College Football: Group of 5 Week 4 power rankings

Thanks to a big upset on Saturday night in college football, a new front-runner emerged in Week 4 in the Group of Five race for a New Year’s Six invitation.

Now that there is a guaranteed access point into a major bowl game for one conference champion from the Group of Five, the question has shifted. No longer do we ask, “Will a mid-major team be granted a spot in one of the showcase bowls?”

Since 2014, the question has become, “Which mid-major champion will earn the golden ticket in the postseason race?” Over the first three years of the College Football Playoff system, it has largely been academic. Boise State was invited to the Fiesta Bowl in 2014 after their last Mountain West title. Houston went to the Peach Bowl in 2015 following a near-perfect American Athletic Conference championship.

Western Michigan raised the bar last year, completing a perfect 13-0 season in MAC play and earning the spot in the Cotton Bowl opposite Wisconsin. But the Broncos also became the first Group of Five team to lose in the automatic opportunity to face a Power Five opponent in a major bowl. It was the first loss by a mid-major in one of the New Year’s Six games since TCU lost to Boise State in the Mountain West-versus-WAC Fiesta Bowl after the 2009 season.

The Group of Five conferences get another shot this year. They have already made some noise against big-name programs, with several Group of Five contenders already taking down Power Five schools this year. Click ahead to see how they are faring in the inter-conference battle to take the New Year’s Six prize in the Group of Five Power Rankings heading into Week 4.