Week 13 was the end of the regular season for most teams in the Group of Five (with the exception of two games–Akron @ Buffalo & Army vs. Navy). For ten teams though in the G5, they get at chance at winning their conference championship. This week, there were a few open possibilities in the […]
This has certainty been the wildest Group of Five season since I started covering this level of the FBS. Every prior year, there has has been a dominate team or teams each year that seemed to separate themselves going into the last regular season game. This year, it will be wild to the finish to […]
After Week 7 we had no remaining undefeated teams within the Group of Five. The number of one-loss teams in the G5 was as seven (AAC–Tulane, Cincinnati, UCF; Sun Belt–Coastal Carolina, James Madison, South Alabama, and Independent–Liberty). Of those seven one loss teams, all but Coastal Carolina was in action this past week. UCF, James […]
And then there were none! That is no Group of Five now after Week 7 remains undefeated. The two undefeated G5 teams coming into Week 7 were Coastal Carolina and James Madison, who both play in the Sun Belt Conference’s East Division. Both teams had fellow East Division foes this week with JMU traveling to […]
We are starting to see the top teams in Group of Five rise to the top as we head closer to the mid-point of the season. Two schools remain undefeated and both are from the Sun Belt East Division in Coastal Carolina and James Madison. Both schools took care of their cross-West Division foes this […]
We came into Week 5 with two Group of Five teams undefeated and those two squads were able to win this week to keep the two unscathed teams. Those two schools are both from the Sun Belt East Division in Coastal Carolina and FBS newcomer James Madison. James Madison had the easier time this week […]
Wow, it was good to have a full week of football back. Week 0 did give us an appetizer last week but we got a full course dinner in Week 1. The big game in the Group of Five matched two Texas schools that feel they can win their respective conferences. Houston and UTSA met […]
co-authored by Jamie Williams & Kent Schmidt For the first time in the short history of the Sun Belt Conference, a West Division team won the crown with Louisiana picking up the crown a season ago. But much has changed since the Ragin’ Cajans defeated Appalachian State in the SBC title game a year ago. […]
The first weekend is in the books for the Group of Five teams. Eight bowls were played Dec. 17th and 18th–all involving at least one G5 team in those games. The big story of the weekend was Western Kentucky’s QB Bailey Zappe breaking former LSU QB Joe Burrow’s record with 61st TD pass of season in WKU’s 59-38 win over Appalachian State in the Boca Raton Bowl. Zappe also broke the pass yardage record with over 5,800 yards passing.
This Cure Bowl is another great match-up just like the game was a year ago. Coastal Carolina makes a return visit after losing the game last year versus Liberty in overtime. Northern Illinois makes its first appearance in this bowl game and the first from any MAC school in this bowl game.
Here are the Top 25 FBS Group of Five (G5) rankings based on the Sagarin rankings for the week ending Oct. 16th, 2021. 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. Cincinnati remains at the top spot after […]
Cincinnati continues to roll and likely will be the #2 ranked team in all of the FBS when the polls are release this week. The Bearcats played what most thought would be the toughest AAC conference game at the beginning of the season against UCF this week. Over the past couple of years, this game […]
As we inch closer to the midway point of the 2021 season, some things are starting to get clearer, while others are very murky. What we know so far is that Cincinnati is very good. The Bearcats followed last week’s huge road win at Notre Dame with an easy AAC opening win Friday over Temple […]
Below are the Final 2020 Top 25 FBS Group of Five (G5) rankings based on the Sagarin rankings after all postseason games have been completed in Division I play. These rankings include all FBS Bowl games and the College Football Playoff. BYU takes over the top spot in the final rankings following its impressive Boca […]
What a first week of bowl action of the first ten bowl games of the season! Two games really caught my attention in UCF playing BYU and Coastal Carolina playing Liberty this week before the games started. BYU throttled UCF 49-23 in what looks to be QB Zach Wilson’s final collegiate game in the Boca […]
A year like no others had a week pretty much the same as the rest of the 2020 season. Only four of the five Group of Five championship games were played due to COVID-19 reasons for the Sun Belt Conference title game between Louisiana and Coastal Carolina. Outside of that game, the other four games […]
Louisiana at Coastal CarolinaWhen: Saturday, December 19th, 3:30 PM ESTWhere: Brooks Stadium, Conway, S.C.TV/Streaming: ESPN / WatchESPN Undefeated Coastal Carolina hosts one-loss Louisiana in possibly the most anticipated Sun Belt football game in the history of the league. This is the first trip to the SBC title game for the Chanticleers and the third straight for […]
Five players including Grayson McCall from Coastal Carolina, Jaelon Darden from North Texas, Justin Hall from Ball State, Jordan Smith from UAB, and Shamar Garrett from San Jose State have been selected as the College Sports Journal All-Stars for the week ending Dec. 14, 2020 from the NCAA Division I FBS Group of Five schools. […]
In what was to be the last regular season weekend, there was a lot on the line in all conference races to determine the participants in the five Group of Five conference title games. It was also a week in a normal, non-COVID-19 season that would have ended with the Army-Navy game. While that game […]
Six players including Israel Tucker from Louisiana Tech, Michael Pratt from Tulane, Carson Strong from Nevada, Blaze Alldredge from Rice, Jeffery Gunter from Coastal Carolina, and Zack Long from Tulsa have been selected as the College Sports Journal All-Stars for the week ending Dec. 7, 2020 from the NCAA Division I FBS Group of Five […]
