Group of Five Power Rankings, Week 7: AAC and MWC lead race

Hierarchies are starting to form in both the AAC and Mountain West. The Group of Five champ will almost certainly come from one of the two leagues in 2018.

When it comes to the Group of Five race this season, the American Athletic Conference has been the preeminent league in the race. With three of the country’s eight remaining undefeated teams, the AAC is living up to its former billing as a Big Six conference when it first transitioned from the Big East in the waning moments of the BCS era.

Of course, the American is nothing like its Big East forbears. Out of the original Big East football members, all but UConn and Temple remain in the AAC. Of the teams that were added in the 2005 replenishment, only South Florida and Cincinnati are still in the league. Everyone else has transitioned to one of the Power Five conferences.

The Mountain West has been the other gateway for teams to transition into a Power Five league. Utah, the original BCS Buster in 2004, helped turn the Pac-10 into the Pac-12. TCU was something of a lifeline to a Big 12 conference that bled off four of its members to other Power Five conferences. And BYU went independent, with dreams of becoming a Mormon version of Notre Dame.

Five years into the College Football Playoff experiment, with the automatic bid into the New Year’s Six for the top Group of Five champion, the AAC and Mountain West remain the preeminent leagues in the race.

The top teams in each league clutter the top of the Group of Five Power Rankings this week. Where does everyone stand in the steeplechase of the regular season, as the top teams in each conference barrel forward toward the ultimate quest of the New Year’s Six? Keep reading for the top ten in the mid-majors followed by a look at the opportunities to make Power Five statements in Week 8.