joey Magnifico seemed to make diving catch to convert a fourth-and-10 with 1:50 left in the fourth quarter, but it was called overturned and ruled incomplete after video review. Temple then just ran the clock out to preserve the win.

Cincinnati backed up its upset win over UCF last week ashe Bearcats used a 21-point first half to pull away early and LB Perry Young’s late 2-yard interception return for a touchdown sealed a 38-23 road victory over Houston. Bearcat QB Desmond Ridder finished 14 of 24 for 263 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. He also had 11 carries for 50 yards and a score.

South Florida’s RB Jordan Cronkrite ran for 158 yards and two touchdowns and the Bulls came from behind in the fourth quarter to beat BYU 27-23 in Tampa in an out-of-conference contest. The Cougars led 16-7 at halftime before Cronkrite ran it in from a yard out to reduce the margin. BYU responded with a 5-play, 70-yard drive in a little under two minutes and led 23-14 after QB Jaren Hall’s 29-yard TD run. Early in the fourth, the Bulls’ QB Jordan McCloud ran it in from two yards out. Cronkrite closed out the scoring with a 3-yard run.

Tulane QB Justin McMillan passed 18 of 24 for 231 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 37 yards and another score in leading the the Green Wave in a blowout win over Connecticut 49-7. Tulane scored two touchdowns in each of the first three quarters and capped their scoring at 49-0 on Keon Howard’s 14-yard TD pass to WR Jha’Quan Jackson in the fourth quarter. Howard relieved McMillan of quarterback duties in the third quarter and finished 8 of 10 for 92 yards and a touchdown and ran for 42 yards and a score.

Navy QB Malcom Perry rushed for 218 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries to lead the Midshipmen to a 45-17 victory at Tulsa. RBs Jamale Carothers, Nelson Smith and C.J. Williams also scored rushing touchdowns for Navy, which outscored Tulsa 21-0 in the second quarter to take control of the game. The Midshipmen snapped a 14-game losing streak in contests played outside of Annapolis, a stretch that dated back to their previous trip to Tulsa, a 31-21 victory on Sept. 30, 2017.

SMU, UCF, and ECU all had byes this week.

Conference USA

Florida Atlantic has righted the ship after two blowout losses and has now won four games in a row including the Owls win over Middle Tennessee 28-13. FAU overcame a 13-12 halftime deficit to score 16 points in the second half to win the game. RB Malcolm Davidson ran for 149 yards and a touchdown as the offensive star for the Owls.

Western Kentucky, who was already 3-0 in the league standings in the same East Division as FAU, stepped out of league play and hosted independent Army. WKU the pace and holding Army to a season-low in offensive production (137 yards rushing) and did not allow the Black Knights a score until the game was really already over when Army QB Kelvin Hopkins Jr.’s 8-yard touchdown pass to RB Malik Hancock with 1:41 left. WKU’s QB Ty Storey had two quarterback sneaks for touchdowns to provide the two touchdows in the 17-8 win.

Louisiana Tech in West Division also stepped out of league play to play an indepenent in UMass. The Bulldogs QB J’Mar Smith threw three touchdown passes and RB Justin Henderson ran for three first-quarter touchdowns to lead to a 69-21 blowout victory.

Southern Miss tied Louisiana Tech in the division standings with its 45-27 easy win over North Texas. QB Jack Abraham threw for 421 yards with three touchdowns and his favorite target, WR Quez Watkins, caught eight passes for 198 yards and a score. RB De’Michael Harris also got in the action as he ran for 107 yards and two touchdowns to go with 79 yards receiving and another touchdown. The Golden Eagles had 563 total yards.

Elsewhere, Marshall handled Old Dominion 31-17 as QB Isaiah Green accounted for two first-half touchdowns, and RB Brenden Knox added a late score to help Marshall get the win.

FIU and UAB both got easy wins over their conference opponents as well this week. The Panthers handled Charlotte 48-23 at home, while UAB got a road win at UTSA 33-14.

Rice and UTEP had this week off.

Mid-American Conference

The two suprising undefeated teams within conference play are Kent State and Ball State thus far on the season.

Ball State QB Drew Plitt threw two touchdown passes, ran for two more scores and rallied Ball State in the second half to beat Eastern Michigan 29-23. The Cardinals trailed at halftime and into the third quarter but rallied early in the fourth quarter to take the lead. The Eagles treated late in the game but the BSU defense came up big to stop a fourth down conversion to preserve the win.

Kent State QB Dustin Crum threw a touchdown pass, PK Matthew Trickett kicked four field goals and the Golden Flashes beat Akron 26-3. The win ended a four-game skid against the Zips in the annual Crystal Clinic Wagon Wheel trophy game. Crum finished 16 of 21 for 149 yards passing and added 84 yards on the ground.

