Group of Five: Week 8 Access Bowl Power Rankings

While things have stayed the same at the top, there was a lot of shuffling below the Access Bowl favorites among Group of Five teams in Week 8.

The two Broncos at the top of the Group of Five power rankings remained undefeated this week. Boise State held on to knock off BYU on Thursday night, while Western Michigan had an easier time with Eastern Michigan on Saturday. Below them in the standings is where things really got interesting in Week 8.

Below Boise and WMU, there are now only four remaining one-loss teams. Houston, Memphis, and South Florida all suffered setbacks in the American Athletic Conference over the weekend to each take a second loss on their season records. At this point there are just a half-dozen teams that have one loss or less — two from the Mountain West, two from the MAC, and one each from the AAC and Sun Belt.

Last week there were 17 remaining Group of Five teams that had suffered two or fewer defeats. That number has been trimmed to a baker’s dozen this week after Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, Air Force, and Old Dominion each sustained a third loss in Week 8. With the field trimmed down so far, now is the time to begin taking into account those teams with only a pair of blemishes on their records. So for now let’s focus on the lucky 13 as we break down the Week 8 Group of Five Access Bowl Power Rankings.