Group of Five: 2017 college football Week 2 power rankings

For most of their road trip to the Smurf Turf in Boise, Troy hung right in there with the Mountain West favorites. The Trojans pulled within 17-13 early in the fourth quarter, but could not find the scoreboard again as Boise State pulled away for the win between Group of Five contenders.

And make no mistake, Troy will definitely remain in the hunt as a challenger for the Sun Belt. The quality of play in the league has increased in recent years, and the Trojans hardly have an automatic path to the league title. Further muddying the waters for any Sun Belt challenger is the fact that the conference is the only one among the Group of Five without a championship game.

Without one decisive champion to put forth for arguments in the race for the automatic New Year’s Six berth, the Sun Belt is always going to be at an artificial disadvantage. Next year that will all change when the league forms two divisions and hosts its first championship game. Troy will be locked in a division with Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, Coastal Carolina and Georgia State.

Until then, however, Troy can only look to rebound from its loss on the road and focus on winning the rest of its games. At this point a two-loss Sun Belt champion is unlikely to get the benefit of the doubt. Thus next week’s home opener against FCS Alcorn State takes on added significance, as does every game leading up to the September 30 showdown with LSU in Baton Rouge.