Group of Five: Week 5 Access Bowl Power Rankings

The field has been winnowed down to four undefeated Group of Five teams. Which mid-majors with one loss are also in the Access Bowl picture?

The beauty of the College Football Playoff era is that a Group of Five champion doesn’t have to finish undefeated to earn a New Year’s Six bowl bid. As schools like Tulane and Marshall can attest, the BCS never guaranteed anything to even perfect mid-major teams. Now there is at least an access point for the elite among the smaller schools to play on a big stage.

We are now in the third season of the new system. A Group of Five is automatically granted a ticket into one of the major bowl games. But now, rather than perfection being almost prerequisite, more losses isn’t a guaranteed impediment. Remember, for instance, that two-loss Boise State and not one-loss Marshall played Arizona in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl.

Should a Group of Five champ go unbeaten it will almost certainly earn the Access Bowl spot. But there is no guarantee that one of the four teams left is going to be undefeated by the end. As we enter October, let’s break the one-loss teams into two tiers as well as evaluate the leading quartet in this week’s Access Bowl power rankings.