Group of Five: Week 11 Access Bowl Power Rankings

Only eight Group of Five teams have two or fewer losses at this point of the season. How do they stack up in the Access Bowl race?

Several of the past weekend’s Group of Five games were effectively Access Bowl elimination games, as Troy took on Appalachian State in a Sun Belt showdown and Navy survived Tulsa in a battle for the AAC West. It was inevitable that the field would be winnowed down by at least two teams given these head-to-head contests.

That, however, does not explain Wyoming’s collapse at UNLV. The Cowboys found themselves in a shootout with the Rebels at Sam Boyd Stadium, and nearly lost in regulation until Tanner Gentry caught a ridiculous one-handed grab at the final whistle to force overtime:

Unfortunately it wasn’t enough to keep Wyoming on pace for its best season since Joe Tiller coached in Laramie, and while the Cowboys are still in the thick of the MWC Mountain race a third loss spells doom for their Access Bowl dreams. On a wild weekend of upsets, Craig Bohl’s team was the one that was cursed by the trend.

Only two weekends of regular-season play remain for all but Sun Belt teams among the Group of Five leagues. That leaves just two more chances to make a major statement to the College Football Playoff committee or to drop entirely out of the race. So click ahead to see how the last octet stacks up in the hunt for the Cotton Bowl berth as we examine the Group of Five Access Bowl Power Rankings after Week 11.