Group of Five: 2017 college football preseason power rankings
By Zach Bigalke
The team with the best shot at landing the New Year’s Six bid among Group of Five contenders is American Athletic Conference favorite South Florida. Like many other teams, they lost their head coach to a bigger school. But unlike other schools, the Bulls landed a proven head coach coming off a frustrating three years in Texas.
Charlie Strong should be able to restore his reputation this season in Tampa after three tempestuous seasons in Austin. The Bulls won 11 games last year but missed out on the AAC East title after losing to Temple. This year, South Florida could win all of its regular-season games and win a conference title for the first time in school history.
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USF was once was ranked as high as No. 2 in the BCS standings before fading down the stretch a decade ago. This year the Bulls could finally achieve what that 2007 team started but couldn’t finish. No team on the schedule looks too tough to beat this year, and a deep roster led by Heisman hopeful Quinton Flowers will take on all challengers.
Reaching the College Football Playoff and a chance at the national championship is a tall order for a Group of Five team. But it almost feels inevitable that South Florida will be playing in a New Year’s Six game at the end of the year.