Group of Five: Week 7 Access Bowl Power Rankings

Speaking of Houston, the Cougars remain far higher in the AP Top 25 than one might expect from a one-loss Group of Five school. Tom Herman’s team needed a goal-line stand at home to stave off overtime against Tulsa, and continues to hold on for dear life to a high poll position. Against the Golden Hurricane the Houston defense allowed 459 yards and four touchdowns, most of them coming through the air courtesy of Tulsa senior QB Dane Evans. Greg Ward Jr. continued to make his Heisman case with 396 combined passing and rushing yards, though he had zero touchdowns on the day and turned over the ball once to keep the game closer than expected. Dillon Birden’s 103 yards from scrimmage and three rushing touchdowns were critical in securing the win.

Working against the Cougars is the fact that they are still sitting behind both Navy and Memphis in the AAC West standings and have no shot at being considered for the automatic New Year’s Six bid if they fail to finish as a Group of Five champion. They might merit consideration for the other at-large berth in the Cotton Bowl, it might ultimately cause more uproar than goodwill much like the 2010 Fiesta Bowl between TCU and Boise State. At this point Houston needs to hope that Memphis knocks off Navy, and that they in turn beat the Tigers on November 25. A three-way tie would result in Houston nabbing the division title if they beat Louisville, on the overall winning percentage tiebreaker. The one risk is if they lose to Louisville, which would leave it in the hands of the CFP committee.