Group of Five: 2017 college football Week 3 power rankings

Hawaii is one of the few teams in the country that has already managed to play three games. The Rainbow Warriors fell in their most recent test, a 56-23 loss at the Rose Bowl to UCLA, but they had already established themselves among the better Group of Five teams in the country over the first long week of the new season.

In Week 0, Hawaii opened its season with a too-close-for-comfort win over Massachusetts. The Rainbow Warriors came away 38-35 victors despite giving up over 400 yards of offense to the Minutemen. That was thanks in large part to quarterback Dru Brown, who threw for 391 yards and three touchdowns against UMass.

Brown hasn’t been quite as good in his two follow-ups to that performance, though. In the home opener versus FCS Western Carolina, Brown went just 11-of-21 for 154 yards and threw two interceptions to go with his two touchdown passes. He actually performed better against UCLA last weekend, completing over 60 percent of his passes once again for 227 yards and another pair of scores.

Losing to UCLA is not the end of the world, especially with the Bruins rising up into the national rankings. It was, however, the only chance for Hawaii to claim a statement win over a Power Five school. Lacking that resume booster could prove costly when it comes time to determine which Group of Five school lands the automatic New Year’s Six bowl berth.