In a game that happened basically overnight, it turned out to be one that many are calling an instant classic. The game was BYU at Coastal Carolina—a match-up of two 9-0 teams coming into the game made possible due to the Chanticleers cancelation with its game with Liberty due to COVID-19 reasons amongst the Flames […]
BYU at Coastal CarolinaWhen: Friday, Dec. 5th, 5:30 PM ESTWhere: Brooks Stadium, Conway, S.C.TV/Streaming: ESPNU/WatchESPN (subscription req’d) Wow, how things can change in the course of just a few days. I was set to write up a preview for Liberty visiting Coastal Carolina but that game was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns with the Liberty program. Within hours […]
This was the week that the first College Football Playoff rankings came out and to say the least, I was surprised with the rankings. Below were the Committee’s rankings from this past Tuesday. I was not too surprised with the teams selected, although I thought Liberty should have been in the Top 25 given its […]
One is down but did not go down with out a fight. That one team is Liberty, who looked as if it would again pull off another ACC road win at North Carolina State. After Liberty QB Malik Willis had an off game in throwing three interceptions, including what lead to the game winning touchdown […]
Appalachian State at Coastal CarolinaWhen: Saturday, Nov. 21st, 12:00 PM ESTWhere: Brooks Stadium, Conway, S.C.TV/Streaming: ESPN2/WatchESPN (subscription req’d) The only two teams in the Sun Belt without a conference loss will meet on the teal field in Conway, S.C. this Saturday. Coastal Carolina comes into this game not only undefeated in league play but also undefeated overall. The […]
The undefeated teams just stay that way in the Group of Five this week. Cincinnati, Liberty, and Marshall all picked up easy victories this week. BYU and Coastal Carolina were off this week. BYU had a scheduled off week, while Coastal Carolina’s game with Troy was postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the Troy […]
Six players including Brady White from Memphis, Cornelious Brown IV from Georgia State, Jaret Patterson from Buffalo, Ronnie Rivers from Fresno State, Tarron Jackson from Coastal Carolina, and Ryan McWood from Miami have been selected as the College Sports Journal All-Stars for the week ending Nov. 8, 2020 from the NCAA Division I FBS Group […]
The Group of Five undefeated teams just stay undefeated. The five schools (that have played four games or more) coming into this week stayed that way with all picking up rather easy wins this week. The group includes BYU, Cincinnati, Liberty, Coastal Carolina, and Marshall. BYU played in arguably the top match-up of the weekend […]
Five players including Desmond Ridder from Cincinnati, Nick Starkel from San Jose State, Grayson McCall from Coastal Carolina, Bee Jay Williamson from Louisiana Tech, and Avery Williams from Boise State have been selected as the College Sports Journal All-Stars for the week ending Nov. 1, 2020 from the NCAA Division I FBS Group of Five […]
Cincinnati has made two statements in a row. Last week, the Bearcats blew out SMU on the road and followed that up with another blowout against last year’s Group of Five’s best Memphis. The Bearcats got a little revenge from losing to the Tigers twice last year, including the AAC title game. This time, Cincinnati won 49-10.
Six players including Brady White from Memphis, Zach Wilson from BYU, Johathan Adams, Jr. from Arkansas State, Jason Bean from North Texas, Arnold Ebiketie from Temple, and Massimo Biscardi from Coastal Carolina have been selected as the College Sports Journal All-Stars for the week ending Oct. 18, 2020 from the NCAA Division I FBS Group […]
Coastal Carolina at LouisianaWhen: Wednesday, Oct. 14th, 7:30 PM EDTWhere: Cajun Stadium, Lafayette, La.TV/Streaming: ESPN/WatchESPN (subscription req’d) Two 3-0 undefeated Sun Belt squads meet in this Wednesday night affair. One of those teams was expected to be atop of their division but the other is surprisingly there. This game finally found a landing spot after initially being moved […]
Five players including Shane Buechele from SMU, Zach Wilson from BYU, Grayson McCall from Coastal Carolina, Zaven Collins from Tulsa, and Chris Naggar from SMU have been selected as the College Sports Journal All-Stars for the week ending Oct. 4, 2020 from the NCAA Division I FBS Group of Five schools. Shane Buechele, SMU, QB, […]
The Sun Belt is the Fun Belt definitely after Week 2!! And the Sun Belt Conference seems to own the Power Five Big 12 Conference this year. Three Sun Belt teams went on the road to Big 12 squads this past Saturday and all three will be coming home with victories. Louisiana, Arkansas State, and […]
The 2020 college football season begins in earnest this week for most of the Big 12 Conference teams.
The Sun Belt has often been considered the lowest ranked conference in all of FBS but with the play of App State and Louisiana, as well as the rest of the conference, this can not be said any longer. Right now, the Sun Belt looks to be better overall than C-USA and the MAC.
One of the longest days in Appalachian State football history gravitated well into the evening as the Mountaineers opened their Sun Belt Conference opener against Coastal Carolina.
But even a two-hour and three-minute lightning delay couldn’t slow down the ASU attack in the 56-37 victory over the Chanticleers.
Just like in Week 1, Week 2 had its share of highlights and upsets with the Group of Five. The biggest suprise had to go to BYU defeating Tennessee in overtime for the second G5 win over the SEC school . I will go through my Top 5 G5 games with a mixture of P5 […]
Coach Joe Moglia, 69, returned to the team a little over a year ago from a five-month medical sabbatical that was taken to treat a condition that was causing inflammation in and damage to his lungs to led the team to a 5-7 (2-7 Sun Belt) record.
