Group of Five Power Rankings: How far does Temple drop after Notre Dame loss?

Oct 31, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Temple Owls defensive back Tavon Young (1) breaks up a pass for Notre Dame Fighting Irish wide receiver Will Fuller (7) during the second half at Lincoln Financial Field. Notre Dame won 24-20. Mandatory Credit: Derik Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

This week’s Group of Five power rankings sees the Temple Owls lose their first game of the year, so where will they fall in the hierarchy with Memphis and Houston gunning for the top spot?

The American Athletic Conference would have loved to see Temple get a win over Notre Dame, but the Irish escaped against each AAC opponent.

Even without an undefeated Temple, the group of five still looks very strong (Temple included). Memphis, Houston and Toledo remain perfect, and Houston and Memphis play each other soon.

Toledo is on a different track in the weaker MAC (no pun intended), but things might still work out for them if the American Athletic Conference has no undefeated teams remaining to represent it come December.

We’ve got just a month left of the regular season, and this week the first official rankings will be released by the Playoff Committee.

This will probably open up a lot of debate regardless of who is placed where, but it’ll be the first piece of the puzzle in determining who will make a New Year’s Six Bowl and the playoff. Memphis will most likely lead the group of five, but could Houston or Toledo make a strong case?

There are teams from the Group of Five who are worthy of a ranking inside the top 25, but only a small handful (at most) will get that prestigious recognition. If Toledo and an undefeated AAC team win out, they’ll provide strong cases for making the top ten in at least one poll, and an undefeated AAC team could crash the College Football Playoff.

Special recognition from last week: A Navy player tied a historical record (more details follow) and Gunner Kiel of Cincinnati was a perfect 15 of 15 for 319 yards and five touchdowns against UCF.

Missed the cut: Cincinnati, Southern Miss, Georgia Southern, San Diego State, Louisiana Tech

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