Group of Five: Week 10 Access Bowl Power Rankings

Only four Group of Five conferences remain in the hunt to win the Access Bowl slot into the Cotton Bowl. Who dropped out of the race in Week 10?

There was only slight movement in this week’s Group of Five Power Rankings, as Middle Tennessee tumbled against UTSA and sustained their third loss of the season. With the defeat, Conference USA has no teams remaining with fewer than three defeats on their records, and thus the league is probably looking at once again having zero chance at nabbing the elusive Access Bowl slot into a New Year’s Six game.

Thus it will probably fall to one of 11 different teams that still have two losses or less. There is a definite frontrunner, and then a slew of one- and two-loss contenders behind them. The College Football Playoff committee still has only two of these teams in its rankings at this moment — and one is in danger of not even winning its conference, a prerequisite for earning the Access Bowl bid. But the fact that a team is not ranked at the moment doesn’t mean that it is out of the running for a New Year’s Six invite.

So click ahead to see which teams remain in the hunt for a marquee matchup as we examine the Group of Five Access Bowl Power Rankings for Week 10.