Western Michigan rebounded from last week’s loss to Toledo to take down Miami for the seventh straight time with this week’s 38-16 final. The stars were RB LeVante Bellamy, who finished with 22 carries for 135 yards and WR Keith Mixon, Jr. had three catches for 84. Both scored touchdowns in the game.

Bowling Green was the suprise winner this week with its win over Toledo 20-7. Toledo was picked by many to win the West Division. The Falcons grabbed a 10-0 lead in the first quarter and never let Toledo get going on offense. The defense forced four fumbles, recovered one, had five sacks and nine tackles for loss.

Northern Illinois was also a suprise winner this week against a team that many projected as its division champion. The Huskies PK John Richardson booted a 37-yard field goal as time expired to give Northern Illinois a 39-36 victory over Ohio.

Central Michigan RB Kobe Lewis rushed for 161 yards and two touchdowns as the Chippawas cruised past winless FBS Independent New Mexico State, 42-28 in the lone nonconference game of the week in the MAC.

Buffalo had a bye this week.

Mountain West Conference

Boise State remained the only undefeated team in the MWC with its blowout win over Hawai’i at home. The Broncos did, however, have a loss in losing starting QB Hank Bachmeier. Boise State backup QB Chase Cord threw for 175 yards and three touchdowns in relief in the 59-37 win over Hawai’i. Bachmeier is expected, however, to not lose time in future weeks.

The biggest and only Power 5 win came from UNLV. The Rebels defeated the SEC’s Vanderbilt handedly, 34-10. UNLV snapped its four game losing streak in a big way as QB Kenyon Oblad threw for 172 yards and a pair of touchdowns and RB Chad Magyar rushed for 116 yards and a touchdown in the upset.

Nevada PK Brandon Talton kicked a 40-yard field goal on the final play of the game, lifting Nevada to a 41-38 victory over San Jose State on Saturday after the Spartans rallied from a 21-point deficit. RB Toa Taua ran for 160 yards and a touchdown for the offensive highlight for the Wolf Pack.

San Diego State QB Ryan Agnew threw two touchdown passes, including a 12-yarder to TE Daniel Bellinger with 2:09 to play and the Aztec defense held the Wyoming last drive to beat the Cowboys 26-22. Agnew completed 21 of 32 passes for 209 yards. RB Juwan Washington had 83 yards rushing and a score on 21 carries and added a 15-yard TD reception.

Air Force QB Donald Hammond III ran for two touchdowns and threw for another and LB Kyle Johnson returned an interception for a score as the stars in the Falcons win over Fresno State 43-24. After trailing 24-22 at the halftime break, the Falcon defense shut the Bulldogs out in the second half.

Colorado State got its first conference victory on Friday with its road victory at New Mexico 35-21. QB Patrick O’Brien threw for a career-high 420 yards and three touchdowns and WR Warren Jackson had nine catches for a career-high 214 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Rams.

Utah State had a bye this week.

Sun Belt Conference

Appalachian State QB Zac Thomas scored twice on 7-yard sneaks, the last coming with 1:56 remaining, and the Mountaineers beat Louisiana-Lafayette 17-7 on the road on Wednesday night in a rematch of the Sun Belt championship game. Thomas completed 11 of 17 passes for 147 yards and had 15 rushes for 63 yards. RB Darrynton Evans added 69 yards on the ground.

Behind a career-high 128 yards rushing from senior quarterback Dan Ellington and a school-record 350 yards on the ground, Georgia State earned a key Sun Belt Conference road victory at Coastal Carolina 31-21.

ULM redshirt junior running back Josh Johnson ran 22 times for 114 yards and two touchdowns to help the Warhawks beat Texas State 24-14 on Thursday night.

Georgia Southern, Troy, Arkansas State, and South Alabama all had byes this week.

 

G5 FBS Independents

As was mentioned in the five conference reviews, four G5 Independents were in action this week with all four actually coming up with losses.

Army fell at Western Kentucky. BYU lost at South Florida. UMass fell at Louisiana Tech. New Mexico State lost at Central Michigan.

Liberty had a bye this week.

 

Top 5 Games of the Week

Here are my top five games this week with video highlights of each and the full game recap in the hyperlink in the score.

1. Temple 30 Memphis 8 (Philadelphia, Pa.)

2. Nevada 41 San Jose State 38 (Reno, Nev.)

3. Northern Illinois 39 Ohio 36 (Athens, Ohio)

4. South Florida 27 BYU 23 (Tampa, Fla.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a6Jt-g0KpM

5. San Diego State 26 Wyoming 22 (San Diego, Calif.)

 

BONUS P5 Win

UNLV 34 Vanderbilt 10 (Nashville, Tenn.)